If I were to buy a house again there are 2 things that would matter more to me than anything else-- foundation {see this post} and drainage. Ok and I guess location, although if I were guaranteed a house in the cookie cutter burbs that had no foundation or drainage issued I'd be hard pressed not to take it. And that's pretty much against my religion. Anyway, today we're talking drainage.
The photo above is a good before visual of how far this front area has come. This patio was the main culprit of our drainage issues.
You can see how nasty and cracked that tile was not to mention the weird diamond planter that wasn't centered on anything.
The downspouts were not sufficient, notice how water just pooled on the patio. We put on gutter extensions but it didn't do much to help. The patio also wasn't graded correctly which meant water was not being directed away from the house like it should have been.
Last spring was our first spring in the house and these water issues were very much anxiety inducing. Standing water near your house is not a good thing!! A whole myriad of problems comes with water. It was also a record spring for Oklahoma in terms on rainfall so we really saw where the problems were. I knew we had to do something about it before this spring so my stomach wouldn't be in a constant knot every time there was rain in the forecast, because in Oklahoma that's all the time.
So what did we do to fix it? Called CityScapes. CityScapes is our landscaping company and they do a great job. They suggested ripping up all the tile and putting in a french drain that would take water away from the house and out to the street. And so it began...
Day 1: nasty cracked tile is gone! And so is the weird diamond planter.
Day 2: grading begins and the drain is put in place. A trench was dug under the beds and out to the street with drain pipe running the entire way.
Downspouts are connected to the new drain.
Day 3: concrete is poured and it all tilts slightly towards the new drain and away from the house on all sides. Water takes the path of least resistance so into the drain it will go.
Day 4: flagstone is laid. SOOOOO much prettier than the old hideous tile.
Day 5: flagstone is set and we have a new patio! Isn't that drain so beautiful?
Function & Form all rolled into one, now that's my kind of party.
{This post was not sponsored by CityScapes}.
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