Where your roof water goes, and why it matters more than you think

A moderate roof sheds a startling volume of water in a mid-South storm. Whether that water lands four feet from the house or against it is the single cheapest thing you can control about your foundation.

Clear them twice a year, and more often if you have anything overhanging the roof. Autumn after the leaves are down is essential; late spring catches the seed pods and blossom that clog downspouts without ever looking like a blockage from the ground.

Check the downspouts discharge well clear of the house — four to six feet is the usual target. Extensions are inexpensive and they are the highest-value part of the whole system. Water dumped at the base of a wall goes somewhere, and the somewhere is generally your slab or crawlspace.

Look for the warning signs from the ground: a gutter sagging away from the fascia, a seam that has opened, staining down an exterior wall, or a trench worn into the soil beneath a joint. Any of those means water has been going somewhere it should not for a while.

After a heavy storm, walk the perimeter while it is still wet. You will learn more about how your property drains in ten minutes of rain than in any amount of dry-weather inspection. Standing water against the house, or a low spot that holds for hours, is worth fixing before it becomes a foundation conversation.

Call someone if: water is reaching the foundation despite clear gutters, you see cracking or movement in a slab or brickwork, or the grading around the house slopes the wrong way and needs regrading.