Water flows away from my Vienna house
Last Sunday I spent the afternoon showing homes to some clients in Centreville while it rained really hard… all afternoon. We saw plenty of back yards resembling small ponds and gutter downspouts shooting water right next to a home’s foundation. And, this morning, one of my Vienna, VA neighbors told me about the water in his basement after last night’s inch of rain.
A few years ago a friend told me that, in a total panic, she called the Wet Basement Guys during a hurricane because water was seeping into her basement. They asked her if she had extensions on her downspouts?
“No?” she responded.
It’s not Seattle, it’s Vienna, VA
You see, the Wet Basement Guys were so busy that they were giving away an insider secret when it comes to keeping rain water out of your house. It was the fact that those ugly black tubes really do work when place properly at your downspouts sloping downhill (gravity will help you) and extended away from your home will solve most rain water problems.
Spray paint green
Last weekend’s rain set a record at Dulles Airport, and the rain forecast for today may add another 3″ of rain to the swollen ground. A week like this can cause a dry basement to get wet for the first time, and once water finds an easy path to follow then the basement will get wet again.
Ignore your downspouts and you’ll pay the price!
When it isn’t raining, consider designing a rain water management system that will benefit your lawn or garden.
NDS Pop-up
Next time you are at Home Depot take a look at the NDS Drainage tools that they sell. They have simple pop-up drains and ideas to help you bury this black pipes so you are protected from sudden downpours and doing your part to limit runoff. Think of it as a Green Idea.
Home inspectors always look at the grade around your home, and if they do not see a slope away from the structure will recommend adding soil (not mulch) for added protection.
Before you get your next heavy rain, plan to add some simple downspout extensions to move the water away from your house.
Related articles
- French drain versus gutter – pros and cons (sfgate.com)
- Facing Heavy Rains? Check Gutters & Downspouts First (botdec.wordpress.com)
- The Right Way To Tackle A Basement Waterproofing Job (mydecorarticles.com)
People don’t think about potential problems until it’s too late. Here’s another article about preparing your home for a wet season.
http://blog.dankrell.com/2008/05/is-yopur-home-reasdy-for-rains.html
Dan Krell, Realtor®
Gerlach Real Estate, Inc.
http://www.DanKrell.com
Great points, Doug. Here in Phoenix we don’t get enough “substantial” rain to make this topic stay top of mind. In fact, it’s pretty common to be showing homes and see one (or a few) where the owner has changed the landscaping to the point where it slopes towards the house! Most people don’t notice this, but when we get a good rainstorm – which might be a few winters away! – it’ll be a big deal. And gutters are few & far between around here.
I even saw one house where the rain would come off the roof onto the back patio, which sloped right towards the kitchen / family room door. Unbelievable!
Chris Butterworth´s last [type] ..Where do people who move to Maricopa County come from
are house sits about 100 ft from the rd and when it rains hard or the snow melts it all comes toward the house. it get so bad sometime that it comes into the gargage and our garage is 40ft long by 24ft wide and it goes all the way to the back of the garage and then goes down the walls and into are basement. it also comes in the front of the house when it rains like that because everything is down hill. we put a drain in the garage and also have a drain in front of the garage that runs the length of it and we have it drain into a different part of the yard, but because so much comes in the drains cant handle the water and we get flooded in the basement and in the garage. we have a sump pit in the basement but its on the opposit side of where this water comes in so it never gets there. how do we keep this water from reaching the house. is there such a thing as a yard sump pit. we cant slop the yard away from the house because its the whole front yard and its huge. any suggestions