As a property manager, you oversee large landscapes with multiple units and shared spaces. Drainage issues can quickly escalate, causing water damage, flooded walkways and costly repairs that affect many people.
If not addressed promptly, these problems lower property values, increase maintenance costs and create safety risks for tenants, leading to possible legal liability. Effective property water management is crucial, so this guide offers a practical understanding of common drainage solutions.
To find the best drainage solution, you first need to understand where water issues commonly occur in multi-unit dwellings:
Regular inspections, encouraging tenants to report issues promptly and calling a drainage specialist like Drainage Masters LLC will reduce the consequences of neglecting the damage.
You can use four solutions to effectively manage your drainage issues. These include:
Schedule regular maintenance of your gutters and downspouts to help prevent clogs and debris and spot any issues with their condition before it becomes a larger problem. You can also select landscaping plants for optimal drainage.
Proper land grading and sloping are the best long-term solutions. For this option, the earth is reshaped to direct water away from buildings and into catchment areas like swales, which are shallow, vegetated channels that manage water runoff.
Often paired with surface solutions, subsurface options include sump pumps for basements and crawlspaces, dry wells for underground water storage and slow reintroduction of water into the ground, and French drains — trenches with perforated pipes surrounded by gravel to collect and redirect water.
Catch basins, especially with our patent-pending steel sediment-trapping design, are extremely effective at collecting and filtering water to prevent surface runoff when installed at low points in paved areas.
To get the best result from your chosen solutions, you need to prioritize projects based on their urgency and the impact they’ll make overall. This priority list will help you allocate funds based on this risk management. Once you’re ready to start, you should obtain accurate quotes from contractors that break down the scope, materials and amount of labor required to ensure proper budgeting.
Combining surface and subsurface solutions is the best way to keep your managed property free of water damage and flooding. Proactive management keeps the building and its tenants safe and dry. Drainage Masters LLC has decades of experience serving residential and commercial properties with excellent drainage solutions. If you need solutions for apartment drainage in Vancouver, WA, or Portland, we are here to help.
Contact us today to get started with a free estimate.
