Improving the drainage system in your home is an important part of home maintenance. Read on to find out why!
Photos from: Morgue File
Puddles and wet spots in your yard are an annoying and unattractive sight. If grass stays underwater too long, it dies. Wet grass cannot be mowed, and nobody wants muddy footprints to get inside their home. If the problem area is too close to your house, water can seep into your basement and create dangerous mold problems. Check out six different ways below that you can improve the drainage system in your home so these situations don't happen to you.
1. Extend the downspout
In many cases, a landscaping next to your home can become a reservoir for standing water. Adding an extension to your downspout, which will make it longer, is a good solution to this problem. Investigate the situation and pay attention to where the water is coming from. The problem could be as simple as draining from a sump pump or a drain that builds up there. You may just need to redirect your downspout or move the sump pump outlet line to a different location.
2. Install an underground drain pipe
Draining excess water through an underground drain pipe is one of the best ways to fix the problem. Underground drainage pipes are made from concrete, stoneware, and UPVC, to name a few, and can be found at locations like EasyMerchant. For this to be a viable solution, your yard needs to slope down at least 1/8 of an inch per foot. You'll need to dig a trench for the pipe, which, logically, is the tricky part. This gradually sloping trench must lead from the source to the outlet. Next, a plastic catch basin is buried at the source and connected to the drain with a PVC drain pipe.
3. Install a French Drain
Installing a French drain in your garden is another great solution for improving drainage. It is a practical invention for solving a variety of drainage problems. A French drain is essentially a trench that contains a perforated pipe surrounded by gravel. A French drain allows the water to spread over a large area as the water simply penetrates the earth and flows along the perforated pipe.
4. Build a dry well
A dry well is essentially a large hole that has been filled with gravel. It holds excess water when it seeps into the ground. At the lowest point of the courtyard is a dry well in which the draining water collects. Ideally, a dry well should be placed at least 10 feet from your home. To prevent the downspout drain from cutting a groove in the yard on the way to the dry well, you can install a simple swallow, which will be a gravel-filled trench, or a French drain.
5. Build a creek bed
If there is a natural slope on your property or in a place where water normally collects, why not build a dry creek bed? All you have to do is line a shallow trench with landscaping fabric and fill it with various sizes of boulders and stones. When the weather is wet and rainy, excess water flows down the creek bed to a selected collection point. The great thing about a creek bed is that it can become an attractive landscape feature that requires very little maintenance. You can add different plants and it will look great even when it's dry.
6. Create a rain garden
Is there a low point in your garden where rainwater collects? Why not create a rain garden? A rain garden is simply a depressed area in the landscape that contains native flowers, shrubs, and perennials and that is designed to drain rainwater. It is not really intended to solve the problem of water in your garden. it should make something beautiful out of it. The key to a successful rain garden is choosing the right type of plant that will thrive in plenty of water. Some examples of these types of plants are the cardinal, black-eyed susan, marshweed, and turtle head plants.
Final thoughts
A good place to start drawing up a plan is to outline your property and write down problem areas so you can come up with the best possible solutions. With a little work and creativity, improving the drainage system in your home is definitely an achievable goal.
