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eaton72

Slopes, drains, driveways...oh my

eaton72
12 years ago

We've been reading a lot for the last year and need advice specific to our situation.

We had a new home built this year, our forever home. We worked with the landscaper to best grade the lot to include bringing in close to 1000 yards of dirt. We are on a natural slope that backs up to protected wetlands, woods and a drainage easement. We are on a cul-de-sac lot with no neighbor to our left or rear; and a neighbor to our right that sits about 6-8 feet above us with a slope between our yards. Our back yard has a gradual slope and our left yard has a sharp slope. There are not really any flat spots in our sides or back yard. We will post pictures soon to give a better understanding.

We are having issues with drainage around the house and the driveway. When it rains or the irrigation system run, we have the runoff from our neighbor coming down the slope. We also have our own runoff from our gutters and irrigation system.

On the right side of the house by our neighbor slope, we are currently installing an underground drainage system with 4" corrugated pipe connected to the downspouts, tying into a 9x9 catch basin which is connected to a pipe that is buried down the backyard with a pop-up emitter. We've got 1/2 of this project completed, hope to finish the remainder today weather permitting. The pipe will be slightly mounded over to create a berm to prevent the slope run off from reaching the foundation of the house. We had considered creating a dry creek bed, but changed our minds.

On the left side of the house, we are not sure what to do. I am attaching a video of this issue, taken today. Our driveway has an extended parking pad. The driveway has a valley. When it rains, two gutters feed into that valley plus water travels across the yard to feed into that same low spot. It hits the grass and has no where to go. A big puddle forms into the yard and backs up across the driveway "valley". Running pipe from those gutters is not possible, as they would have to run across our driveway and sidewalk. We need advice for how to best disperse that water away and down towards the wetlands/easement.

We've got a mess on our hands. These are the two most pertinent issues at this time, but there are plenty of other problems we'll have to tackle.

Thank you for any insight or advice.

Here is a link that might be useful: Driveway rain

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