How Can You Tell If Your Commercial Property Has A Major Drainage Issue?
Drainage issues aren't uncommon on properties. While builders initially slope land to keep water away from vulnerable areas and avoid pooling, time and usage can cause noticeable problems. In severe cases, these drainage issues can result in water running back towards the foundation of your building, threatening its overall structure and safety.
Part of maintaining any commercial property involves routine checks for drainage issues. Fortunately, spotting severe drainage problems is rarely difficult.
Knowing the Signs of Drainage Trouble
Some indications that water isn't correctly draining can be obvious. For example, large pools of standing water on your property are a sure sign that something is wrong with your drainage. While drenching rains may produce short-lived puddles, these should quickly flow away and drain into the soil. If pools stick around for days after a rain storm, it's time to look for the source of your commercial drainage issues.
However, drainage issues won't always produce such obvious signs. If your property doesn't have low points for water to pool, you may get runoff that can cause erosion and damage landscaping features. Typical weather for your area should not cause large rivers to form, and mulch and other landscape elements should generally remain in place.
While these may seem like minor cosmetic problems, they can potentially affect your property's overall structure and grading. Running water will carry soil, plants, and organic matter that help prevent erosion, creating a problem that will only worsen over time. The more soil that washes away, the harder it will be for the rest of your landscape to remain in place.
Addressing Drainage Issues
Unfortunately, there are rarely easy solutions for significant drainage issues, especially on large commercial properties. Pooling water, excessive runoff, and erosion often require excavation and regrading to ensure correct water flow. You will usually need an expert to evaluate your property to determine the likely source of the drainage problems and the best solutions.
You may also need to take more significant action, such as excavating around the foundation of your building to install french drains or adding landscaping features to redirect water to less dangerous areas. While these approaches can be disruptive and costly, they're necessary to avoid causing more significant issues with your building in the future.
Remember that drainage problems are always more than simple inconveniences. Water flowing in the wrong place on your property can present hazards to cars or pedestrians or even damage the structural foundation of your building. You should always address drainage problems as quickly as possible to avoid these expensive and potentially dangerous problems.
For more info, get in touch with a contractor.