Good Drainage Avoids Major Costs In Your Home
All it takes is a particularly rainy season to stress systems that otherwise seemed fine in your property. Next thing you know, you’re dealing with flooded basements, mold issues, or a mushy yard that tracks mud everywhere.
In this post we’ll walk through how residential drainage works so you understand why it’s so important to get it right. We’ll also highlight what can happen when drainage systems aren’t ideal. This way you’ll know what to look for in an existing home you’re planning to purchase, or a custom home you’re about to build.
How Does Residential Drainage Work?
Your home’s drainage system is all about directing water away from the foundation. This includes keeping water out of basements and crawl spaces. Your rain gutters are a part of that, but it’s just as important to answer the question of what happens with the water next.
Drainage systems typically fall into two categories:
Surface drainage: Manages rain water and runoff from your roof, making sure it doesn’t flood around your home’s foundation, driveway, or landscaping. Ideally, this system guides water safely away from your home.
Subsurface drainage: Addresses water beneath the ground that can collect and cause issues. This can include French drains, sump pumps, and vapor barriers.
Signs You Should Reassess Your Home’s Drainage
If you’ve lived in your current home for a while, there may be signs of improper drainage. If so, spotting them as early as possible helps prevent much costlier repairs.
Here are some warning signs that your drainage may need attention:
There’s standing water around your foundation during and after a heavy rain.
You notice cracks forming in your foundation or walls.
Parts of your yard/landscaping are washing away or eroding. For instance, when dirt and grass near the corner of the driveway is becoming a muddy hole. You may also notice tree roots becoming exposed as the dirt around them slowly disappears.
Mildew or water stains are showing up on the walls of lower floors (or basement).
Musty smell in basements or crawl spaces.
Left unchecked, these types of drainage issues can lead to costly foundation damage and mold, as well as damage to insulation or HVAC systems.
Drainage Planning On New Builds
Planning a custom build? Smart drainage strategy begins before the foundation is poured.
The property’s slope and alignment each present their own considerations. Proper grading will leverage the land to move water away from the house, and an experienced builder will anticipate how the slope affects the foundation. This in turn informs what drainage challenges might present themselves, and the builder can address that from the outset. A slab vs. a basement setup on a hill require totally different approaches.
Basements and crawl spaces may need vapor barriers and additional waterproofing, where a slab on a very flat yard may require perimeter drains that lead away.
All hardscapes, including driveways, retaining walls, and landscaping design should be placed with runoff in mind. Driveway placement, direction, and slope can make a big difference in how it handles water coming from the yard. Similarly, retaining walls often benefit from drainage channels to manage water pressing against the material.
If you’ll be planting gardens on the property, you can build rainwater collection systems into your drainage plans early on. This helps irrigate your plants without driving up your water bill. That’s another “two birds with one stone” kind of solution.
Solving Drainage Problems on an Existing Home
The best time to solve these problems is before they occur by properly waterproofing the outside of the foundation. Unfortunately, we aren’t all blessed with that opportunity when purchasing or living in an existing home.
While there is mainly one permanent solution to prevent water infiltration through the foundation, there are several ways to treat an existing problem:
Crawlspaces
If yours has exposed soil, the very first step you can take is to lay out a plastic vapor barrier to keep moisture from the ground causing further moisture problems.
You can also go a step farther and encapsulate the crawl space. By covering the foundation walls with plastic and taping all of the seams, this helps prevent humidity and pest issues.
Lastly, installing a dehumidification system will control and remove any excess moisture that is unwanted.
Basements
The solution that many often opt into is installing a French drain around the inside perimeter and a sump pump that removes any moisture that seeps through the foundation wall.
While all of the above are great ways to treat symptoms, there are really only a couple things that can permanently fix the drainage issues on an existing home. First and foremost is redoing the waterproofing outside of the home and installing a French drain around the outside perimeter. In combination with the perfected waterproofing, another helpful solution is to install underground drains for each of the downspouts to manage the rainwater coming off the roof.
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Whether you are planning to build a house, purchase one, or actively have drainage issues in your current home, Keith Smith Construction can help prepare for or diagnose drainage problems that you might have.
Set up a Ballpark Estimate Meeting today to get the process started!