Didnt know where to put this so into general discussion it goes.
I have a back yard that ends in a curved hill bank very close to the back and right side of my home. We do have a retaining wall that ends on the right corner of the rear of the home and a french drain that doesnt really seem to do much. We also have a gutter on the back right corner that is supposed to feed into the french drain. The reason for the bank and retaining wall is a large piece of mountain whose end point comes under the retaining wall and creates a high point that makes directional underground drainage difficult.
The combination of the curved hill forming a half bowl directing runoff water towards the back corner of my home, the difficulty in directional drainage, flat so no where for rain to go, and the substantial flow from the roof via the gutter makes for a constant drainage issue right at a concentrated point on my homes foundation.
Fortunately, our home is rather new so we do not have any foundation issues now but I would expect them in the future. We have explored several options to fix the issue. The most logical solution is to concrete the area around the back corner of the home at a slight grade leading to a gutter along the retaining wall away from the foundation with drain boxes leading to either side of the home where there is an acceptable grade for drainage to take care of ground water, properly redirecting the gutter to tie in with the drain box drainage, and extending the retaining wall around the curve with incorporated appropriate drainage solutions behind it to direct the runoff.
This solution has proven to be cost prohibitive for us after several quotes. As we arent going to stay here forever I have suggested just leave it and plan to move in 5 years and sell the house as this shouldn't be an issue for quite some time. However, wife wont shut up about it and it's a priority for her as she doesnt want the dogs in that area blah, blah, blah.
She has gotten together with her father in law and he has come up with a solution of just digging a ditch ahead of the high point created by the point of rock that he expects to somehow just direct the ground water away from the house and covering it with a wooden deck a couple inches over the ground. He is a smart guy but suggested there was no need to speak with someone that has landscape drainage experience as he believes this to be an obvious, easy fix.
I am not as sold on the effectiveness of this idea and was hoping I could get some professional perspective that might point out pitfalls in the plan we have not considered. I would prefer not to pursue a half measure fix that will cost me a bunch of money that I will just have to come back and fix later properly like I should have done in the first place. Buy once cry once kind of thing.
I know this is a long post but if anyone that has any experienced professional advice to offer I would be most grateful. Thanks for reading!
I have a back yard that ends in a curved hill bank very close to the back and right side of my home. We do have a retaining wall that ends on the right corner of the rear of the home and a french drain that doesnt really seem to do much. We also have a gutter on the back right corner that is supposed to feed into the french drain. The reason for the bank and retaining wall is a large piece of mountain whose end point comes under the retaining wall and creates a high point that makes directional underground drainage difficult.
The combination of the curved hill forming a half bowl directing runoff water towards the back corner of my home, the difficulty in directional drainage, flat so no where for rain to go, and the substantial flow from the roof via the gutter makes for a constant drainage issue right at a concentrated point on my homes foundation.
Fortunately, our home is rather new so we do not have any foundation issues now but I would expect them in the future. We have explored several options to fix the issue. The most logical solution is to concrete the area around the back corner of the home at a slight grade leading to a gutter along the retaining wall away from the foundation with drain boxes leading to either side of the home where there is an acceptable grade for drainage to take care of ground water, properly redirecting the gutter to tie in with the drain box drainage, and extending the retaining wall around the curve with incorporated appropriate drainage solutions behind it to direct the runoff.
This solution has proven to be cost prohibitive for us after several quotes. As we arent going to stay here forever I have suggested just leave it and plan to move in 5 years and sell the house as this shouldn't be an issue for quite some time. However, wife wont shut up about it and it's a priority for her as she doesnt want the dogs in that area blah, blah, blah.
She has gotten together with her father in law and he has come up with a solution of just digging a ditch ahead of the high point created by the point of rock that he expects to somehow just direct the ground water away from the house and covering it with a wooden deck a couple inches over the ground. He is a smart guy but suggested there was no need to speak with someone that has landscape drainage experience as he believes this to be an obvious, easy fix.
I am not as sold on the effectiveness of this idea and was hoping I could get some professional perspective that might point out pitfalls in the plan we have not considered. I would prefer not to pursue a half measure fix that will cost me a bunch of money that I will just have to come back and fix later properly like I should have done in the first place. Buy once cry once kind of thing.
I know this is a long post but if anyone that has any experienced professional advice to offer I would be most grateful. Thanks for reading!
