I still don't see a series of pictures that, to the best of your ability, show the path of where the water is going when it leaves your property. I almost see a picture of the right portion of your dry river bed. Then, I see nothing beyond... how it enters the neighbor's property to the right...how it flows through, and how it leaves his property and what's next. Does neighbor to right have same problem? Position the camera so as to reveal the grade, if possible. Guess what... if it's dammed up anywhere along that path--intentionally or inadvertently--the water's going to back up. We need to see the path. To imbed pictures here, on another tab/window, go to the picture where it's hosted. Look for the word "share" or maybe at your site they call it something else, but similar. Explore around a little until you find a way to get the html code for the picture. Copy it. Go back to GardenWeb where you are creating your message. Paste the html code for the picture into the message. Go back to your photo-hosting site and get the code for any other pictures you're including and paste in GW by the same process. Click on "preview message" and you'll see that if you grabbed the right code, the picture will show up in the preview. One site I use has MANY options for different codes for each picture (depending on the size you want) so it may take a little trial and error, but you'll find it. Based on your diagram (and thank you, pls8xx, for posting it here) I think I understand the general concept of your dilemma... but not at all the details that are necessary to put the puzzle together... or to know if it CAN be put together via forum. Need to see the path of drainage. One thing I'll say that appears not right from your photos: the gravel looks to be at a slightly higher elevation than the patio surface. It seems that for a device like this dry river bed, it should be lower than the patio, creating a "trough" of sorts as a channel to carry the water away before the water gets up onto the patio. If it's higher than the patio (since water doesn't flow uphill) it's making the patio (the lower elevation) become the trough to carry water. Please confirm which surface is higher, relative to the other. If the patio is lower, the solution would be to remove soil from below the dry river bed and lower it's elevation, so that the patio was at an elevation above it. BUT THIS COULD NOT BE DONE BEFORE KNOWING WHAT'S BEYOND or you stand a fantastic chance of making the situation dramatically worse! Did I mention we need to see that drainage path?

T, Depends on the soil under the graded area. Test percolation by digging a 2 feet square by 2 foot deep hole and fill with water. When the water has percolated out of the hole fill again and time how long to empty the hole a second time. Let us know what that time is here. Putting porous material on top of compacted dense material will do no good. How much water reaches your house on an average rainfall? Example 1" of sheeting water flow, one foot of sheeting water flow; a small rivulet or a large ditch of water. Is the water coming from a neighbors yard. Better to dig a small swale around your yard to the side and then to the street. JMHO Aloha

I think you might need to find some new contractors :-) A skilled and experienced masonry contractor should know how to grade and seat a patio so that water drains away from the structure regardless of what the surface treatment is.

I started a thread about something else here on Houzz and thought I might return to this one to provide an update/conclusion, in case anyone else comes here with the same problem. I tried to call a knowledgeable drainage company that was recommended to me. From my description over the phone they told me that I live over an underground spring and nothing could be done. They would not even come out to look. I carried on with my plumber's suggestion of redirecting the water to the front yard. This was a failure, because it looked terrible and we actually had a neighbor ring our bell late at night telling us we had a burst water main. Here is what ultimately solved the problem. First, our new sump pump has an electronic control box that let us more precisely set the discharge level, so the pump is running less often without the water rising to unsafe levels. Second, we removed that deck in the backyard (which I wanted to do, water issues notwithstanding) and replaced it with a ground-level paver patio. That means there is more grass and less mud in my yard, so that alone makes it less muddy. Finally, I had my regular landscaper hook the backyard discharge pipe to a dry well. At first this only worked "okay," but he is a very good landscaper and he came back out and made the dry well bigger, and now my yard is nice and dry. I can let the dog out after significant rain and her paws are barely dirty. We have had the enlarged dry well for about 3 months now and through some significant rains, and it seems like it is working better than we'd hoped. :)