Drainage

Drainage problems can cause extensive damage and create major headaches for a homeowner, including storm water runoff, erosion, standing water, and wet basements.

A well-planned and executed drainage system brings practical benefits:

• Keeping soil erosion at bay, especially around foundations
• Avoiding slippery areas that could cause accidental slips and falls
• Healthier plants and turf with no puddles or pools of water around the lawn
• Avoiding mosquito infestation

There are many solutions to these problems, ranging from a simple downspout extension or dry creek beds to an extensive French drain system or channel drain. Eastern Sky Landscaping understands efficient drainage techniques and are experienced in lot and foundation drainage systems. We also provide existing drainage troubleshooting and erosion control, using sound engineering principals for water management, irrigation systems, standing water, basement leakage, erosion control and correction options.

• Downspouts Downspouts can be a common problem around a home's foundation, creating seep into your basement or crawl space or eroding the foundation of your home. Extending downspouts away from the home properly can alleviate rain and storm water runoff or melting snow off the roof, keeping your home and basement dry and preserved. Eastern Sky Landscaping extends these downspouts to drain properly by adding drain basins, driveway drains, gutter drains, and French drains.

Solving drainage problems involves more than moving soil around; it encompasses the use of precision measurements. There are several drainage types that can be used in properties:

• French Drains A French drain is a very effective drainage system that channels water away from an area where water usually collects. A perforated pipe is surrounded in a trench of drainage gravel. Covered back over with soil and grass, this underground drainage system pulls water away from notoriously wet areas of your property. Combined with re-grading and downspout extensions, French drains deliver an outstanding solution for water-related issues. French drains are used to relieve hydrostatic pressure behind a retaining wall or as a hidden way to channel water away from a foundation, structure, driveway or garden due to ponding or flooding.
• Channel Drains A channel drain is used for many areas, including within a driveway or at the edge of a patio, walkways or pool deck. The water drains through the top grate, down into a shallow channel, and out through underground pipes to the desired location. These drains are great for preventing erosion along the edges of paved areas and preventing water from washing into a garage or landscape bed.
• Dry Well A dry well is a relatively new addition to the common drainage types used in residential and commercial properties. Storm water is diverted into a reservoir installed underground instead of being directed into the lawn or out of the streets.
• Swale A swale is essentially a graded portion in a lawn that directs water from a property and straight outside. There are grassy swales and rock swales, both of which employ a downward grading method and let gravity take care of draining storm water from the landscape towards the exterior of the property. Riprap-lined swale drains are advantageous to use on steeply graded slopes where seepage is a problem.
• Dry creek beds Dry creek beds are often used to divert water flow away from a foundation, but they also serve as a design element in the landscape. Carefully crafting the stones with larger boulders and plant material gives a natural look from a viewer's perspective.

Questions to Consider

• Do you have standing water?
• Have you tried to remedy the issue any other way?
• Are your neighbors having the same issue?
• Do you want to have grass seed spread at completion or are you interested in doing something more aesthetically pleasing?