Waterproofing and Drainage in Sylmar

Sylmar sits on the alluvial fan where the San Gabriels meet the valley floor, and that geology explains most of what we get called out for. The ground is coarse and drains fast, so water moves through it laterally in volume during a storm instead of pooling on the surface, and it arrives at a foundation wall from the uphill side with real energy behind it. After a fire on the slopes above, that same fan carries mud and debris rather than clean runoff, which blocks the drains that were sized for water. Lots here are generally larger than they are further south, often with horse property, outbuildings and long garden walls, and those secondary structures are usually where a drainage problem first becomes visible because nobody waterproofed them the way the house was done.