The Top Drainage Solutions For Your Home – A Comprehensive Guide
When you have areas where water collects after rain, it can wreak havoc on your landscape and damage your home’s foundation. This problem is usually caused by poor drainage.
Soil erosion eats away topsoil, decreases soil quality, and threatens building foundations. Proper drainage solutions can help you prevent this and save you money in the long run.
Trench Drains
A trench drain is a system that provides an elongated surface to get rid of surface water. They’re great for preventing erosion along the edges of paved areas and keeping moisture away from structures like patios, driveways, and pool decks.
They can be used alone or with a French drain and are ideal for directing water flow while filtering and reducing clogging. Trench drains are also a great option for sites that have trouble with drainage due to site grading and soil conditions or are prone to flooding.
The best trench drains are made from GRP or SMC (glass-fiber reinforced polyester pressed from sheet molding compound), which is lighter and has greater compressive, flexural, and tensile strength than polymer concrete, HDPE, and polypropylene. They’re also less brittle and expand and contract in extreme temperatures much less than other materials. They’re available in various widths, depths, and grating options for residential and non-residential applications.
Leaching Basins
You should consider yard drainage solutions St. Louis MO if you are tired of muddy yards after every rainstorm or your basement flooding. A proper landscape drainage program improves your home’s curb appeal, makes it more valuable, and protects the environment.
When the gutters are full of water, they can cause mold and mildew, rust your downspouts, and erode or crack sidewalks, patios, driveways, and retaining walls. The excess water can also damage your foundation.
A catch basin is a concrete or plastic drainage device that looks like an underground hole with some grate over the opening. Runoff water flows into and through the grate, then the soil in and around the basin absorbs it or is routed via subsurface pipes to a drain emitter. The catch basin must be cleaned regularly, or it can produce foul odors and pollutants.
French Drains
A French drain is an outdoor solution you wish every home were built on top of, as it can prevent foundation problems and other costly damage. It preemptively funnels groundwater away from your house to prevent heaving and other damage from moisture building up within the soil around your home.
It works on the simple principle that water always flows downward and takes the path of least resistance. It pulls in puddles and large pools of water by creating an ideal pathway and then directs it to a location that can absorb the excess water, like a rain garden or a drain basin.
Dry Wells
Dry wells are buried pits that filter rainwater and return it to the soil. These are great for dealing with stormwater runoff, especially near driveways or patios. They’re a good choice for homeowners who want to reduce the strain they put on local storm drains, which often get filled with litter and pollutants.
You can buy dry wells in a kit form or dig your own, which can be done by a professional but is best left to a contractor familiar with underground work. They range from a hand-dug pit lined with porous landscape fabric and packed with rocks to high-end perforated concrete or polyethylene tanks.
You’ll want to install a swale leading to the dry well so that stormwater flows toward and away from your foundation. This also helps prevent erosion and keeps the water from washing through your yard. This is a great way to keep your yard looking beautiful and prevent structural damage to your home.