If you’ve been in New Mexico for any amount of time, the folks at American Restoration Water & Fire know that you’ve noticed the drainage devices or “drain spouts” on the sides of buildings and homes! These are called canales (can-AL-eez). While fun and stylish, these Southwestern design elements can cause a world of water issues around your home.
Canales take the rainwater from your roof and pass it through your parapets directly onto the ground. This is fine if the rains are relatively light and water can slowly move away from your home’s foundation. But, in New Mexico, when the rains do come they’re typically not light at all! Torrential downpours are more likely, especially during monsoon season.
During these downpours, 1″ of rain will create 1,250 gallons of water on your 2,000 square foot flat roof. (That’s over 10,400 pounds of water!) Hopefully, you have a drainage system that will move water away from your home quickly. If not, it’s coming inside!
To help with this issue, the professionals at American Restoration Water & Fire have a couple of solutions.
First, consider having an engineer or construction professional (who is licensed) determine if you have what’s called, “positive drainage” around your foundation. The word “positive” refers to water moving away from your foundation. “Negative” is the opposite situation, where you may see water running back toward your home. Pooling of water around your foundation is a pretty decent clue that you have negative drainage. If this is the case, consider hiring a professional to bring in additional fill dirt to raise the dirt level around your home and create that positive drainage.
Next, if you have canales that are creating issues, consider having gutters and downspouts added to them. Rain gutters can direct water to a different side of your home and downspouts can direct water runoff to a safe place away from your home’s foundation. The great thing about gutters and downspouts is that you can easily add rain barrels to collect water for later use.
Lastly, and after 2 small flood events, one of our customers simply poured a 5 foot concrete sidewalk around part of their home, forcing water away from the structure. The result: no more flooding!
If you do all of this and the monsoon rains still bring water into your home, contact the professional staff at American Restoration Water & Fire. In the Albuquerque Metro area, they can be at your home or office within the hour to help restore your structure and your peace of mind.
