By Murray Anderson
A cool, damp basement, musty smells, and maybe even mold or mildew on the walls are all indications of moisture getting into your basement. The main cause is likely poor drainage around your home that allows moisture to build up and remain in the soil around your foundation, and then work its way right through your foundation and into your home. Fixing drainage problems around your house can be a relatively inexpensive proposition, and they often come down to a couple of causes - how rainwater is handled and the grading or slope of your property.
Handling Rainwater
Gutters (or eavestroughs as they called in some parts of the country) are an important part of the drainage system around your house. If yours are nonexistent or in poor repair, or if the downspout empties right beside your house, they could be causing the problem.
Gutters need to be installed properly so that they will catch the water coming off your roof and channel it away from your house and foundation. Gutters should be installed with a downward slope of 1 inch for every 2 feet of run to ensure they drain completely. If your house is more than 35 feet wide, the optimal installation would have the gutters sloping down from a high point in the middle to a downspout at each end of the house.
All gutters need to be firmly attached (screws are best, since they won’t back out over time) with the center of the downspout aligned under the lip of the roof. Gutters can be made up of sections of trough (usually 10 - 12 feet long), or installed as a long continuous piece up to 37 feet wide. If yours are in sections, make sure the seams are well sealed and water doesn’t leak through. Gutters that leak are a problem not just because they drip water on your head, but because the drips land close to the foundation.
Downspouts need to be large enough to handle the large amount of water that can come running off your roof in a heavy rainfall. The minimum size for a downspout should be 2 x 3 inches, but a larger size (like 3 x 4 inches) is even better. The larger size makes it less likely that anything will be able to block the downspout - even a tennis ball will drop right through, and you know water won’t back up into your gutters during a heavy rain and possibly overflow.
At ground level, the water from your downspout should be directed at least 5 feet away from your house. It’s best to have the water flowing onto a hard surface (like a driveway) or a fiberglass or concrete splashguard designed to spread the water and stop it from puddling on the ground. Flexible plastic diverters or hinge attachments for your downspout allow you to swing it up out of the way when cutting your lawn, so you’re not constantly tripping over the downspout.
Proper Grading and Slope
Once the water is on the ground, it’s important that it doesn’t just sit there. This is where the grading of your property is important. Most building codes require that the ground around a foundation slope away from the foundation at a minimum of 6 inches in the first 10 feet and with another foot of slope in the next 100 feet. (This is a minimum - more slope will obviously help get water away from the foundation faster). Don’t change the grading of your lot, and if you notice some low spots developing, be sure to fill them.
If you have a problem with water constantly accumulating in a particular area, you might consider installing a “French drain.” A French drain is a small trench with a perforated pipe surrounded by sand or gravel that directs the water flow away from the foundation following the grade. Not only will it get the water away from the house, it will do it without any possibility of water runoff damage or erosion.
Bare spots rarely form in your yard for no apparent reason. To fix a bare spot, you first have to know why it’s there. So, the first step to repair the spot is to take care of what caused it in the beginning.
If you have a dog, there’s a good chance that your pet may be contributing to the bare spot. Should you happen to already know that’s the reason, you can’t fix the bare spot permanently until you do something else with your dog. You have a similar problem if the bare
spot is the result of over activity from your family’s use of the yard. Unless you’re willing to change their play and recreational habits, you’re most likely stuck with a bare spot.
Moles can be another culprit. They push up the earth and expose the plant roots to air. This dries the roots and kills the grass. In order to repair the yard, you will have to either poison or trap the mole. There are several excellent products that will do one or the other.
You may have that spot from too much of something natural occurring. It might be too much shade from a tree. If the spot has tree litter covering it too often, you may have a soil problem from things that leach from the leaves and sticks decaying there. A low place that keeps standing water too long can do in the grass that tries to grow there.
Weeds can take over a patch of your lawn and when they die in the summer heat, a bare spot is left behind. You may just be unlucky enough to have poor soil in a small area that needs some attending. It may be where you burned leaves last fall and now the grass isn’t coming back because you changed the soil composition.
If the problem is from an animal or excessive use and you’ve eliminated the problem, take a rake and loosen the top inch or two of soil over the whole area. Sow a generous amount of the correct type of grass seed over the area. Cover with a thin layer of straw. This will keep birds from consuming your new seed.
As the summer heat dies down, many Furniture Decorators look to spend cool summer nights on the back patio. Outdoor dining areas have been loosely described as a setting with four chairs and a table. When designing an outdoor dining area for the outdoors, you should strive to create a fun-loving atmosphere that can accommodate family dinners every night. Our handy tips can help you furnish the outdoor dining area of your dreams.
The first step to creating a carefree outdoor dining room is to clearly designate your space. Adding a row of hedges or lining the edges of your patio with teak benches allows you provide additional seating or serving space when table area is at a premium. This also helps define a “room” that makes it easier for your dinner guests to relax and focus on the meal and your company.
Outdoor dining is generally simpler than what you might prepare when entertaining indoors, but as food generally tastes better outdoors I’m sure your guests will enjoy your take on New York Strip. Enhance the experience with decorative holders for napkins and condiments. Be sure that they are substantial in weight to prevent blustery winds from ruining your meal.
Worry free furniture, namely rattan, teak, and IPE, is a must. A teak trolley serving cart can help you bring chilled dishes to the table in one convenient trip. Make sure to purchase high quality seat cushions created with Sunbrella fabric and a quick drying foam insert. This will make sure your guests are comfortable and dry, regardless of recent rainstorms. Adhering to a transitional or contemporary design will make the overall decor a simple affair, as most patio furniture is offered with these theories in mind.