Protecting Your Foundation: Why Downspout Redirection is a Game Changer
When a storm hits, your roof acts as a massive collection deck. A standard 2,000-square-foot roof can shed over 1,200 gallons of water for every single inch of rainfall. If your downspouts are simply dumping that water at the corners of your home, you are essentially creating a moat around your foundation. This is a recipe for structural disaster.
Why Surface Water is Your Foundation's Enemy: Soil expands when it’s wet and shrinks when it’s dry. When you dump thousands of gallons of water into the soil directly next to your house, it creates "hydrostatic pressure." This pressure pushes against your basement or crawlspace walls, leading to:
Foundation Cracks: The sheer weight of the water-logged soil can bow or crack concrete blocks.
Mold and Mildew: Constant moisture leads to damp crawlspaces, which eventually rot your floor joists and degrade your air quality.
Erosion: Water pouring out of a downspout can wash away the soil supporting your footings, leading to "settling" or sinking.
The First Turn Engineering Approach: We don’t just buy a plastic extension from a big-box store. We provide custom drainage solutions designed to last.
Buried Downspouts: We excavate and install heavy-duty, solid-wall PVC piping (never the cheap corrugated stuff that clogs with leaves).
Engineered Discharge: We pipe the water to a safe "exit" point—whether that’s a dry well, a pop-up emitter in the lawn, or a natural drainage area far from the structure.
Pitch and Grade: Using our construction experience, we ensure the pipes are bedded at the perfect "pitch" so that gravity does all the work, ensuring your foundation stays dry even in a torrential downpour.
