Before you even start to look at the structure, we are looking at the lay of the land. We are looking at sloping and drainage on the lot. We are looking at drain paths around the property and things that you can do to alleviate flood risks which will have a big-time, negative impact on your home.
All you can do to reduce potential risks on your property is a good thing. It is worth the time and investment to look into those things and make improvements as necessary. What you want to do when you are looking at your property is to get a feel for the lay of the land. Where is your property sloping? In what direction might surface water drainage flow. What is the nature of the land surrounding your property? Can the sloping of the adjacent properties have a negative impact on your property? Is there an elevational difference between your property and the adjacent street? Is your property at a lower elevation than the adjacent street which risks water spilling over from the street onto your property? Is water draining towards street storm drains, water intercept drains, or drainage swales? You want to try and determine this as much as possible. This is more of a challenge for a person looking at a property who is not familiar with it, such as a home buyer. If you have been living in your home though, you probably have an idea already depending on how long you have lived there. If you have lived there during times of heavy rains where you can actually see water build-up occurring in areas, this is of course to your advantage in evaluating what might be the best drainage improvement measures to consider. Regardless of whether you are familiar with drainage on the property during heavy rains or not, there is still much that can be determined by simply walking around your home even if it’s not raining.
What we really are attempting is trying to keep the edges of the home as dry as possible. Walk around the edges of the home on the exterior. Take a look at the edges of your home in close detail. Are there signs of excessive moisture accumulation there? Signs of ponding water adjacent to the home’s foundation? Is there wet-dry cycling in the ground adjacent to the home’s foundation indicated by cracked soil, moss on the ground, or shallow dried-up drainage gullies? Is there an indentation (gulley) in the ground beneath the eaves or drip edge of the roof where water hits the ground due to a lack of gutters?
The first line of defense would be the installation of gutters and downspouts at the roof eaves of the home. Do you have gutters and downspouts installed on your home? If you don’t, it would be a really good thing to look into. Installation of gutters and properly draining downspouts will play a big role in helping keep the edges of your home dry and to drain water off properly away from the edges of your home. Lack of gutters and downspouts is often a big contributor to drainage issues I see around homes. Gutter installation on all the sides of the home is best if possible; however, at times is only essential on the sides of the home where the elevation of the land at the edges of the home is the highest. You want to carefully manage surface water accumulation on the upslope areas around the home to prevent water from flowing downslope towards the home and the home’s foundation that will increase the risk for flooding, water damage, and increased risk for long-term foundation issues such as settlement and movement.
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