Before you can begin building your new home, you must ensure you have a solid foundation to start from. This requires the assistance of an excavation contractor, who will possess the right tools and knowledge to clear a plot of land for new construction. A contractor will also ensure there is sufficient drainage around your new home to prevent foundation issues in the future. This guide explains types of drainage and how they can affect your property.  

Positive Drainage

Under ideal circumstances, water will move away from your home via proper land leveling, which is the process of creating a slope in the soil around the foundation. A downward slope makes use of gravity to channel water away from your home, which is known as positive drainage. As water runs away from your property, it's distributed to a safer area where it can be absorbed back into the soil. 

Positive drainage is crucial to keep your home's foundation intact. If water is allowed to settle around the property, the damp soil will put pressure on the concrete and cause cracks to form, affecting the home’s stability and allowing water to seep into your basement. 

Negative Drainage

When the land around a property slopes toward the structure and not away from it, you have a problem with negative drainage. Instead of flowing away from your home, water will go towards the foundation and cause the issues described above. 

Even if the land is leveled properly from the outset, some homes develop drainage issues over time due to soil erosion. In this case, your excavation team can re-grade the land to adjust the slope around your home. If soil erosion is an ongoing problem, you may also consider building a retaining wall with drainage pipes on your property to keep it in place.

The right excavation contractor will make complex drainage issues easy to understand. In Stayton, OR, Canyon Rock Products offers the benefit of over two decades of experience to customers. In addition to their reliable contractor services, they supply rock and gravel for a variety of construction projects. Call (503) 769-2584 for more information or see the full listing of services online.