AAA Home Drainage

I recently was asked to be a guest on The Epodogy Podcast for a special show spotlighting Home Drainage. The Epodogy Podcast is produced by Media1250.

The show covers many of the basic topics I’m most often asked about such as what causes drainage problems, etc.

Please send me an email if you’d like to hear more audio programs. My mission is to help you resolve those drainage issues (ideally, before they cause chaos with your home) and I’m always looking to find ways to get the word out on the benefits of professional home drainage solutions.

Anyway, here is the show for your listening pleasure - hope you enjoy - and thanks!

If you live in the Northern hemisphere, it is summer, and the living is easy. Fish are jumpin, you know the rest of the song! As happy homeowners we water our lawns and bask in the sun in our backyards. Lemonade and puffy clouds are on our minds. Birds chirp, and butterflies flitter. We forget about home drainage problems, and those nasty winter rains out of a need for a rest from the tiring thoughts of eventually having to deal with those home drainage issues before the rains and snow comes. (more…)

Homeowners many times spend an average of 2 hours with me as I am conducting a complete home drainage evaluation of their property for groundwater problem signs.

During the evaluation of the home the homeowners eventually describe the drainage problem in detail. (more…)

When your objective is to prevent rain created groundwater or near surface springs from flooding your homes’ crawlspace or basement, nothing works as well as a hand excavated french drain that has exposed rock on the surface. The hand excavated french drain must be properly located and installed, and free of all debris. (more…)

I am asked this question often. So the answer deserves repeating. Although, in this blog on home drainage, articles cover this subject and the ability to ascertain if you have a groundwater drainage problem, I will highlight a few of the common home drainage “smoking guns” again in this article. (more…)

I am asked this question almost every day by someone. What is a french drain and how does it work? A french drain is a hand excavated groundwater removal system that starts with the hand excavation of a gravity flow aquaduct with straight sides and a flat hard bottom. (more…)

When constructing a french drain groundwater removal system that you count on to pull rainwater away from your foundation, resist the common emotional arguments associated with the desire to cover up the rock left open on the surface.

This method is used for maximum groundwater collection when it rains hard. A common statement I hear is “my kids will toss rocks”, or “I don’t like the look of exposed rock”.
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1. Resist the urge to make berms in front of your foundation. Adding raised beds in front of the foundation walls slow the flow of rainwater away from the foundation. Although they look great in some cases, they trap water next to the foundation area.
2. Do not add deep layers of barkdust next to the foundation. This will soak up water from hard rains, and produce a spongy surface that causes leaking into your basement, crawlspace, or window wells. It many times forms a negative grade that slopes to the foundation as well.

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Home groundwater problems are likely not even on the homeowners radar until they eigther sell the home and get a pest dryrot and structural inspection that indicates their problem, or when the rains come and the water starts pouring into the homes crawlspace or basement.

Don’t be the homeowner that thinks the problem will just go away. If you know you have a groundwater drainage issue now, it will only get worse and more expensive to deal with it in the future.

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I hear it all the time. I call it “voo doo” drainage. The homeowner says, “I have recieved a couple of other bids from contractors for my french drain work. One of the drainage contractors suggested that I could just put the french drain into my rain drain discharges venting my gutters. What do you think of that”? Easy answer. Do not do that! (more…)