What Is a Drainage Inspection for New Orleans Homes?
A drainage inspection for a New Orleans home is a review of how water leaves the property, and it exposes where that process breaks. A visual inspection records what the surface shows. A measured diagnostic records what the ground does. Garden Picasso, a forensic landscaping firm that diagnoses and solves stormwater management problems with nature-focused green infrastructure, treats the inspection as the first question and the measurement as the answer.
What Is a Drainage Inspection?
A drainage inspection is a visual review of the roof drainage, grading, hard surfaces and drains that carry water off a property. It answers a basic question: where does the water go? In New Orleans that question carries weight, because the ground is soft, the water table is high, and subsidence is a documented hazard in the city.
What Does a Drainage Inspection Examine?
Roof drainage: gutters, downspouts and where each one discharges.
Grading: whether the ground slopes toward or away from the foundation.
Hard surfaces: driveways, patios and walks that shed water and where they send it.
Drains and basins: catch basins, trench drains and visible outlets, and whether they are clear.
Water evidence: standing water, staining, erosion and soggy ground along walls.
Foundation edge: cracks, moisture and settlement signs near the perimeter.
What Can a Drainage Inspection Not Reveal?
A visual inspection cannot see below the surface. It does not tell you how fast the soil absorbs water, whether a compacted layer sits under the turf, or what condition the underground lines are in. A property with a clean visual report can still hold a storm at the surface.
GPH, or Gallons Absorbed Per Hour, is the rate at which a site's soil column accepts water, measured through the full 36-inch profile rather than at the surface. The 36-Inch Soil Column is the depth Garden Picasso reads, and it is where an inspection stops and a diagnostic begins.
What Does a Measured Diagnostic Add?
The Forensic Hydrology Audit (FHA) adds three measurements the visual review cannot produce:
A forensic scope: inspection of catch basins and underground lines for silt, collapse and blockage.
A peak-load simulation: a 100-year rain event run against the site to find the GPH rate at which the system fails.
Laser-level mapping: the zones where gravity sends water toward the structure.
The result is a Certified Infrastructure Risk Report. The FHA costs $1,500, and the full fee is credited toward the design solution when you hire Garden Picasso within 30 days. See the Forensic Hydrology Audit.
What Can a Drainage Inspection Reveal About Flood Risk in a New Orleans Home?
A drainage inspection reveals whether a property sheds water toward or away from the house, whether the drains are clear, and whether the site shows signs of standing water or movement. It does not rate the flood risk of an area. A flood zone describes the area, and a drainage diagnostic describes the lot. The two answer different questions, and a buyer or owner needs both.
How Does a Drainage Inspection Relate to Foundation Problems?
Foundation movement and drainage failure travel together. Surface-Level Trauma is the damage that paving, compaction and traditional landscaping do to a site's ability to absorb water, and it concentrates runoff at the foundation edge. A foundation repair in New Orleans can cost $15,000 to $40,000, which makes the question about the water worth asking first. For the full chain from clay to cracks, read Foundation Settlement in New Orleans: A Forensic Guide.
How Does the Clock Test Work After a Rain?
Water leaves a sound lot on a predictable clock. If the street drains in an hour and your yard holds water for a day, the problem is in your ground, not the street. Note when the rain stops, when the street clears and when your yard clears, and record all three with photos. That timeline is the most useful piece of evidence you can hand an inspector.
How Do You Prepare for a Drainage Inspection?
Walk the lot during or just after rain: photograph where water collects and which way it travels.
Gather repair records: drainage, plumbing, foundation and grading work, with dates.
Clear the drains: remove leaves and silt from basins and gutters so the inspector sees the real condition.
List your questions: the corner that stays wet, the crack that grew, the door that sticks.
Who Should Perform a Drainage Inspection?
Ask one question before you hire anyone: do you measure the absorption rate of the ground, or do you describe what you see? An answer of what I see describes an inspection. An answer in gallons per hour describes a diagnostic. Both have a place, but they are different products, and only one produces a number you can compare across properties and over time.
When Is a Drainage Inspection Enough, and When Is a Diagnostic Needed?
An inspection is enough: for a routine check of gutters, downspouts and obvious grading problems.
A Basic Site Audit ($250) fits: when you want a first read of how the ground handles water.
A Forensic Hydrology Audit ($1,500) fits: when water stands or floods.
A Forensic Infrastructure Audit ($1,500, 7-business-day turnaround) fits: when the structure is moving or cracking, or a past repair failed. Both audits are credited toward the design solution when you hire Garden Picasso within 30 days.
Buying a home? See Pre-Purchase Drainage Assessments in New Orleans.
Water leaving your property the wrong way? Start with a Basic Site Audit ($250), a Forensic Hydrology Audit ($1,500) or a Forensic Infrastructure Audit ($1,500). Book at gardenpicasso.com or call 504-575-8199.
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