When you dread the rain every time it falls because the water stands around the foundation of your Peekskill, NY, home, it might be time for a professional French drain system. If you are not familiar with the benefits of a French drain and the corrections it can bring to water issues, the following information can help you decide if this installation could solve the water problems in your landscape. 

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What is a French Drain?

A French drain involves a trench that is dug around the foundation of your home to collect the water that flows from the gutters and downspouts but does not drain away. The bottom of the trench is filled with gravel and then topped with a perforated pipe that collects the water and diverts it away from the foundation and landscape beds. Once the trench is covered with soil, the drain continues to remove the water from the landscape but you won’t see the drain or the water. The pipe is buried under the ground within the yard to spill the contents into a better drainage area, eliminating the harm that the standing water can cause. 

Why Might You Need a French Drain?

Home Foundation: The foundation of your home is meant to stay dry and this is why you need effective gutters to take the stormwater away from your home. Unfortunately, at times the land surrounding your foundation might not have been graded correctly and the water, instead of flowing away from the house, flows toward the house. When this water sits in the landscape beds and beside the base of your home, the water must go somewhere and it can seep into the walls, wood frame, and basement of your home to become a place for mold and mildew to thrive, ultimately rotting the structure of your house.

Soil Erosion: When you spend time and money on your landscape only to see it wash away in a storm, it is time to seek a remedy for all of the erosion that is ruining your landscape. When the rushing water creates gullies around your home’s foundation and within the landscaping, eventually the soil can break down and create instability around the base of your home. 

Potential Contamination: Water that flows toward your home and not away can potentially be contaminated and you don’t want this in your yard or near your home. 

Why is a Professionally Installed Drain the Answer?

Attempting to install a French drain on your own might not solve your water problems. This drain must be engineered correctly to harness the gravity that is essential for the success of the water removal. In the process of digging the trench, you don’t want to compromise the integrity of your foundation and you must dig the trench that allows the pipe to continue on to a spot where the water can spill and filter back into the ground or flow toward a municipal storm drain. 

This is where a professional excavation and drain specialist can assess the problem to advise a solution that remedies your Peekskill, NY, water problems but causes the least amount of intervention within the landscape. Because they will discuss all of the options for solutions before digging, you can have the peace of mind that your problem will be solved in the best way possible.

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