You may aid in safeguarding your foundation by using appropriate landscaping. Here are nine things you may complete to protect the foundation of your house.
1. Grade the Yard Correctly
Grading prevents water from running toward your house. Utilizing gravity to your advantage will help safeguard your foundation because water will flow in the direction of least resistance. The idea is to keep the water away from your foundation while also doing so because standing water may also be destructive to it.
2. Landscape Around Your Entire House
Since no one will ever see anything but the front yard, it might be tempting only to build that. However, it is not worth jeopardizing your foundation to speed up landscaping installation. If you merely landscape one of your home’s four walls, the area will become more saturated when the new plants are watered. The wet soil surrounding your landscaping will exert more pressure on that wall. The foundation will crack and deform as a result of this tension.
3. Be Smart About the Concrete
If you add hardscape features to your yard, you should consider how they will affect the nearby water. There needs to be a strategy for the runoff the concrete will produce. Remember that you need the water to continue flowing and travel away from the foundation.
4. Install a Sprinkling System
Putting sprinklers will assist in safeguarding your foundation, which sounds counter-intuitive given all the discourse about preventing water away from the foundation. Your soil will move and slide if it dries out too much, which could split or harm your foundation. You need some water in the region to keep the soil humid, even if you don’t want the area around your foundation to be completely submerged. Your foundation’s lifespan can be increased by keeping the region from being overly dry. A sprinkler system helps ensure that water is consistently applied to every area of your yard.
5. Utilize Mulch
Mulch absorbs moisture better than ordinary soil, preventing excessive soil drying around your foundation during the hotter months.
6. Be Wise With Your Trees
Any tree planted too close to your home could endanger anything from the roof to the foundation. Large trees, in particular, benefit from adequate space to grow away from your home. Before digging, you should speak with a landscape designer about tree placement if you are unclear whether you have selected a location too close to your home.
7. Install Gutter Extensions
It will only be helpful if all the water gathers around your foundation when it drains from your roof gutters. Gutter extensions can guide water at least five feet away from your property, which is safe.
8. Clean Your Gutters
It would be good to get the ladder out and ensure all roof gutters are junk-free while we’re on the subject. The overflow that results from a blocked gutter prevents the gutters from doing their intended job of directing rainwater.
9. Install a Swale
A swale can be the solution if the direction of water flow on your land is seriously bothering you. A swale is a drainage trench that provides water with a defined and obvious way to go. Swales with plants and gravel will aid absorption.
source: https://www.riversidecustomhardscapes.com/9-landscaping-projects-to-protect-your-foundation/
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