7 Ways to Solve Landscape Drainage Problems
October 8, 2019Is Your Property Experiencing Drainage Problems?
Anyone who has experienced drainage problems, such as a flooded basement, damage to their home’s foundations and interior understands the importance of proper drainage. It is vital that water is properly directed away from your home’s foundation.
Water management Tactics for Your Home
As more and more building is going on in our area, the amount of porous land is diminishing. This can cause drainage problems for even the most mature properties, as traditional water flow patterns are interrupted. This is something than many homeowners are starting to experience.
Grading around your home to prevent water from building up around the foundation is one-step in creating proper drainage. However, there are a number of tactics effective to help divert water to other areas of your landscape. We thought we would share a few of these with you today.
7 Ways to Solve Landscape Drainage Problems:
1) Downspout Extensions: Add a downspout extension to guide water collected by gutters well away from the foundation so that it does not end up in the basement. This is the most basic and necessary tactic to protecting your home from water damage. Re-route the water across the yard surface to avoid a pooling in one area.
2) Drain Boxes or Grates: Routing water to a surface drain, such as a 12” x 12” square or 6” round grate that keeps debris out, yet lets water flow into the box. Keep in mind that the pipe buried should allow the water to run downhill.
3) Drainage Swales: Drainages swales are pitched areas lined with stone or grass designed to guide water off your property or to an area well away from the foundation. Water should not stand more than 24 hours unless we have an extreme rain event. Drainage swales prevent standing water, which can lead to mosquitos and other issues. With grass swales, turf should be kept healthy because the root system maintains the integrity of the swale. Whether you have a grass or stone swale, they should be kept free of debris so as not to impede water flow.
4) French Drain: A French drain consists of perforated pipe sheathed by a fabric sock to keep dirt and sand from clogging the pipe. Install the perforated drainage pipe in a trough fully surrounded by gravel before covering with soil and grass seed. This is another effective way to control proper drainage.
5) Dry Well: Simply put, a dry well is a large hole filled with gravel that catches excess water and holds it while it slowly soaks into the ground. It is possible to increase the dry well capacity by burying a commercially available holding tank surrounded by gravel or some other porous substance to control the draining of excess water.
6) Rain Garden: A rain garden located in problem areas of your property could be the solution when an underground spring or creek is the issue. First, the area needs to be excavated and replaced with an engineered soil or gravel soil mix to allow water to slowly absorb. Fill the garden with water loving plants such as ferns, hostas and colorful perennials.
7) Rain Barrels: Installing a water barrel or storage well below grade to capture the runoff to use to irrigate landscaping at a later date. This is a great ‘green solution’ to divert water from one location that receives too much water to other areas that are in need of that water.
Of course, one of the easiest ways to fix your grading and drainage problems is to hire a landscape drainage professional. A trained and experienced landscape professional knows what corrective drainage measures will work best for your specific water flow patterns. They will be able to assess the full scope of your drainage issues and create an overall design.
Please note this is not a full list of solutions to alleviate poor drainage areas. If you have a wet spot in your lawn or an area you are worried about please give us a call and one of our designers will find the right solution for you!
Interested in Talking with One of Our Grading and Drainage Experts?
Our drainage experts will perform a custom assessment of your landscaping drainage system, call us at 302-764-0408 – email us at reception@disabatinoinc.com or fill out the form on our grading & drainage page.
302-764-0408 | DiSabatinoInc.com
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DiSabatino Landscaping is Delaware’s #1 Hardscape and Landscape Specialist. We can help advise you what is best way to create your outdoor living space Give us a call today! 302-764-0408