Why is landscape drainage such a vital part of your landscape? With Houston’s heavy soils, low lying areas and torrential rains proper landscape drainage is essential for three reasons: 1) to protect your home from flooding 2) to protect the foundation of the home from cracking and uneven shrink/swelling 3) to properly drain roofs, patios, landscaping and lawn areas so there isn’t any standing water which can cause slippery surfaces, mosquitoes and drown landscaping. It’s important that the design of your properties landscape drainage be a whole systems approach with all of its appropriate functions and fixtures.

The total landscape drainage area of your property for drainage purposes is called a watershed. Watershed means the total water drainage area with its different slopes, rates of water run off, soil porosity and the dividing line between each drainage surface area such as roof, deck and lawn areas. It’s important to understand this concept because each watershed has a different drainage application. A property watershed analysis by a drainage expert will identify these different areas, select the appropriate fixtures and size of pipe for the landscape drainage system.

There are many cities that require a minimum pipe size and submittal of a drainage plan. In addition some jurisdictions may require an engineered landscape drainage plan with submitted runoff equations. Above all it’s important to understand that your entire property is a watershed, because if you have an area that is retaining water just putting a single catch basin in may be a band aid approach to a much larger problem.

There are three primary landscape drainage applications: 1) Down spout tie-ins 2) Deck and patio drains 3) Landscape and lawn drains. Down spout tie-ins are designed to take water from your gutter and attach it to the landscape drainage system.

These tie-ins are made of plastic, metal or brass and sometimes have a side cleanout with a see through grate so you can inspect if it’s clogged or not. Catch-basins can also be placed under down spouts were its undesirable or not possible to tie in fixtures to the gutter. Catch basins are made of either a plastic or concrete box with a plastic or metal drain grate cover that can be removed for clean out. There function is to catch leaf and other waste debris in the bottom catch basin to prevent the drain from clogging.

The catch basin then ties into a PVC main drain line to carry water out through the landscape drainage system. Deck drains are installed in patios, decks and walks were water is either sloped toward the drain or drained into the landscape beds. Deck drains have special drain covers made of metal, brass, stone. Deck drains are smaller in size than catch basins and are only intended to drain patio surface areas. Landscape and lawn drainage involves draining low lying lawn or landscape areas with an underground perforated pipe or catch basin.

The underground perforated pipe is usually a 4″ or 6″ PVC pipe with holes in it and a sock netting that prevents surrounding rock and soil debris from entering. This drain pipe is buried beneath the ground and put in soil, gravel or bull rock trenches that typically follow the edge of the house. In a landscape and lawn application catch basins operate similar to the drain in a bath tub with a cleanout to catch debris from clogging the drain line. A sump pump drainage system is a type of catch basin and pump that drains an area lower than the elevation being drained to.

A sump pump basin is constructed of brick or concrete. As the basin begins to fill with water an electrical pump turns on and pressurizes the water threw a 2″ line that pumps the water out to the area being drained to. Landscape drainage maintenance consists of regular inspection and cleanout of catch basins, down spout clean outs, checking power connections on sump pumps and replacement of any cracked or broken drain covers.

Is your drainage contractor competent in all these areas? If you are having gutters installed, decks and new landscaping its best to hire a landscape company that uses competent subcontractors so that the design, location and installation of the landscape drainage system is seamless with the overall landscape improvements.

Jeff Halper has a passion for landscaping and landscape design, for more information visit Exterior Worlds you can read more about Landscaping drainage or Landscaping Design