drainage fixes
What to Do Now to Get Your Property Ready
May 10, 2023A Pro’s Guide for Early May
It’s that time of year to being spring cleaning your home and property. This week’s heavy rains have caused soggy yards, flooding and runoff damage. Be sure to take a walk around your yard to assess any water issues.
May is also the time of year for prom, first communion and graduation parties. Is your home ready?
Our landscape professionals offer their top tips to get your yard prepped in time for hosting.
Set Aside a Yard Clean Up Day
Start snipping and cutting back your perennials and pruning shrubs. If your tree is young, trimming leader branches back to a single leader will allow the branch to grow stronger and thicker. Make sure you are not pruning back further than when you can see stems with green foliage, as bare branches won’t sprout new growth. Also, check to make sure there aren’t any broken branches from the recent heavy rain.
Get a Professional Opinion
Is your home missing something? This is the ideal time to review your property and see what’s lacking. Consider making an appointment with a landscape designer to get an expert opinion on ways to upgrade your house. Outdoor living spaces are one of the smartest investments you can make, extending the amount of entertaining space in your home. From pool houses to sunrooms, there’s an endless list of options for upgrading.
Assess Grading and Drainage
Unfortunately, winter helps highlight problems in your yard, such as standing water or bad runoff. The level of rain we’ve received has only exacerbated the problem. If you have drainage issues, it’s important to have your property surveyed for trouble spots. Unresolved problems can cause damage to your basement, exterior walls and decking.
Review Your Plantings
A large number of landscape shrubs and plants are not native to the areas they are planted, and struggle adapting to their new environment. Newly installed plants have not had the chance to establish a root system and can struggle when competing with the surrounding lawn for necessary nutrients.
That’s why it’s important to have a professional landscaping firm review your property and design a custom fertilization plan to fit your needs. A visit now can save you from replanting your investment next year.
How to Correct Drainage Issues
April 4, 2023Tips for Keeping Your Home Safe from Water Damage
April showers may bring May flowers, but it also brings a good amount of rain. These additional inches of rainfall can create a major problem for the foundation of your home.
From leaking basements to swarms of mosquitos, poor drainage can cost you thousands of dollars and dozens of headaches. And these problems won’t go away until they’re properly addressed.
The following tips will help you spot and address any water runoff issues before they worsen:
Assess Standing Water
It’s important to assess the amount of water your property can absorb. After a day or two of steady rain, is your lawn still wet 24 hours later? Do you have standing puddles of water? Are your plants getting too much moisture? It’s time to address your water runoff.
Many local governments and townships have adopted stormwater resolutions that prevent more than a certain percentage of impervious surfaces, such as buildings and driveways, from being installed. These surfaces have been found to contribute to runoff issues.
Plant Ground Cover or Shrubs for Erosion Control
Native plants are one of the most cost-effective and efficient ways to reduce erosion in your yard. They help stabilize the soil, slow rainwater runoff and protect topsoil. The roots in native plants and shrubbery protect from erosion and help soak up excess moisture.
When planting new grass, sod is also a better choice over seed in poorly drained backyards. Sod has a root system already in place, whereas seed may be washed away by a sloping area.
Build a Retaining Wall
A stone retaining wall doesn’t just elevate the look of your yard: It also helps keep soil from washing down steep slopes. These walls help to stabilize topsoil and move water away from your home. In particular, terraced yards may need masonry to address erosion and runoff. Retaining walls can be built from a variety of materials today, including concrete, stone and wood.
Consider Swales
While lesser-known, swales are practical and efficient ways to run water away from your home. These “trenches” are dug in such a way that they’re hard to spot but extremely efficient at moving runoff water. Instead of soaking up water, they move it away as soon as rainstorms clear.
Install Drainage
French drains can have a dramatic impact on irrigation issues. These shallow trenches contain perforated pipes that are buried underground. The drains help whisk excessive water away from your home. Once the pipe fills with water, it’s redirected to the area you want to channel your runoff. French drains are tricky and should be professionally installed.
Consult with a Professional
A professional landscaping firm is your best bet for finding the root cause of your drainage issues. Experienced landscape designers and installers will be able to assess your grading, design a custom plan to address it and implement the most efficient ways to control erosion to prevent potential flooding and water damage.
Water drainage projects aren’t always your first remodeling priority, but they’re critical to keeping your lawn healthy and your house protected from water damage.
How to Know if You Have a Drainage Problem
November 22, 2022Standing or pooling puddles of water may seem harmless, but they can cause a great deal of damage to your property. Over time, water will work its way into the home and create mold, rot and foundation issues.
Addressing the problem now can prevent thousands of dollars in repairs down the road. While pools of standing water are obvious concerns, there are other less evident signs you might have a drainage problem.
How do you know it’s time to call a professional to evaluate your home? The following tips should help:
Overflowing Downspouts
A well protected home has water run at least five feet away from the foundation. If your gutters aren’t whisking water away, you can get up to 600 gallons of runoff per one inch of rainfall. That water goes right into the soil, putting pressure on your basement and causing cracks that can cost tens of thousands of dollars in repairs.
Moving Mulch
Have you noticed streams of water flowing through your plant beds? If small moats have appeared, you might have a drainage problem. Large streams of water can carve paths in your mulch due to backup. Over time, this can damage your walkways and exterior stonework. You’re also probably missing yards of valuable mulch. An experienced landscaper can build a swale or soil berm to redirect water from the house.
Attic Mildew
While it might not seem like moisture in your attic would be affected by drainage, it can definitely be a result of water damage. Moisture from the basement can rise through the house and grow mildew on the underside of the roof. If you see this issue, you should contact a professional immediately.
Flaking Walls
Efflorescence is caused by mineral deposits left behind by water. If gray or white frosty crusting appears on the basement walls, moisture is condensing. Flaking walls, called spalling, may also be a sign that water is getting behind the walls. Any spotting bigger than a half inch may be cause for concern.
If you see any of the above issues, you should contact your local professional landscaper DiSabatino Landscaping to evaluate your property and offer the most effective ways to mitigate the drainage problems. Time is of the essence to prevent additional complications such as mold and rotted foundations.
Tips for Preventing Damaging Erosion and Drainage Issues
May 3, 2022A Checklist to Protect Your Home
Many first-time homeowners don’t realize how much of an impact sloping, yard runoff and grading concerns can make on their homes. From leaking basements to swarms of mosquitos, poor drainage can cost you thousands of dollars and dozens of headaches. And these problems won’t go away until they’re permanently fixed.
The following are a few ways to spot and address any issues before they become worse:
Assess Any Standing Water After a Heavy Rain
The first step towards fixing a problem is acknowledging you have one. After a day or two of steady rain, is your lawn still wet 24 hours later? Do you have standing puddles of water? Are your plants getting too much moisture? It’s time to address your water runoff.
Plant Ground Cover or Shrubs for Erosion Control
Native plants are one of the most cost-effective and efficient ways to reduce erosion in your yard. They help stabilize the soil, slow rainwater runoff and protect topsoil. The roots in native plants and shrubbery protect from erosion and help soak up excess moisture. When planting new grass, sod is also a better choice over seed in poorly drained backyards. Sod has a root system already in place, whereas seed may be washed away by a sloping area.
Build a Retaining Wall
A stone retaining wall doesn’t just elevate the look of your yard: It also helps keep soil from washing down steep slopes. These walls help to stabilize topsoil and move water away from your home. In particular, terraced yards may need masonry to address erosion and runoff. Retaining walls can be built from a variety of materials today, including concrete, stone and wood.
Learn How to Spell Swale
While lesser-known, swales are practical and efficient ways to run water away from your home. These “trenches” are dug in such a way that they’re hard to spot but extremely efficient at moving runoff water. Instead of soaking up water, they move it away as soon as rainstorms clear.
Drain, Drain Go Away
French drains can have a dramatic impact on irrigation issues. These shallow trenches contain perforated pipes that are buried underground. The drains help whisk excessive water away from your home. Once the pipe fills with water, it’s redirected to the area you want to channel your runoff. French drains are tricky and should be professionally installed.
Get a Professional Consultation
With that being said, a professional landscaping firm is your best bet for finding the root cause of your drainage issues. Experienced landscape designers and installers will be able to assess your grading, design a custom plan to address it and implement the most efficient ways to control erosion to prevent potential flooding and water damage.
Water drainage projects aren’t always your first priority, but they’re critical to keeping your lawn healthy and your home protected from water damage.
How Proper Drainage Benefits Your Landscaping
February 16, 2021Some homeowners might not realize the role that proper drainage plays in a healthy landscape. Drainage is just as important as irrigation system, if not more so. Excessive rainfall, soil erosion and flooding cause further problems when there is not proper drainage.
Pooling water can damage trees, flowers and plants by allowing disease to set in and insect manifestations. There is also damage to a home’s foundation to consider. That is why proper drainage is so important.
DiSabatino Landscaping suggest that property owner consider strategically placing piping and drains to protect your landscaping, hardscaping and foundation.
Spending a modest amount of money to protect your property just make good business sense. For a foundation constantly subjected to flooding, the cost of cleanup, replacement and repair far outweigh the cost of an effective drainage system.
Now is a good time to have your property’s drainage system reviewed and maintained before the spring showers arrive. DiSabatino Landscaping can help you determine the best course of action for all your drainage needs.
Our specialists have been solving drainage problems for over 20 years. They can quickly evaluate the grade of your property and identify problem areas. We determine the most effective solution for your drainage issues.
DiSabatino Landscaping can ensure that your foundation and landscaping is protected from the heavy rains and prolonged wet periods ahead. Give DiSabatino Landscaping a call today. Our team will help you make all the right choices for your drainage problems.
302-764-0408 | DiSabatinoInc.com
RELATED ARTICLES:
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DiSabatino Landscaping is Delaware’s #1 Hardscape and Landscape Specialist. We can help advise you what is best way to create All Season Sunrooms Give us a call today! 302-764-0408
How to Solve Landscape Drainage Problems
November 17, 2020
If you are experiencing an unusually soggy lawn with pooled water, there is a good chance you are suffering from landscape drainage problems. This year has brought more than our fair share of challenges to our area. Between the pandemic, the Spotted Lanternfly invasion and unrelenting rainfall, our landscapes are saturated and mushy.
When your landscape is saturated, it can be bothersome all the way around. It is not only bad for your outdoor living; it can affect your indoor living, as well. If you property is suffering from drainage issues, it can permeate your home’s foundation and wreak havoc on your indoor environment.
Redirecting water away from your home’s foundation and using certain water management strategies can solve your drainage issues and get your property back to a healthy harmony.
Properly grading around the perimeter of your home to prevent water from seeping into the foundation is one-step towards solving landscape drainage issues. There are a number of other very effective ways to divert water to other areas of your landscape.
How to Solve Landscape Drainage Problems:
Add extensions to your downspouts: Attaching extensions to divert water from a downspout guiding water collected in gutters well away from the foundation. This will prevent water from flooding basements or sub-ground areas of the home.
Dry Well: A dry well holds water in a large hole filled with gravel allowing it to slowly soaks into the ground.
Strategically placed drainage grates and boxes: Placing surface drains with grates that keeps debris out, yet allows water flow into the box channeling to a slanted pipe allowing the water to run downhill.
Swale or French Drain: Drainages swales are pitched areas lined with stone or grass designed to guide water off your property or to an area well away from the foundation. Whereas, a French drain is another effective way to fix drainage issues. A French drain is a perforated pipe sheathed by a fabric sock to keep dirt and sand from clogging the pipe.
Rain Garden or Barrel: A rain garden in problem locations of your property could be the solution when an underground spring or creek is the issue. Likewise, installing a water barrel or storage well below grade to capture the runoff that can be used to irrigate landscaping elsewhere.
Many drainage problems will require hiring a landscape drainage professional. A trained and experienced landscape professional knows what corrective drainage measures will work best for your specific water flow patterns. They will be able to assess the full scope of your drainage issues and create an overall design.
Please note this is not a full list of solutions to alleviate poor drainage areas. However, if you have a wet spot in your lawn or an area you are worried about please give us a call and one of our designers will find the right solution for you!
DiSabatino Landscaping helps fix landscape drainage problems for residences in Delaware and the surrounding area. If you would like to find out what we can do for you, please get in touch
302-764-0408 | DiSabatinoInc.com
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DiSabatino Landscaping is Delaware’s #1 Hardscape and Landscape Specialist. We can help advise you what is best way to create outdoor fireplaces & fire pits Give us a call today! 302-764-0408
5 Ways to Fix Landscape Drainage Problems
March 5, 2020Got Drainage Problems?
Is your yard experiencing drainage problems?
Grading around your home to prevent water build up at the foundation is one big step towards fixing drainage issues.
Water heading towards your foundation is a big issue
5 Ways to Fix Drainage Problems:
- Downspout Extension: Add these to guide water collected by gutters away from the foundation so that water does not end up in the basement. Redirect across property to avoid pooling.
- Drainage Boxes or Grates: Redirect water to a surface drain such as a simple 12” X 12” square or 6” round grate.
- Drainage Swales: Create pitched areas lined with stone or grass guiding water off you property or to an area well away from the foundation. Drainage swales prevent standing water that can lead to mosquitos and other issues.
- French Drain: Install a perforated drainage pip in a gravel lined trough to keep your lawn from experiencing consistent flooding.
- Rain Barrels: Install water barrel or storage well to capture runoff and use to irrigate at a later date.
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Got Drainage Problems?
Whether you just built your home or your home has been in the family for generations; we have seen it all! All of our designers are equipped with state of the art leveling devices so we can find the correct solution for your home’s specific situation.
DiSabatino Landscaping will always try to assess your personal property and find the best solution to fix your drainage problems
Landscape Maintenance Tips to Perform Before Winter
December 12, 2019Timing is everything in the landscaping business. Particular chores or lawn maintenance need done during certain times of the year for best results.
Things, such as properly timed applications will have your landscape reaping the benefits. Doing these maintenance tasks at the wrong time could be a waste of energy or worse. It could actually harm your landscape.
Since very few of us have that a green thumb, we thought sharing some helpful tips for fall maintenance might be in order. Preform these chores to have a vibrant landscape year round. Doing right thing at the right time will keep your lawn and garden looking its best.
7 Ways to Solve Landscape Drainage Problems
October 8, 2019Is Your Property Experiencing Drainage Problems?
Anyone who has experienced drainage problems, such as a flooded basement, damage to their home’s foundations and interior understands the importance of proper drainage. It is vital that water is properly directed away from your home’s foundation.
Water management Tactics for Your Home
As more and more building is going on in our area, the amount of porous land is diminishing. This can cause drainage problems for even the most mature properties, as traditional water flow patterns are interrupted. This is something than many homeowners are starting to experience.
Grading around your home to prevent water from building up around the foundation is one-step in creating proper drainage. However, there are a number of tactics effective to help divert water to other areas of your landscape. We thought we would share a few of these with you today.
7 Ways to Solve Landscape Drainage Problems:
1) Downspout Extensions: Add a downspout extension to guide water collected by gutters well away from the foundation so that it does not end up in the basement. This is the most basic and necessary tactic to protecting your home from water damage. Re-route the water across the yard surface to avoid a pooling in one area.
2) Drain Boxes or Grates: Routing water to a surface drain, such as a 12” x 12” square or 6” round grate that keeps debris out, yet lets water flow into the box. Keep in mind that the pipe buried should allow the water to run downhill.
3) Drainage Swales: Drainages swales are pitched areas lined with stone or grass designed to guide water off your property or to an area well away from the foundation. Water should not stand more than 24 hours unless we have an extreme rain event. Drainage swales prevent standing water, which can lead to mosquitos and other issues. With grass swales, turf should be kept healthy because the root system maintains the integrity of the swale. Whether you have a grass or stone swale, they should be kept free of debris so as not to impede water flow.
4) French Drain: A French drain consists of perforated pipe sheathed by a fabric sock to keep dirt and sand from clogging the pipe. Install the perforated drainage pipe in a trough fully surrounded by gravel before covering with soil and grass seed. This is another effective way to control proper drainage.
5) Dry Well: Simply put, a dry well is a large hole filled with gravel that catches excess water and holds it while it slowly soaks into the ground. It is possible to increase the dry well capacity by burying a commercially available holding tank surrounded by gravel or some other porous substance to control the draining of excess water.
6) Rain Garden: A rain garden located in problem areas of your property could be the solution when an underground spring or creek is the issue. First, the area needs to be excavated and replaced with an engineered soil or gravel soil mix to allow water to slowly absorb. Fill the garden with water loving plants such as ferns, hostas and colorful perennials.
7) Rain Barrels: Installing a water barrel or storage well below grade to capture the runoff to use to irrigate landscaping at a later date. This is a great ‘green solution’ to divert water from one location that receives too much water to other areas that are in need of that water.
Of course, one of the easiest ways to fix your grading and drainage problems is to hire a landscape drainage professional. A trained and experienced landscape professional knows what corrective drainage measures will work best for your specific water flow patterns. They will be able to assess the full scope of your drainage issues and create an overall design.
Please note this is not a full list of solutions to alleviate poor drainage areas. If you have a wet spot in your lawn or an area you are worried about please give us a call and one of our designers will find the right solution for you!
Interested in Talking with One of Our Grading and Drainage Experts?
Our drainage experts will perform a custom assessment of your landscaping drainage system, call us at 302-764-0408 – email us at reception@disabatinoinc.com or fill out the form on our grading & drainage page.
302-764-0408 | DiSabatinoInc.com
RELATED ARTICLES:
Drainage Fixes to Protect Your Home and Landscaping
Got Drainage? Proper Drainage Benefits …
How to Create a Sustainable Garden that Helps Wildlife
DiSabatino Landscaping is Delaware’s #1 Hardscape and Landscape Specialist. We can help advise you what is best way to create your outdoor living space Give us a call today! 302-764-0408
Drainage Fixes to Protect Your Home and Landscaping
October 10, 2018Two Thousand and Eighteen has been a record year for rainfall in the Delaware Valley Region. With average rainfall typically at 45 inches, we are currently nearing 80 inches plus this year alone! This crushes the previous record since the initiation of rainfall records back to 1895.
Due to the excessive rainfall you may have noticed your sump pumps running more, soft spots in lawns that were not there before, or water problems in the yard that have gotten worse with the record rainfall. DiSabatino Landscaping specializes in finding the appropriate drainage solution for your home.
Instead of guessing and doing the bare minimum to remediate the symptom we take the time to actually assess and correct these issues for both your basement and landscaping. During our consultation, we weigh not only the history of the area but also what you, as the homeowner, have experienced during your time in the home.
Got Drainage? Proper Drainage Benefits Your Landscaping and Your Home’s Foundation
Whether you just built your home or your home has been in the family for generations; we have seen it all! All of our designers are equipped with state of the art leveling devices so we can find the correct solution for your home’s specific situation.
DiSabatino Landscaping will always try to assess your personal property and find the best solution to fix your drainage problems
Drainage Fixes to Protect Your Home and Landscaping:
1. Surface Flow:
This is the most cost effective solution for many homes. With this solution your landscape needs to have a minimum of a 2% grade to have the water properly flow over your lawn to the appropriate storm water management location. This type of work is typically done in swale creation.
2. Down Spouts:
This is one of the most common culprits to having water sitting at the foundation of your home. By taking the downspouts out a minimum of 10’ from your home this can alleviate the rainwater load at the foundation of your house by almost 80%. We always run your downspouts with SCH 40 PVC pipe to ensure no sediment will be caught, crushing of the pipe will not occur from typical lawn traffic and we install the pipes with an easy cleanout system if you have leaves in your gutters.
3. Dry River Beds:
This is a more extreme case of surface flow drainage solutions. Typically, a dry riverbed solution is used in areas where grass will not easily grow. By creating the same surface flow solution as previously mentioned; however, we would install decorative or ballast stone that will allow the water to drain directly through the area to the appropriate storm water management location.
4. Catch Basins:
Here we begin to get more in depth with your landscape. Catch basins/drain boxes are typically used when a low point in one point of your lawn does not drain properly and a surface flow or down spout solution is not the correct way to move the water away from your home. Here we install the appropriate sized catch basin to support the intake volume of water and move said water through the appropriately sized PVC SCH 40 pipe.
5. Flow Wells:
This solution is used when water cannot be moved away from where the water is pooling. Typically used in smaller areas to move water from the surface into the soil column this solution begins to get into the more complex drainage solutions.
6. French Drains and Percolation Drains:
Used in extreme solutions when water cannot be moved away from the location of pooling water in your yard; these solutions can hold and/or move the water underground to be dispersed into the soil column.
7. Retention/Detention Ponds:
This is one of the more costly installations of drainage solutions typically used on new homes or new hardscaping project needs. These ponds are designed to take excessive amounts of water from the surface and drain or collect them as needed by the county/township.
Please note that this is not a full list of solutions that DiSabatino Landscaping uses to alleviate poor drainage areas. However, if you have a wet spot in your lawn or an area you are worried about please give us a call and one of our designers will find the right solution for you!
If you’re interested in talking with one our drainage experts regarding a custom assessment of your landscaping drainage system, call us at 302-764-0408 – email us at reception@disabatinoinc.com or fill out the form on our grading & drainage page.
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