3 Sure Signs Showing that Your House Needs a Drain Clean
When you own a home, you have to be prepared for some unexpected problems along with the comforts the home offers you. One of the greatest problems among these is drainage problem. If these are not dealt with on time and when they are small, you may have to suffer from a big headache in the future. Therefore it is important to identify in the first place if your home has a drainage problem. Here are some easy signs for that.
Some drainage problems are obvious like puddles in your front lawn or in the basement. But not all problems are so evident and so, you have to know how to know about them.
1. Flooding Gutters
If you see a mini Niagara on the border of your gutter, it indicates that dead leaves and other debris have blocked the flow. Other definite signs are vertical dirt streaks on the outer side of gutters, paint peeling off the house in vertical strips or mud splashed on siding. If you don’t rectify the problem on time, flooding gutters can ruin paint job, rot siding and bring about structural damage.
If leaves have clogged the downspout, you only have to remove them or hire a pro like Drain cleaning Bergen NJ to do that. But if the gutters are improperly pitched or undersized, they may need to be replaced which could run some thousand dollars. Still it’s cheaper than new siding.
2. Dumping Downspouts
Every inch of rain falling on 1,000 sq feet of a roof generates over 600 gallons of runoff, just enough to fill 10 bathtubs fully. Depositing such a huge amount of water so much close to the foundation can send it straight to the basement, where it can damage flooring, furnishings and all other stuff.
Adding gutter extensions is a good option to carry water minimum five feet away from the house. However, if the downspouts are too short, the continuously dump buckets and buckets of water around your foundation which seeps deep in the soil putting pressure on the foundation walls, ultimately cracking them. You have to hire a foundation contractor to excavate space around your foundation which costs thousands.
3. Water Stains in Basement
According to where a stain occurs, you can predict if the problem is resulted from surface water which can be relatively easy to tackle or water passing underground which is a bigger headache.
If you see stains high on the foundation wall, it means that water is entering from an overflowing gutter or that surface runoff is backed up against your house since the soil around foundation has no adequate slope.
Plus, cracks in the foundation, deposits and flaking on walls and mildew in the attic are also sure signs that your home needs a drain cleaning. Identify the problem on time to avoid a bigger headache later.