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How Yard Drainage Affects Your Foundation

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How Yard Drainage Affects Your Foundation
How Yard Drainage Affects Your Foundation
Foundation cracks and leaky wet basements are a harsh reality when one does not make proper yard drainage to their home a priority. Don’t let this be the case for you and your home! Instead, take the proper precautions necessary to save your home from any water or structural damage. If you are asking yourself the real side effects of not implementing the right drainage, or you want a couple different options on how to go about it, then you have come to the right place! Below is some insight on how yard drainage affects your foundation and what exactly you can do to make sure your home stays safe and dry.

How Does Water Get Inside?

It might be best to first understand exactly how water gets into the basement before you look at the effects of it, as well as precautions on how to prevent it. So, how does water get into your basement? Well, there are numerous different ways that this can occur, such as:

  • Leaky windows
  • Clogged window wells
  • Gutters overflowing
  • Not having gutters
  • Short downspouts
  • Improper landscape slope
  • Roof leaks
  • Abundance of water

It is important to note that these are not all of the ways that water can enter your basement and affect your foundation, but they are some of the most common ones to watch out for and prevent.

Why Is Foundation Drainage Important?

Many issues can occur when water enters a basement, crawlspace, or a home. Not only can it lead to the property in the space being damaged, but it can also lead to mold and mildew growing in the area. None of these are good for the house or the homeowner. The worst part? These are only the minimal effects of water getting into the basement.

Depending on how the water is getting in, how fast it is moving, and how much of it there is, water infiltrating your basement can result in numerous other problems. Damaged floors, walls, and foundation cracks, and even the moving and shifting of the foundation altogether are all possibilities of water damage. Understanding all this hopefully paints the picture in your mind that preventative measures need to be taken to avoid this from occurring in your home.

It is important to note that foundation issues are not good at all. They should not be ignored and looked past. They can result in your home becoming structurally unsafe, which is not what anybody wants. If you see a crack or have any indication that water has caused an issue to the foundation of your home, make sure that you deal with it immediately. While it might be expensive to fix, it will be cheaper than what will occur if you ignore it and further damage house problems occur.

Improvements You Can Make To Your Drainage

There are a few different avenues homeowners can take when improving their yard drainage for their home. A few different possibilities have been outlined below:

 

Check the Landscape

Checking the area that surrounds your home to see if the yard is higher than the house is extremely important. Over time, this can become a problem because the gravel or grass in the area has dissipated and caused the ground to become uneven. This might just be as simple as adding soil to the area so that the runoff flows away from your home instead of into your basement.
 

Look at The Condition of Your Gutters

Not only should you clean your gutters on a regular basis, but you should also consistently make sure that they are in good condition as well. Gutters filling up with leaves and other materials can only cause back up and drainage problems. Another problem that might occur is also that the gutters aren’t properly placed and it might be causing too much runoff in one area.

 

Consider Your Downspouts

This is a big problem if your downspouts are too close to your foundation or they are just not being used at all. You need to have them to keep the water draining away from your home.

These three points are not the only ways that you can go about fighting yard drainage from hurting your basement and home, but they are three you can do yourself. In addition to these three, a few other points include checking your sump pump to make sure that it is working and is directed far away from your home. The most important thing to do is be an observant homeowner. You really can fix so many problems by just noticing them when they start to occur.

You Can Always Hire a Professional

If yard drainage is an issue that you have been combating and can’t seem to get right or you just want somebody who knows what they are doing, hire a professional. Professionals understand how important it is to get your yard drainage under control. Not only will they do everything in their power to stop it, but many will be able to identify if any structural damage has occurred to your foundation, as well as assessing the safety of the foundation. And while we understand that hiring a professional can cost more than you want to pay, it is the safe and secure way to go. You don’t want to risk the foundation of your home being insecure and unsafe for your family. Please, never be afraid to ask for help!

Speaking of professionals, that is where we come in! Here at The Real Seal. We want to help you combat all your basement water issues and foundation repairs. Not only have we explained how yard drainage affects your foundation, but we also have numerous professionals that can come to your home to help you!

Read more about – Ways To Prevent Rainwater Damage

Check out our website or call us today to get the insight you need. Not only can we help you solve the drainage issues from your yard, but we can also help you fix the problems that have occurred in your basement because of them. If you need basement waterproofing in Chicago, you should really reach out to us today. We will be more than happy to help!

How Yard Drainage Affects Your Foundation

WRITTEN BY

Austin Werner

Austin Werner is the Owner of The Real Seal LLC, a basement waterproofing and foundation repair company. Austin believes that having a highly trained and happy team is the key to success. This is reflected through hundreds of 5 star customer reviews his company has received online.

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