Everyone knows that spring is the time of year when it never stops raining, and if your basement can get flooded then it will get flooded, and it’s a proven fact* that umbrellas can predict which day will have the biggest rainstorm, and they’ll only break on this one day when you actually need them. [*Not actually proven at all, but we have a feeling that a study will be conducted soon.]
But right now, spring is pretty far away. We’re right in the middle of autumn, A.K.A. the season of pumpkin spice lattes and warm knitted sweaters. No longer is the sun beating down and handing out sunburns, but it isn’t necessary to sleep under four layers of blankets just to stay warm at night either. Who doesn’t love this season? Nothing can go wrong!
Well, actually, you encounter one problem. Autumn is actually the one season where you’re likely to encounter unexpected drainage problems, and a lot of homeowners actually end up with some water damage in their homes because of it. When the leaves start falling off the trees, this causes severe back-ups in drain pipes if they aren’t regularly cleaned out. Even letting piles of leaves build up in your yard can cause a lot of damage: if it rains, the water won’t be be able to soak into the ground or drain out of the yard. Instead, it will just collect in pools, and if those pools happen to be close to your house and you happen to not have any basement waterproofing systems in place, you can bet that you’ll end up with some basement water damage.
On the other hand, when all the plants start dying and the fallen leaves decompose, you may find yourself looking for new erosion control methods that will prevent runoff water from going somewhere it has no business being (i.e., your basement). It’s that weird time of year when the temperature goes below freezing just long enough to freeze up the ground, but then the temperature suddenly jumps up 15 degrees and it starts raining. And then before you know it, you realize that you’ve got quite a bit of erosion damage and water damage on your hands.
So maybe you don’t live in a region where the temperature ever goes below freezing, or maybe you live somewhere where the only plants that can stay alive are cacti (and that’s not even a safe bet all the time). But regardless of where you live, autumn is definitely a finicky season and you can never be too prepared. You know the phrase “the best defense is a good offense” and when it comes to protecting your home and yard, that’s definitely the case. To see more, read this.