Simple water that falls onto your roof and your property can do great damage to your home and foundation – not just by simple water damage. Up to 500 pounds per square inch can be focused onto your home’s foundation – eventually causing structural and expensive to repair foundation damage and certainly wet, damp basements.
Thus anything a homeowner can do and plan to divert both melting snowfalls in the spring as well as pelting rain water both away from their homes and properties is of great help and benefit to them,

If you are lucky enough to have a building situated so that it is located on downwards sloping ground then it is a simple matter to simply lay out a system of drainage ditches. Ideal cosmetically for adequate and proper water drainage on a sloping downwards piece of land are swales. Swales are clever almost unnoticeable drainage ditches, dug well, and then planted over with lawn grass. Being so shallow they are almost cosmetically unnoticeable, yet very effective in diverting water and snowmelt runoff, which is diverted away from the building and its foundation. One small point of detail. Don’t cover drainage ditches with earth within a foot of wood siding – or cedar shakes placed on a wall. Amazingly insects which will hatch in the moist earth can be next attracted towards the wood to do their damage.

Next consider and inspect area that lies below eaves themselves. These must be protected from water which simply runs off the slope of the roof and roofing materials. The constant pinging of this runoff rain can actually erode soil and expose the foundation to damage.

Rain gutters are the most widely used tools and methods to carry water far away and safely to prevent damage to the foundation and its surrounding soil as well as paint and siding materials. However on the other side of the equation rain gutters and downspouts need maintenance and care. They clog up with debris. Their metal may corrode resulting in immediate water runoff and dripping to the soil below. The gutters may be fine, you may have cleaned them recently or had the metal inspected for corrosion and holes and repaired. Still debris from tree seeds and the like may have clogged the downspout over time or snow and ice in winter or spring may clog the downspout as well resulting in run over from the blocked up downspout out of the gutters themselves.

With some planning home owners and maintenance staff can have their cake and eat it as well. Grounds can be planned with steep embankments and gravel as well as patios directly under the eaves. As well dense shrubbery planted under eaves can have its role as well providing a buffer to protect the earth, slowly absorb rainwater or let it spill away and as well protect the earth and foundation against soil erosion.

However one last note when it comes to planting shrubbery near basement foundation. Certain shrubs most notably lilac trees and bushes have strong deep roots that may either burrow into deep foundations or actually grow around and restrict flow in either plumbing or heating fuel access pipes and piping

Author Bio: Noella I Snowshoe Furnasman One Hour Heating Plumbing Winnipeg Furnace Air Filters Book Your Fall