You can’t stop water – you can only redirect it. Storm water in the natural landscape will find its way to streams, rivers and ultimately the ocean. Storm water in the built environment will also find its way to the lowest point – which could be your basement! As a site development contractor, we take site drainage very seriously. Whether it’s a new construction house lot or an expansion of an existing lot, storm water that is not properly redirected can cause a lot of damage in time and expense to fix.
At Rye Beach Landscaping, we have worked with many talented site engineers who have come up with creative solutions to redirect storm water. Here are several methods that we use:
Foundation Drains. As part of the home construction project, the excavation company is usually the one who installs foundation drains, also known as “footing drains.” Two critical factors here is using the correct grade of back fill sand and geotextile fabric to prevent blockage of the footing drain pipe. You only get one chance to do it right!
Drainage Swales. Contours in the landscape are a great way to prevent the majority of storm water from even reaching those critical areas. Rye Beach Landscaping can interpret a surveyors topography designs and build in these natural barriers so they blend into the landscape.
Culverts. A culvert might be a deep, open trench or an under-drain that can move a concentrated area of water from one point to another. A common place to see a culvert is under driveway or road, or through a low-lying marshy area.
Detention Ponds and Retention Ponds. A detention pond is designed to process a lot of water quickly and then drain out. These are typically designed by hydrologists and civil engineers to process floodwater along the highway system. A retention pond is designed to retain storm water indefinitely. Retention ponds are used often in housing developments, and are useful for slowing down the flow of water.
Catch Basins and Dry Wells. In a stagnant water area, you might see a catch basin or dry well. Although they look similar, catch basins and dry wells have two different functions. The open grate can catch a large volume of water in a short period of time. A catch basin is like a filter that is connected to an outlet pipe. Sediment builds up the bottom and must be pumped out periodically. A dry well is a closed system in filled with free draining gravel in which storm water flows through and eventually seeps into the ground.
Whether you are building a new home or an have an existing home that has standing water problems, we would like to bring our 25 years of experience to solve your site drainage issues.
