Drainage around a house plays an important role in the elimination of damage, soil erosion, and flooding. If water is not drained, it may pool around the foundation, leading to structural problems and health risks.
Below is a guide on how to enhance the drainage of water and how to avoid water issues affecting your house.
Understanding Drainage Issues:
Before applying solutions, evaluate your property to look for areas with bad drainage. Some of the symptoms of this include water standing on your compound, erosion of the soil close to your foundation, and moisture buildup.
Knowing why drainage is an issue will help you identify which interventions are likely to be most beneficial.
1. The replacement:
The gutter installation and downspouts is a basic process for controlling water drainage from your roof. Rainwater is channeled by gutters and taken away from your home in order to avoid water accumulation around your home’s walls.
The gutters should slope downward to enable easy drainage to the down pipes and should also be cleaned often to avoid being blocked.
2. Land Grading:
Another way of ensuring that water does not accumulate around your home is by ensuring that your landscape is well graded. Ensure the ground around your foundation slopes in a direction that will help water drain rather than accumulate.
For drainage, one can use soil, gravel, or even incorporate techniques like swales and berms to direct the water away from sensitive points.
3. French Drains:
Essentially, French drains are trenches dug beneath the ground surface with the purpose of draining water away from the property. They are trenches containing perforated pipes that are surrounded by gravel or rocks, through which water can enter and be drained from beneath the foundation.
One solution involves the use of French drains where they are needed, whether they are next to the basement walls or around damp areas of the house. These drains are designed to capture and redirect water away from the foundation of the home, preventing moisture from seeping into the basement.
4. Buildings and structures Maintenance:
Measures to avoid leakage, proper roof ventilation, and proper drainage are also necessary in the maintenance of the roof. A regular status check on your roof is important to determine its current working condition: missing shingles, cracks, or deteriorating flashing.
Address all such problems so that water cannot seep into the house, damage your roof, and cause leakage. Moreover, put into consideration incorporating roofing features, including water divergent devices like drip edges and roof overhangs that help prevent water from trickling down your home walls.
5. Downspout Extensions:
Other than that, other measures like elongating downspouts down from the house to a certain distance will also enhance drainage away from your home’s base.
Utilize the downspout extensions or splash blocks to ensure that water drains not less than 5 feet away from your foundation and on slanting surfaces where drainage is safe. This will help prevent water from pooling around your foundation and causing potential damage.