Learn What to Do When Perimeter Drainage Fails

The typical home has a lot of drains. Some of them, you’re likely quite familiar with, such as the ones in your sinks, showers, or bathtub. However, there is one sort of drain that you might not be so familiar with.

The drain system of your home’s perimeter isn’t as well-known, but it’s just as essential as the rest of your plumbing system. Its function is keeping moisture out of and away from your basement, which means it’s one system that you need to be aware of. Keep reading to learn what you should know regarding perimeter drain systems, such as what they are, how to know when things are awry, and what you can do about it. You can also click this Kent-based company for more help.

If this is all new to you, then you might be wondering what a perimeter drain system even is in the first place. Perimeter drainage is specially designed to give your home’s basement and foundation protection from water. In most installations, it is a pipe that is buried and runs the exterior perimeter of your house. This pipe should have holes in it that are big enough to let water in while also being small enough to prevent dirt from coming in. Much like your roof has gutters to redirect water away from your home safely when it rains, a perimeter drain serves the same purpose for any underground water.

Perimeter drain systems sometimes get called weeping tile systems. Soil can get excessively moist at times, not just from rain, but also melting snow and ice or even rising levels of groundwater. Anytime there is more moisture getting stored in the soil surrounding the foundation of your home, then you are at increased risk of foundation issues happening. If left untreated, these foundation problems can turn into actual failures.

Perimeter drains are often just perforated pipes with mesh coverings, which is what lets water in but not dirt. Such pipes are usually out of sight. They get covered with various sizes of gravel before getting backfilled with soil, all done to get water flowing toward the primary sewage system. Older homes might still have concrete or even clay weeping tiles for similar applications.

How can you know if your perimeter drain system has issues? Maintenance is nearly impossible to do for these systems, considering how they should be totally underneath gravel and dirt.

The most frequent problem that perimeter drains have is just getting clogged. This clogging can happen due to roots, dirt, and other forms of underground debris. If this occurs, then your basement walls might have water seep into them. If you take notice of this happening, then you need to call in a qualified and skilled plumber. Regrettably, they’re likely to do a bit of digging if they’re going to access the pipes.

Are you wondering what to do if the system totally fails? If your perimeter drainage does have issues, you’re nearly guaranteed to notice warning signs. These include but are not limited to major flooding, water getting backed up through your interior floor drains, water that seeps in from your foundation’s base, dampness persistent in your home, moldy smells, and musty smells.

Fortunately, for most homes that are less than two to three decades old, routine cleaning of your drainage system can prevent quite a bit of issues and failure.

If you have an older home with a clay or concrete drainage system, then regular maintenance is even more crucial. In fact, if cleaning went neglected for any substantial amount of time, then a new cleaning is unlikely to be successful, necessitating a new drainage system. An additional concern in older homes is how the foundation walls often turn porous, given the eventual breakdown of the outside concrete finish. Also, flooding is more apt to happen.

Wondering how often to clean and flush your perimeter drainage system? At a minimum, you should do it every other year. At a maximum, you should only go three years between cleanings.

Most plumber professionals and plumbing companies or businesses can offer you these cleaning, draining, and flushing services. Just make sure to consult at least three of them so you can get a range of price quotes so you can get a feel for the actual costs involved. It’s also a chance to find someone you’re comfortable entrusting the health of your home to.

Once you have someone either restore or confirm the efficient functionality of your home’s perimeter drainage system, you might want to invest in protecting all of your appliances, home systems, and the whole property itself with a home warranty service agreement. At the very least, keep in mind all the signs and symptoms listed here of problems with your home’s perimeter drain system so you can know when you might be in trouble and need to reach out for professional services that can save your home, your stress levels, and money in the future.