Years as a landlord and property attorney have taught me one clear lesson: water is a primary enemy of property. It feels like every claim starts or ends with water damage.

While foundation issues can stem from natural settlement or poor initial construction, uncontrolled water is frequently the real culprit. It erodes or saturates the surrounding soil, eventually seeping through concrete into the home.

You can’t always predict soil settlement or past construction mistakes, but you can actively control your property’s drainage.

It directly threatens your foundation—the core structural support of your entire home.

• Step cracks in exterior brick or masonry
• Uneven or sloping floors
• Gaps between floors and walls, or windows and walls
• Diagonal cracks in the drywall

• Gutters & Downspouts: Install seamless gutters and extend downspouts to discharge water at least 5 feet away from the foundation.
• Soil Regrading: Adjust the ground slope so land falls away from the home by at least 6 inches over the first 10 feet.
• Subsurface Drainage: Lay French drains or gravel trenches to capture and redirect pooling surface water.

Proactively managing runoff keeps the soil surrounding your foundation stable, dry, and secure for the long haul.

• Ensured that the foundation was stable to secure the home’s structure.
• Installed new gutters to capture roof runoff.
• Poured custom concrete slabs sloped away from the foundation to prevent pooling.
• Added French drains at the end of the slabs to redirect downspout water completely away from the home.”

Perhaps it was overkill, but we are about 10 years post certificate of occupancy, and we have had no issues!