How to Improve Yard Drainage

Having adequate yard drainage is not only important to the look of your home—it’s crucial home maintenance. It helps to prevent standing water in your yard that can damage your yard and breed bacteria and helps to reduce the risk of flooding on your property. Not only this, but flooding in your yard can flow back to your foundation, basement, and/or crawlspace and cause damage to your home itself. Unfortunately, not all houses are built the same and some are not built with yard drainage in mind. If you find that your yard is flooding, puddling, or experiencing periods of standing water, here are some effective ways to achieve better yard drainage and prevent any damage from happening to your home.

French Drains

French drains are used to solve a wide range of drainage problems since they are an excellent technique to spread water across a vast area. French drains work by using a perforated pipe buried in a gravel trench to collect and distribute water as it runs along the inside of the pipe. They do not need an outlet. Discover how to construct a French drain.

The ability to have an intake on each side of the pipe makes French drains special since two areas can flow into one drain at the same time. To lessen surface water runoff, French drains can be used in conjunction with gutters or dry wells.

Dry Wells

Water is pumped into dry wells, which are perforated underground tanks surrounded by aggregate. Through the perforations on the tank’s side, the water slowly seeps into the earth and gathers in the well. This system has the capacity to hold a lot of water, preventing the soil from being overly saturated. The first 20 minutes of your heaviest typical rainstorm of the year should be able to be collected by an efficient dry well. A dry well can be connected to a number of drainage systems, such as French drains, gutters, and channel drains.

Your local building inspector should be consulted to determine whether permits are necessary for a dry well. Since a dry well may affect groundwater, certain communities may demand particular designs or materials to reduce any risks your dry well would otherwise present.

Gutter Downspouts

The amount of water that is accumulating in your yard may be caused by the gutters on your home. Rain that has accumulated in your home’s gutters is discharged through the closest downspout. It could be time to reroute your gutters if your downspouts are draining into an area that slopes upward or frequently accumulates water.

Downspouts must drain a minimum of 4-8 feet from the foundation to ensure proper protection to your foundation and mitigate crawlspace moisture. Downspouts can be run above and below ground depending on preference and location. To maintain full usage of your yard, we often divert downspouts underground whenever possible.

Landscaping

Drainage issues can occasionally be difficult or expensive to solve. When that occurs, it might be time to think about a different landscaping option. While providing new and different landscaping can help offset the problem, it is not likely to 100% correct the issues at hand unless the yard is regraded. Despite this, there are many possibilities for native plants that grow well in wet environments and provide a home for animals like birds, frogs, insects, and other small creatures that rely on them for food and shelter. Large volumes of water may be absorbed by rain gardens, which are very simple to maintain and give homeowners hours of delight.

Yard Drainage Solutions by Jersey Shore Crawlspace Enhancement

Water should never be “accepted” in the crawl space environment. Constant flooding and standing water in your yard can flow back to your home and damage your foundation, basement, and/or crawlspace. This in turn also weakens your wood structure, provides the perfect environment for mold growth, and attracts termites, pests, and rodents due to the moist environment.

Regardless of the conditions within your basement or crawlspace, we can help! Our systems are designed with the challenges of living here on the Jersey Shore in mind. Prior to any action being taken, we offer a comprehensive 22-point evaluation to monitor the moisture conditions within your basement and/or crawlspace, all the while ensuring that your home is not at risk for common issues such as poor drainage.

We perform this evaluation 3 times throughout the year to stay in front of seasonal issues, monitor the moisture conditions, and service your vents to ensure proper ventilation. With over 20 years of dedicated service for our fellow neighbors here on the shore, trust your home with the Jersey Shore’s Crawlspace pros!

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