Tips for Preventing Water Damage with a Proper Land Grade in Lancaster, NY

Grading your property is an important part of protecting your home and preventing water damage to your yard and foundation. The idea with a proper land grade in Lancaster, NY is to have precipitation flow away from your home rather than toward it, so you can prevent issues with moisture and water damage.

With this in mind, here are some of the key steps you can take to properly grade your yard:

• Find the utilities: Make sure you know where all the utility lines are located on your property, and mark them with flags or streaks of paint. This includes any electric, telephone, water and gas lines that run underground on your property. If you’re going to be doing any digging, it’s best to avoid disrupting those important utilities.
• Get a permit: You’ll need to make sure you have the proper permit for your job from your city or county, if required. In some cases, a permit may not be required, depending on the local ordinances in your area and the extent of the work you’re doing on your property.
• Determine where you want the water to go: You’ll need to have a direction in mind when grading your property. Is there a public drain nearby that you’d like the water to flow to? You’ll at least want to divert any runoff to the edge of your property, but you’ll also have to do it in a way where you won’t be impacting any of your immediate neighbors.
• Dig: Once you’re ready to begin working, you can start digging. You’ll be removing probably about eight inches of topsoil all around your foundation. Set this soil to the side to use later.
• Level: Fill in any uneven areas on your property with the soil you dug up, and remove soil from other areas that are bumpy. Any time you’re removing excess soil, make sure you press the dirt down and smooth it out as much as possible.
• Slope: Mark the area you’re going to slope, and then begin the grading. Any soil you have remaining on your lawn, as well as any extra soil you had to bring in for the project, should be arranged in a slope around the perimeter of your house. You’ll need at least a two percent grade to make sure your drainage is effective. Use a 2×4 and a level to make sure you’re getting the proper angle. Rake and till the soil and make sure it’s all smooth.
• Grass: Once you’ve completed the actual grading process, you can then plant grass or lay sod, or do any other plantings you want around the perimeter of your home.

Water damage to your foundation can become very expensive to fix, so it’s important that you grade your land and encourage proper runoff to avoid it. For more information about the steps you can take to get a proper land grade in Lancaster, NY, contact the team at Macken Services, Inc. today. We look forward to assisting you!

Categorised in: Land Grading

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