06/28/2016
"Some homeowners might be starting to notice flooding on their properties. This is thanks to the extra water accumulation the spring thaw brings, not to mention those April showers. When pools of water start to gather in sections of your back or front yard, is this something you need to worry about? Absolutely.
Why should we worry? Because pooling or flooding on your property means there’s a grading problem. If it’s serious, you’ll get water coming into the basement. It can come in through the foundation, window wells or window frames if it isn’t taken care of.
And if it’s not serious now, it won’t be long before it does become a high priority. All you need is one heavy storm, and that’s it. You can have major flooding and water seeping into your basement.
If you do notice water pooling on your property, you need to keep an eye out for signs of moisture in your home. Look for things like water stains or a musty scent in the basement. Moisture problems lead to a whole different can of worms: mould, rot and poor indoor air quality. And unfortunately, the fix is rarely cheap.
Proper grading is essential. It’s a strategy to protect the longevity of your home by managing the water around it. If the ground around your home slopes toward it or is completely flat, you’re going to have grading problems. You must have a minimum five-degree slope away from your home, on all sides. What’s a five-degree slope? If you measure six feet away from the foundation, the ground should be three inches lower than the ground next to the house.
Having a five-degree slope prevents water from pooling around your foundation. You can have the most watertight foundation, but you never want it in an environment with a lot of water. Remember, concrete isn’t waterproof. That means it doesn’t matter how water tight a foundation might be; if water is there long enough, it’s going to get in.
If water gets into a home’s exterior or concrete and freezes, it starts to deteriorate the materials and compromise the structure. A home constructed the right way draws water away from the home. And grading does that for you.
Proper grading directs the flow of surface water away from any building’s foundation, including your neighbours’. Some people don’t realize it, but grading is sensitive. Playing with the grading around your home doesn’t just affect your own property; it can affect your neighbours’, too. Grading problems have been at the root of more than a few neighbourly disputes, which doesn’t surprise me: The threat of water damage can shake up any homeowner.
So who decides the grading on your property? It’s usually a joint effort between the original builder and the city. In most cases, new residential lots must now have a grading plan submitted by the builder. This plan is reviewed by the city, which later decides if it approves it or not.
The builder is responsible for final lot grading. A provincial land surveyor is responsible for verifying that everything is in working order. But it’s the homeowner’s responsibility to maintain the proper grading around the property, and that’s where things can start to go wrong.
A lot of homeowners don’t know they can’t mess around or change their properties’ grading. They’ll do landscaping, add sod, raise the ground level in one place, and lower it in another. All of this changes the slope the property needs to have if it’s going to drain surface water it’s supposed to. If these changes affect other properties, it can even escalate to a civil matter.
What does it take to maintain the grade? You have to make sure that any landscaping you have done doesn’t affect the drainage around the property. That includes not blocking easements or swales. These are drainage channels that direct storm water away from the house. Just planting a tree in the wrong place can block these channels. You need to be careful. Most of us can’t afford to get it wrong.
When we add things like gardens along foundation walls, fences, swimming pools, walkways, decks and patios, there’s a strong chance we’ll interfere with the land’s ability to properly drain surface water. And when that happens, guess on whose shoulders it falls to correct it? The homeowner’s. It’s up to you to find the right professional to make it right … and pick up the tab"
