Can Drain Tile Save Your Basement?

Can Drain Tile Save Your Basement?

Coming home to a flooded basement is a nightmare no home owner cares to face. You can take plenty of preventative measures to prevent this bad dream from ever coming true. One of the smartest things that you can do in order to keep your basement safe and dry is to install drain tile. Doing so is a quick, easy move.

How Can Drain Tile Protect Your Basement?

Drain tile is not actually tile. It’s actually a system of subterranean drainage that is laid around the footings of your foundation. Think of it more as a sort of drainage pipe that is useful in a home, rather than business, setting. When properly put together, it will act to keep water from running into your cellar.

It’s important to keep in mind that, if given half a chance, water will always try to creep into your home. In doing so, it will always choose the path that offers it the least amount of resistance. If you have a basement in your home, you can be sure that it is always in an appreciable level of danger from water.

This is where drain tile, once properly installed, can come in to save the day. Drain tile will give water the easy path it craves. As it does so, it will draw the water into the pipe system rather than the floor of your basement. This is due to the fact that the pipe used for drain tile is made to be very porous.

After the water has been directed into the pipe, it will then be drained away. True to its name, drain tile uses a specially calibrated combination of gravity in conjunction with your sump pump. It will then direct the water into a nearby dry well. It may also release it above ground to go to a storm or sewage drain.

Drain Tile Can Be Retrofitted to Your Home

One of the main questions that you may have may concern whether or not drain tile will work in an older home. You may live in a home that was built in the middle of the last century or even before. As such, it naturally includes a drainage system that seems incompatible with more modern and efficient models.

However, this does not mean that you can’t make use of a drain tile system to help modernize your home. As it happens, you can easily retrofit your drainage system to take full advantage of the latest developments in this crucial area. It’s a cost effective move that will save you a great deal of time and energy.

Retrofitting will involve the digging of a drainage trench around the outside of your home. This will take place at the foundation level. The installer will use a large backhoe. Keep in mind that in order to gain access to the foundation, you may need to remove pathways, decking, or trees that may be in the way.

Drain Tile Works Best in New Homes

It is true that retrofitting drain tile in an older home is not as expensive or time intensive as people may think. However, its most effective location will be in conjunction with the foundation of a newly built home. This will give you the maximum level of flexibility that you will need to complement your home design.

Drain tile can be installed shortly after the foundation of your home is near to being finished. When this time comes, you will need to dig a deep trench. This will be laid alongside the footings on the exterior of your home. The people who do the work will place the pipe in the trench and cover it with washed gravel.

One thing to note is that you will need to employ a very special size and grade of gravel. It needs to be at least 1/2 to 3/4 of an inch in size. This will help avoid future blockages. After the gravel has been laid in place, it will then be covered up. The installers will do so with landscape matting or other fabric.

The fabric needs to be porous in order for the water to drain through. Once this fabric is safely in place, it will be covered in soil. It can then be safely brought up to ground level. The entire process is usually completed in a few hours.

Contact Drainage & Waterproofing for More Info

Drainage & Waterproofing Solutions, LLC is here to serve your needs in these vital areas. If you live in Raleigh, Wake Forest, Chapel Hill, or Durham, give us a call. We can waterproof your home and attend to all of your property drain tile needs. Years of expertise make us the go-to service in North Carolina.