Water can be detrimental to your home. Any rain and snow falling on your roof is your home's enemy, and should be eliminated as efficiently as possible. Accumulated water can easily seep into the structure of your home, whether on the roof or the foundation, and result in serious damage.

Preventing water from damaging your home is the first step towards a happy home. All that is needed for good surface drainage is a properly angled roof, gutters, downspouts, and downspout extensions.

The roof is the first step to eliminating runoff water. It should be appropriately angled according to the environment in which it stands. Higher pitched roofs are common in areas where there is heavier snowfall, as falling snow can easily slide off the roof. In areas where there is a lot of rainfall, it is important that roofs be pitched in a manner that allows rainwater to flow into the gutters. This will prevent water from accumulating on the roof and destroying it. Therefore, most homes in North America are not flat, as it is more difficult to eliminate runoff water.

Your roof angles runoff water into the gutters attached along its perimeter. It is important that with faster and heavier rainfall, gutters be larger to accommodate all runoff water. If gutters are too small, water will splash over the sides and still be able to cause damage to your home.

Gutters should be checked and cleaned on a routine basis. Any leaks should be sealed with caulking, while debris clogging the gutters should be removed. It may be a time consuming task, but it will save you the grief caused by severe damage that could potentially destroy your home.

The vertical piping connected to the gutters are the downspouts. Downspouts forge a path for runoff water to be able to reach the ground. Like your gutters, they should be sized appropriately so that all water can be collected without spillage and be cleaned and checked routinely for leaks. Normally, downspouts are attached at the corners of a house. For surface drainage, a curved connection at the end to angle draining water away from the foundation is common. However, this is not sufficient to prevent water from leaking into your basement and adversely affecting the foundation of your home.

Which is why downspout extensions are required. Downspout extensions simply attach to the bottom of downspouts. Extending a few feet away from your home, they collect runoff water and direct it well away. A good downspout extension will also disperse the pressure of draining water so that it does not hit the ground heavily.