The biggest enemy your house has it water. There might be a few other hazards that it will face in its lifetime, but water can do more damage than anything else and quickly. Whether it is from a flood on the outside, a backed up drain or a faulty sump pump on the inside, you want to prevent water from getting in your house in every way possible. If you have never been a homeowner before, how do you do that? Where can water even get in your house? There are a few tips to follow when you want to keep your house from falling in to the hands of the evil water.

Check the Gutters

When it rains, it pours, right? Where does all of that rain go, as it slides off the roof? With any luck, it will go in to a gutter and safely be whisked away from your house. In order to make sure the water is whisked away, you need to routinely check your gutters. If you live in a shaded area or have a lot of trees nearby, you should check your gutters often. Leaves and other tree debris can get in the gutters and clog them up, preventing water from flowing smoothly. Water that does not flow smoothly can overflow in to the walls, drain down the foundation and get in to the house in a matter of minutes.

Cleaning the gutters can be as easy as propping the ladder up and looking in each one. When there is debris, remove it and you are good to go for another few months. Check all of the gutters, since they work together to move the water from the house. Throw away any of the debris and get all of it out when you are cleaning it.

Watch the Downspouts

The water draining from the gutters runs down in to the downspouts of a house. There are two ways to run your downspouts to make them effective outside of the house. The downspouts can have plastic tubing attached to the end of them which carries the water further out from the house. The only problem is that for heavy rains, then you might create puddles away from the house. Then you also have tubing to step over or mow around when you do yardwork. The downspout tubing is not necessarily pretty, but if you live in rainy areas, it might become a necessity.

Another option with downspout tubing is to get the special kind with holes and bury it. The water will gradually seep in to the ground out away from the house, wherever the tube is buried. The only problem with this method is that if you get heavy rains, it could back up in the tubing or it could wash out part of the yard after a while if heavy water pushes it out of the way. The ground around the tubing might need regular work if you are in a heavy rain area.

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