6 Signs That Poor Yard Drainage Is Damaging Your Home And Garden

Worried Poor Drainage is Ruining Your Yard?

Inadequate water drainage around your property can result in eroded and damaged landscaping. What’s worse, it can threaten the structural integrity of your home, including the foundation, floors, and even the roof. That’s why it’s important to recognize signs of poor drainage around your property–especially the ones that are less obvious.

Signs Of Poor Drainage in Your Yard

1. Topsoil moves every time it rains.

If water isn’t absorbed by the soil, or if it doesn’t have a clear drainage path, it will wash over the topsoil and mulch in your yard. This can end up pushing that soil and mulch into walkways, dips, and gulleys or even onto drain covers, causing them to get clogged. In turn, clogged drains worsen the drainage issue that already exists.

2. Your yard’s soil is eroding.

An excessive amount of water can weaken the soil in your yard to the point at which the soil will start to drop and slide away. This is known as erosion. You may see signs of erosion around your yard in the form of fissures or pits in the soil and areas where the soil appears to have dropped.

Erosion can ruin your garden beds, but, even worse, it can cause much more detrimental damage when it occurs around walkways, patios, or foundations. If the soil wears and washes away from beneath a walkway or patio, it can cause that walkway or patio to collapse. Similarly, if soil erodes away enough to expose a home’s foundation more than what’s considered safe, the home’s structural integrity will be at risk.

3. Water pools under gutters and downspouts.

Your gutters keep water from flowing down the side of your house and collecting around your home’s foundation. If your gutters are clogged with leaves and debris or if they are too small to meet your home’s needs, water will flood over your gutters and start to pool around your foundation.

4. Your crawlspace has puddles or soggy areas.

A wet crawlspace can lead to a multitude of problems for any home. The damp environment provides an ideal breeding ground for mold and mildew, which in turn will have a negative effect on a home’s indoor air quality. In addition, a wet crawlspace can also lead to structural issues with a home’s framing, roof, and flooring. What’s more, pools of water can make your home very attractive to a variety of pests, including insects and rodents.

5. Your wood floor is warping.

If your yard does not have an adequate drainage system, it can cause water to infiltrate your crawlspace and erode the soil around your home’s foundation. Excess moisture in your crawlspace or movement in your home’s foundation can cause floorboards to warp, bow, or pop out of place.

6. You have a clogged drain.

Winds, storms, and other natural occurrences inevitably blow leaves, dirt, trash, and stones around your yard. While annoying to clean up, they may also clog your yard drains and prevent them from properly removing water from your home.

Solutions for Poor Yard Drainage

Each property is going to have its unique share of drainage issues. For instance, if there is a slope on your property, you can count on this being a drainage problem unless you construct a way to keep water from collecting at the slope’s base. It’s also important to consider the type of soil on your property as well. If your soil is a type that does not drain well, such as hard clay, it’s a good idea to get a yard drainage system installed to prevent pools of water and erosion.

Our Paducah landscapers have experience installing:

• French drains

• A depressed rain garden to allow more time for water to infiltrate into the ground

• Proper grading to create a correct slope

• A dry well vertical drainage system

• Trenching

• Terracing

• Grading

• Moving fill dirt

• Clearing land