Your Lawn’s Health: A Checklist for the Rainy Season

2020 has been a challenge for many, and it seems set to continue making life difficult. With this summer’s unusual amount of rain destabilizing lawns throughout Florida many homeowners may be concerned about the state of their yards and foundations.

Luckily, you can take steps, as detailed in this checklist, to protect your landscaping and your foundation from rainy weather.

Caring for Your Lawn: Getting Ahead of The Weather

A lawn that’s been over-exposed to rain presents even the most prepared homeowner with several safety risks. An excess of rain can compromise the stability of a slab foundation as well as the health of any landscaping you may have invested in.

With that in mind, you’ll want to do what you can to get ahead of the weather. Some of the best ways to care for your home before heavy rains strike include:

• Audit your dirt – Before you can invest in any specific lawn-protecting measures, make sure you understand what kind of soil you’re working with. If you have an excessive amount of bentonite clay in your soil, for example, you may be able to redirect some of your waterproofing budget, as bentonite responds well to heavy rains and can work as a natural waterproofing measure. If you have other types of soil at your disposal, however, you may want to browse the full extent of the waterproofing measures you have available to you.
• Keep your lawn healthy – Before rain arrives in earnest, you can use a sprinkler system to keep the soil around your home healthy. In doing so, you’ll ensure that the soil particles supporting your foundation and crawl space can continue to absorb rainwater that might otherwise put your home’s stability at risk. Dried-out soil, comparatively, can shrink to the point where it no longer protects your home.
• Plant grasses and plants that are flood-ready– It will also be to your benefit to choose grasses and plants for your yard that can survive exposure to significant amounts of rain. This way, you can establish strong root systems beneath your yard that can hold your soil in place.

If you’re in the market for plants, flowers, and hedges that can pull water away from your foundation, some of the best include:

• Northern sea oats
• Little blue stream
• Cord grass
• Trumpet creeper
• Rose mallow
• Indian grass

Caring for Your Lawn During Heavy Rains

Sometimes, you’re not able to respond to heavy rains until you’re in the midst of it. Even then, you can take concentrated steps to protect your lawn and foundation. These include:

• Stay on top of weather developments in your area – Make sure to check the news and determine how the weather is going to impact your area.
• Watch your lawn for signs of damage – Certain parts of your lawn may be more sensitive to the heavy rains than others. Keep an eye out for which parts of your lawn start to pool with water or experience die-off as a result of drowning roots.
• Wait to invest in re-invigoration – You should not try to reinvigorate your lawn while you’re still in the midst of Orlando, FL’s rainy season. Instead, catalog the damages that occur and focus on keeping the perimeter of your home healthy by redirecting that water with the help of waterproofing measures or daily chores, like cleaning your gutters.

Caring for Your Lawn After the Rain Passes

After the clouds clear away, you can start taking steps to repair any damages endured. This way, not only can you shore up your foundation and crawl space, but you can move to protect your home from the rain that’ll come in the following years.

When looking to repair your lawn, you’ll want to:

• Assess the damage – If you didn’t keep track of your damages during the rainy season, then you will want to go through your lawn and determine what plants have suffered, what parts of your lawn have experienced the most stress, and so on.
• Mulch your beds – Mulch can help bring moisture back to your yard at a reasonable pace. Mulching after significant rains can draw some of that remaining groundwater away from your plants, ensuring that their roots are less likely to drown or rot.
• Take advantage of waterproofing measures – Nothing protects your home or lawn like clean gutters, well-positioned downspouts, or the myriad of other waterproofing measures you can invest in. By integrating new waterproofing measures into your yard, you can prevent water from pooling near your home and doing damage to your landscaping or your structural supports.

Protecting Your Lawn and Foundation

2020’s wetter weather is set to challenge many homeowners who are trying to protect their homes and lawns. Luckily, if you’re concerned about foundation damage or detriments to your lawn, you can work with the professionals in your area. Foundation and crawl space repair professionals at Alpha Foundations can inspect your home for signs of weakness and provide you with a free quote on any services you may need to prepare for the worst of Florida’s rains.