Yard Drainage
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Professional Care for Your Yard
Your yard is an important line of defense that protects your home from structural issues and basement flooding. If your yard, grading, and drainage is properly cared for, you’ll have less risk of flooding. However, eliminating this risk altogether is often not possible. When many subdivisions were created, the building codes and practices were very different. They didn’t take proper subdivision drainage into consideration. Many homeowners installed berms, gardens, or structures in subdivision drainage paths, which often lead to flooding over time.
Reliable Basement Services can help by installing yard drainage! We can install French drain systems, bury gutter downspouts, and bury sump pump discharges. Many cities and townships allow connections of drainage solutions to stormwater sewer systems. However, if you don’t live in a community like this, you can still choose one of our many options for proper water runoff.
Before we get to work installing yard drainage, Reliable Basement Services makes a plan. While many situations have obvious fixes, others may require pulling elevations. Reliable Basement Services staff carry the equipment to make sure our plans will work. We take the grading of your property and where the water will be drained into consideration. We’ll also make sure that we will not be negatively impacting your neighbor’s property. Ultimately, we want to divert water away from your foundation and eliminate any standing water on your property.
If you have stagnant water in your yard, it can create a breeding ground for mosquitoes. In addition to being a nuisance they often carry disease. If groundwater accumulates in your lawn, it could seep into your basement or under your foundation and cause damaging erosion. It can also render your valuable yard space unusable during the periods with lots of precipitation.
Reliable Basement Services can solve this problem! Our Chicago-based waterproofing company can protect your home by installing sump pump and yard drainage systems including but not limited to:
- French Drain Systems
- Drywells
- Bury Gutter Downspouts
- Bury Sump Pump Discharges
- Connecting Systems to Storm Sewers
Yard Drainage projects start at only $800 from Reliable Basement. In Chicagoland, the average yard drainage job costs roughly $2438. While Reliable Basement Services average yard drainage job over the last 2 years only costs $2113. Meaning that many Chicagoland consumers are paying $325 (almost 14%) more than the industry average for our area. As with all investments (home-improvement projects especially) we recommend getting at least 3 price quotes.
INSTALLING FRENCH DRAIN SYSTEMS
This yard drainage system intercepts water and diverts it to a location where it does not cause a problem and can even sometime be used. A French drain is a trench dug in the ground, usually 8”-12” deep, although they can be made deeper as needed, that has been inset with a perforated PVC pipe and is surrounded with gravel. The gravel filled trench collects the water and the perforated pipe funnels the water away from your house or yard and takes that water to a planned discharge location, such as in a storm drain, swale, creek, drain box or drywell tank.
This process is not a new idea, we have simply updated the materials and planning that goes into making it happen. Years ago, farmers used a similar process to drain the water that prevented them from planting their crops. These farmers dug trenches with a consistent pitch to creeks or river beds. They filled these trenches with river rock or gravel, which would then allow the water to drain off.
INSTALLING DRYWELLS
If your yard does not allow for the proper runoff, we can install a drywell system that will give the water a place to go. Many yards do not have the proper pitch for a French drain system, gutters, or sump discharge to drain freely and easily. Additionally, many yards do not have practical access to connect systems to a storm sewer. A drywell can help solve these problems. A drywell is a large holding tank (we have various sizes available depending on application) that can be used as a place for storm water to go when other options are unavailable. It can also be used in conjunction with French drains as a collection point. Drywells are perforated and surrounded in several feet of gravel to let the water naturally seep back into the ground during periods of less precipitation so there is little to no maintenance involved once installed. The important thing to remember is that drywells do have a capacity. Whatever you’re connecting to it, if the source produces more water than the tank can hold and the soil around it can accept the water still needs a place to go. A Reliable Basement Services assessment can help you determine if a drywell is a good solution, and if so, what size would be best.
BURYING GUTTER DOWNSPOUTS
In order to maintain a dry, healthy basement, you must have clean gutters that drain away from your home. If you let your gutter downspouts drain freely beside your house, they will eventually cause serious damage, including flooding your crawl space or basement and/or causing serious structural issues over time.
Reliable Basement Services will make sure you never have to deal with this problem. We bury your gutter downspouts to divert water away from your home. We’ll ensure that it will discharge at least 10 to 15 feet away from your home’s foundation. We recommend 10 feet if the ground is pitched downward away from the house and 15 feet if it is flat. We also make sure that on the area where the water discharges, the ground is pitched away from your home when possible. If it is not, we can extend them further or offer other solutions such as, storm sewer connections, drain boxes, and drywells.
If you’ve ever had a clogged gutter, you know the negative impact it can have on your home, especially if it overflows in an area where you have a window well or other pathway for water entry. The entire square footage of your roof catches a lot of water and ends up in your gutters. If this water is not diverted properly it can cause serious issues. If your downspouts are not properly installed, water will run right back to the base of your house. If there’s enough water, it can cause the soil around and below your foundation to erode. Even if you carefully placed your downspouts, you could still have problems. Since downspouts are so light, the slightest wind can displace it without you ever even realizing it. Burying the gutter downspouts looks nice for your home and ensures some of these issues never occur.
BURYING SUMP PUMP DISCHARGES
We bury the sump pump discharge line and connect it to a place it can safely dispose of the water. This is always a lower elevation than where the sump discharge comes out of the house and always away from your foundation. If you have an above grade discharge pipe your sump pump line can easily freeze during the colder and will stop operating properly or burn out the motor on your pump. By burying the sump pump discharge line with a proper air gap this won’t happen and you also won’t have an ugly trip hazard in your yard. However, there are situations where an above grade discharge hose may be your only option if the yard is too flat back pitched or a storm sewer/drywell connection is not available.
We encourage you to speak with our team, because every yard is different, and none of these basement drainage solutions will work with every home. Our team will let you know which basement drainage solution will best protect your home. If you have excess water in your yard, act immediately to get the correct sump pump yard drainage system before the water has devastating effects.
Reliable Basement Services offers free inspections and detailed written estimates that give you a clear picture of what is needed to fix the problems we encounter. We are experts at installing yard drainage. You can trust our team of professionals to get the job done right! Call us today at 630-777-0539 for more information.