Curtain drain vs French drain — what’s the difference?

The longer answer: one system, four names

All of these are the same core construction — perforated pipe bedded in washed rock, wrapped in filter fabric, run at continuous downhill slope to a discharge point. What changes is where the pipe sits and what job it's doing:

• French drain — the umbrella term. If someone says it, they usually mean a yard system collecting soggy-ground water. $25–$60/LF installed.
• Curtain drain (interceptor drain) — a French drain placed shallow and uphill: across a slope above the house, along a property line taking a neighbor's runoff, or above a driveway. It intercepts water in transit instead of collecting it after it arrives — which is why it's often the right call when the water is coming from someone else's yard. Same published pricing.
• Perimeter / footing drain — the pipe placed down at the foundation footing, wrapping the house. New builds get one by code; on older KC homes the original is often clay tile that silted shut decades ago (see drain tile). Exterior footing-depth work means excavating to the base of the foundation — genuinely bigger digging, quoted per site after we see the house. Interior versions (under the slab, feeding a sump) are basement-waterproofing territory.
• Drain tile — the old Midwest name for all of the above, from the clay-tile era.

The honest triage we run on every wet-yard call: most "we probably need a perimeter drain" houses actually need something cheaper first — buried downspouts ($300–$700/line) because roof water is the actual source, or a curtain drain uphill because the water arrives from the slope. Digging to the footing is the right answer sometimes; it's just rarely the FIRST answer, and the free assessment sorts out which layer your problem lives in.

Free in-person walk — usually within 24-72 hours

Written, line-itemed quote. No pressure. Our crew brings 35+ years of combined Kansas City gutter experience.

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