Spring Showers = Leaking Homes

April showers bring May flowers.  We all sang that rhyme as children, but April and Spring showers can also bring many headaches to homeowners.  The most common headaches are leaking basements and leaking roof gutters. The only sure fire, 100% accurate, foolproof, never get water into your foundation is to build your home on the peak of the mountain.  While you might not get water into your foundation; there just aren’t enough mountains to go around, plus there is no way the “prize patrol” is ever going to find you there.  

Because of this, we build our homes with some form of topographical relief or plan and this plan has to include carrying the water away from the foundation.  Most homes have some form of roof drainage, usually in the form of gutters and downspouts. Often these gutters can be clogged in the winter and sometimes with the fall leaves and debris.  If these gutters are clogged the water will not be properly carried to the downspouts.

If the downspouts do not carry the water far enough away from the foundation, the water will back cycle or be backpitched toward the foundation and possibly into the lower levels.  When dealing with downspouts, there really is only a right and wrong way of looking at them. Is water draining away from the home or is it draining back toward the foundation? It is as simple as that.  Some homes might require several feet of extension; where others only need a small splash block.

Keep water out of your home this Spring.  Clean your gutters and monitor your downspouts.  You might just need to add to your downspouts.