French Drains Good Solution For Drainage Problems Around Your House

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Drainage around the exterior of your house is crucial for a healthy home. French drains are one way to make sure water is moved away from your house to prevent damage to your foundation. Excess water around the outside of your house can cause mold, mildew, rot, and cause your foundation to sink.

A good french drain is about 1-2 feet wide, and about 2 feet deep. A french drain is made up of a drain rock, drain pipe, and filter fabric to prevent the system from clogging. Consideration must be given to proper slope to move the water in the proper direction. Water from a French drain is typically routed to a dry well, garden beds, or other drainage areas. A common approach is to route the water to the street where rainwater is already properly managed. In many areas, hooking up the drain to the sewer system is illegal, because it overwhelms the sewage treatment plants.

In many cases, French drains are hooked up to sump pumps. The sump pump will pump the water to a location that could not be normally reached due to improper slope or location. Proper sump pump system design is crucial to the success of your French drain in these types of applications. Sump pump systems are comprised of a drainage barrel and a sump pump. Sump pumps must be connected to properly grounded GFI outlets for safety reasons. Sump pumps are trigger by float switch that detects water beyond a certain level, and the automatically turning on the sump pump. The proper horsepower pump and a high quality pump that can handle the proper volume of water without clogging is crucial for trouble free operation. Draining sump pumps to the street is a common approach.

French drains are typically installed around perimeters of houses, on the down slope area of on -coming surface water from hills, and also hooked up to downspouts to move water away from the house.

There are many considerations in in designing a French drain system. An experienced drainage contractor can solve all the design issues for you. For most people, their home is the largest investment they have. Proper drainage is a wise investment. French drains are simple in concept, but an experienced french drain contractor will solve your problems with a skilled eye.

About the Author:
The author, Paul Gordon,is president of Golden Gate Enterprises, Inc a leading San Francisco Bay Area General Contractor that specializes in the installation of french drains for both residential and commerical applications. The author can be contacted at 510-909-8552



Article Originally Published On: http://www.articlesnatch.com


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