If water is pooling around your foundation after it rains, there's a good chance your gutter system isn't moving water far enough away from the house. In Edmonton and surrounding communities like Sherwood Park, St. Albert, Beaumont, Spruce Grove, and Leduc, this is one of the most common drainage issues homeowners run into. Sometimes it's a clogged downspout, sometimes it's poor grading, and sometimes it's a gutter system that's been slowly failing for years without anyone realizing it.
Most Homeowners Notice the Symptom Before the Problem
Usually the call starts the same way. Someone notices standing water beside the house after a rainstorm. Maybe it's a muddy patch that never seems to dry out. Maybe the mulch keeps washing out of the flower bed every time it rains. Sometimes it's a damp smell in the basement that wasn't there a few years ago.
What surprises people is how often the source of the problem is twenty feet above their head.
Your roof collects an incredible amount of water. Even a fairly average rainfall can send thousands of litres of water through the gutter system over the course of a storm. If that water isn't being controlled properly, it has to go somewhere, and unfortunately the easiest place is often right beside the foundation.
I've been on homes throughout Edmonton, St. Albert, and Sherwood Park where the homeowner was convinced they had a grading problem, only to discover that one clogged downspout was dumping an entire section of roof runoff beside the house every time it rained.
Water Is Persistent
That's probably the best way to describe it.
Water doesn't care where you want it to go. It follows the easiest path available. If a gutter is overflowing, water follows gravity. If a downspout is plugged, it spills over the edge. If an extension is missing, it gets discharged right beside the foundation.
The reason this becomes a concern over time isn't because of one storm. It's because of hundreds of storms.
A single rainfall isn't usually enough to cause noticeable damage. But if the same area beside the house gets saturated over and over again for years, the ground starts changing. Soil settles differently. Drainage patterns shift. Areas that used to stay dry begin holding moisture longer than they should.
Edmonton Winters Don't Help
One thing that makes this issue more common around Edmonton and the surrounding communities is the way our seasons work.
After spending months dealing with snow accumulation, spring arrives and suddenly all that moisture has to move somewhere. During a rapid thaw, your gutter system can end up handling an enormous amount of water in a very short period of time.
If everything is functioning properly, that's not a problem.
If gutters are partially blocked, sagging, or overflowing, all that water ends up concentrated around the house instead.
I've seen homes in Beaumont and Spruce Grove where the homeowner never noticed a problem during summer rainstorms, but every spring they had water pooling near the foundation because snowmelt was overwhelming part of the system.
Sometimes the Clues Are Right in Front of You
One of the easiest things to look for is erosion.
If soil has been washing away beneath a section of gutter, that's usually a sign that water has been escaping there for quite a while. The same goes for mulch that keeps disappearing, concrete splash marks on the foundation, or areas of grass that seem unusually saturated compared to the rest of the yard.
These aren't necessarily signs of foundation damage, but they are signs that water isn't being managed properly.
And that's really the goal of a gutter system. People often think gutters are there to protect the roof, but their real job is protecting everything below the roof.
A Situation We See Quite Often
A while back we looked at a home on the west side of Edmonton where the owner was concerned about a wet spot that kept showing up along one basement wall. They'd already spoken to a couple of companies about drainage solutions and were worried they might be facing a major foundation repair.
When we arrived, one thing stood out immediately. The area beneath a front downspout was heavily eroded compared to the rest of the yard.
The downspout itself was plugged almost solid.
Every rainfall had been sending water over the top of the gutter and directly beside the foundation. Not for a few weeks. Probably for years.
Once the drainage issue was corrected, the area finally had a chance to dry out and behave the way it was supposed to.
Final Thought
If water is pooling around your foundation, don't assume the problem is at ground level. Quite often the real issue starts much higher up.
The good news is that many drainage problems are caught early. A clogged downspout, a sagging section of gutter, or an extension that's directing water to the wrong place are all relatively straightforward problems to fix.
The longer they're ignored, though, the more opportunity water has to do what it always does: find a way into places you don't want it.
If you're seeing water collecting around your foundation in Edmonton, St. Albert, Sherwood Park, Beaumont, Spruce Grove, Leduc, or Fort Saskatchewan, it's worth figuring out where that water is coming from before it turns into something much more expensive.
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