When you’re a homeowner, you have to deal with constant surprise challenges you may not have thought about back when you were renting a place to live. Your house may have been in pristine condition when you moved in, but time will show some issues your real estate agent may have not noticed or forgot to tell you about when you toured the place.
Drainage is one of those things that rarely comes up on a house tour. To achieve proper drainage in your yard, you’ll either have a project on your hands or a contractor’s fee to pay off, which may cause you to want to look elsewhere. So what do you do if you’re all moved in and realizing you have drainage issues? Figure out the root cause of your drainage problems, and decide from there whether you can fix it all on your own by grading your yard, or if you need to call in some professional help.
Here are three reasons to look into grading your yard sooner rather than later.
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You’ll Prevent Problems
Any land with a sloping hill leading into your property is going to cause water to drain into your yard or driveway. That water will eventually wear away your landscaping, leaving rivers between your bushes or pools of water in your backyard and potentially causing flooding problems in your basement. If you don’t fix the problem as soon as you recognize it, your property will be eaten away by water erosion, leading to a more expensive future project of having to bring soil in and re-landscape your entire yard.
You’ll Teach Yourself Lawn Care
In grading, you measure the slope of your yard and put grass down on top of the finished product to secure your new soil in place. The goal is to give water a place to run that will hold up long-term and protect your house’s foundation.
By taking care of the issue yourself, you’ll learn how to lay seed or sod, which will make you more knowledgeable about taking care of that grass as it grows.
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However, if you feel overwhelmed thinking about this and don’t want to risk making a mistake that’ll hurt your property, call a contractor to come over and give his opinion on what needs to be done. A steep slope or difficult soil may make it difficult to level on your own without heavy-duty equipment. The contractor will be able to work with you to ensure the problem is solved, so if you have the money to pay them, it’s a great option to consider.
You Could Increase Your Property Value
You may think you don’t care if you have puddles in your backyard or a tiny stream that runs for days between your flowers after a thunderstorm, but grading your yard could add value to your property, or at least lessen the negative impact water problems could have on a future sale price. If you aren’t completely sure this is the house you’ll always live in, it’s in your best interest to make your property worth as much as possible.
By grading your yard, you’ll have leveled out any problem areas, making it easier to add features like a swimming pool or fire pit. These types of projects add value to your home, especially if the houses around you already have these features. Give it a thought and maybe add this kind of renovation to the plans you have for your house when you save enough money one day.
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Don’t put off grading your yard if you notice signs of bad drainage. Repairing your landscaping and the foundation of your house will prove to be much more expensive than fixing the immediate drainage problem, and once it’s fixed, you could make your house worth more. Grading will help you sleep better at night when that next thunderstorm rolls in, because you’ll know the water will be successfully diverted away from your house.
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The Benefits of Grading Your Yard originally appeared on usnews.com
