Efficient drainage systems are fundamental to all landscape projects, especially decks and patios. We design and build systems including French drains, catch basins and rainwater harvesting systems. We also specialize in rainwater harvesting and rainwater catchment and install rainwater tanks, cisterns and barrels in Santa Barbara, Carpentaria, Ojai, Ventura, Camarillo, Oxnard, Thousand Oaks, Westlake Village, Agoura Hills and Newbury Park.
Properly removing water from your site is critical and requires careful thought and design, coupled with precise execution of the design. Calculating the specific areas of water absorption versus the specific areas of non-absorption is critical. The addition of pools, spas, pool decking, patios and walkways reduces the area of water absorption surfaces. This impairs surface water's ability to percolate downward, so it must be picked up and moved thru a subsurface drainage system.
This is an important factor often overlooked by landscape contractors, who then fail to discuss this relationship with prospective clients. More systems fail due to this missed calculation than to any other reason.There are other techniques that are used for drainage issues. Rainwater harvesting collection systems collect and save water, which is then used as part of an irrigation system for plants in the landscape. Creating berms, or low mounds, which direct and slow the speed of runoff, is a very useful method, as it allows for better absorption and percolation of water to subsurfaces.
French drain systems are utilized to remove subsurface water which is entering the structure or structures on a property. More often than not these systems are installed after a home has been built, fully landscaped and lived in for quite some time. The existing environment must be disturbed and then reinstalled, which increases the scope of work, thus increasing the cost of a drainage project.