You’ve seen the headlines: Alicia, a major hurricane, hit the Upper Texas Coast in 1983. Hurricane Ike made landfall in 2008. In April, 2009, unnamed thunderstorms dropped record amounts of rain throughout the afternoon, five to six inches in some places.
Houston has a drainage problem. If for no other reason than these naturally occurring, yet unpredictable, weather patterns. The solution? A quality drainage system that protects your property, home and family from unwanted water.
A quality drainage system is all-encompassing. That is, it addresses all drainage issues including proper grading, the engineering process that creates positive drainage away from structures. A properly designed drainage system also takes into account neighboring properties and is careful not to drain onto them.
Your drainage system should include site-specific solutions. Sometimes the problem is the soil. Houston’s clay soil is infamous for its near-impermeable surface. Your Houston lawn service crew can help that situation with regular aeration. If you have drainage problems around garden beds, one solution is to raise the beds, a process that will lift your plants out of the waterlogged soil.
Drainage systems should have little negative visual impact. Like all good infrastructure, it should do its work beneath the surface and without a lot of fanfare and notice.
Downspouts and gutters should blend with the architecture of the house. French drains and channel drains should be filled with decorative gravel and stones. Deck drains can use specially-designed covers, usually made of metal, brass or stone, that actually enhance the look of your deck or patio design.
The right amount of drains is another critical aspect of a quality drain system. By using enough drains, you are able to keep the landscape relatively flat. Otherwise, surfaces have to be pitched and slanted so that they drain to the few installed drains. You could easily end up with a landscape that resembles a Wal-Mart parking lot.
A quality drainage system can be installed with little to no harm to trees and other vegetation. Tree preservation is critical during any construction project, but especially those where digging is involved. During the pre-planning phase, make sure measures are in place to take care of all your trees.
When interviewing drainage contractors, be sure to ask them for references from customers for whom they’ve installed drainage systems. When you speak to those references, ask them how the lawn looked two to three weeks after the installation.
If it’s a top-notch job, the grass should be back to normal by this time with no disrupting lines showing where the pipe was laid. If the contractor failed to care for the existing lawn and the grass was not in good shape within a relatively short time, move on to the next name on the list.
Drainage systems provide many benefits, but if you still need incentive, glance at the headlines again: Tropical Storm Frances struck the Upper Texas Coast in 1998. Nearly 37 inches of rain were recorded at the Port of Houston during Allison's five day rampage in 2001.
Protect your valuables, both life and property, with a quality drainage system.
For more the 20 years Exterior Worlds has specialized in servicing many of Houston's fine neighborhoods.
This article was published on Wednesday 05 August, 2009.
You’ve seen the headlines: Alicia, a major hurricane, hit the Upper Texas Coast in 1983. Hurricane Ike made landfall in 2008. In April, 2009, unnamed thunderstorms dropped record amounts of rain throughout the afternoon, five to six inches in some places. 