It’s important to be aware of water flow around your property. Especially in rain seasons; spring and fall, we have a massive amount of rainwater. Houses are designed to keep water away. But, consider checking on your drainage system every once in a while. You can only keep the drainage system running and well maintained if you know it. A well-maintained drainage system is as follows:
- All rainwater collected on the rooftop is directed to the gutters.
- The gutters bring water to downspouts and direct water down to ground level.
- The ground slope takes the water away from your house and gets absorbed by your lawn.
Things to check for:
- Check the gutters for any trash; the gutters should be clean and water should easily pass through it. Consider installing gutter leaf guards, if there are any trees around your house, leaf guards will prevent any trash from entering your gutters. If your gutters are clogged, water may leak into your house and cause damage to the ceiling or to the walls in your house.
- Check if your downspout is functioning properly. It should not leak and should easily transport water a few feet away from your house. Sometimes downspouts get clogged, and water gets trapped and leaks at the top leading to water damage. The clogging typically occurs at the bottom section of the downspout because of stepping on it and trash fallen from the gutter.
- Check If there is enough slope on the ground to take the drained water away from the house. Sometimes the soil near the foundation can settle down and create a slope leading to your house. If the drained water returns to your house, it will start to wash away the soil and will reach your basement’s concrete walls and break through them. Water will enter the inside of your basement through cracks in the concrete walls that already exist and if it doesn’t find one it will wash away the soil underneath your foundation leading to foundation settling which creates cracks on the walls which water can enter through. You can stop all these damages to your house easily by just adding some soil around the house.
