Quality land drainage is vital to property

UNLESS you’ve been fortunate enough to have spent the last few months living in the southern hemisphere, you’ll be aware that’s been one of the wettest and most prolonged winter and spring of recent years.

Excess water is the homeowner’s worst nightmare and while the danger signs of leaks inside the home are more obvious through ceilings and mould spots, exterior signs are a little harder to pin down. The recent spell of wet weather should have been enough to expose any potential weak spots around your property where water gathers. If so, then now is a good time to act.

The build-up of rain water around a home is lethal to its structural security which is why you need to be able to take on the challenge straight away. Rain is common enemy number 1 in this country and we must design the exterior of a property to face up to this challenge.

Surface water and pooling is usually the first sign of the land being incapable of dealing with water. The kind of thundery showers we get in summer when water pools on the lawn for a few hours is not necessarily what to look out for. It’s when water lodges for 48 hours or more that you need to take action.

If your soil is clay based, then it makes soakage difficult if not impossible to contend with. A word of caution here: if you’re having drainage trenches inserted in a lawn, placing clay soil on top of the trenches will only result in them getting clogged again, rendering the trenches you’ve paid a pretty penny to have installed useless.

Any contractor worth their salt at this juncture will know the correct thing to do is to add heaps of better topsoil over drainage trenches so the surface water can percolate easily to the trench where it’s then carried away.

What you need to do is work out a sufficient fall away from the property’s foundations. A six inch slope from the pathway, extending out to a distance of at least 7 to 8 feet is what you need. There should also be a slight slant in the pathway where water can drain off which is then carried away by the above slope. This ensures that excess rain water is kept well away from pooling where it’s not supposed to.

The next stage is to work with the natural fall of a site by placing drainage trenches in strategic locations that work in tandem with the land’s natural gradient. This is important as you can’t make a river flow upwards and the same principle applies when directing water away from property.

Get professional advice and ensure every necessary task is put in place to rectify poor drainage. You must also keep downpipes and water spouts clear as these guys help carry water away from a property. Don’t take any chances and ensure that your property is well drained.