I don't know what the laws are where you are, but where I live you are not allowed to channel water to someone else's property. It must exit your own property to the street. I agree with Yardvaark. It sounds like you need to research where the city planners designed the water to go and find out why its not going there. Its not hard to find that info. The city should be able to give you the development plan for your subdivision. Our city worked with us to help us solve the problem we had. I was told that just after the subdivision was built some neighbors further up the hill from us had similar issues to you. The city had to come in and build a storm drain through at least 2 of the lots to solve the issue for them. If you were not having these issues before your neighbor built his pool and garage then it sounds like you need to bring the issue up and demand it be solved. If it had happened to us and the city and homeowner weren't helpful in solving the problem we'd be suing both of them for not addressing the issue of drainage and recouping the cost of having to pump all that water out. In my son's old neighborhood the one house on the corner that was the lowest and kept getting flooded year after year was finally purchased by the city, torn down and a small park sits there now. But it took a long time for that to happen. I don't know for a fact, but I suspect law suits were involved. - In the link below I show how we solved our problem. But we really didn't have much issue with neighbors' lots draining into ours it was that our lot wasn't graded correctly in the first place and the water had no outlet to exit our property. Good Luck and please report back what happens. Here is a link that might be useful: Back yard drainage

dlm: the rain stopped late Sunday; today was sunny and the outlook for then next couple days is the same. The problem is that the Cumberland is still rising, and our beautiful downtown area is under water. The football stadium could be used for Olympic swim trials . . . water was up to the wall where the seats begin. We have a spectacular new symphony hall - last I heard the basement was totally flooded and water was up in the main floor. My DD and I went to a concert there a couple weeks ago -- pianist who played on a gorgeous concert grand piano that came up from the basement on a lift to the stage. I assume it's under water now. The river is supposed to crest sometime tonight or tomorrow. Another major problem is that one of the two water pumping stations is - ironically - under water, so two counties have been asked to use only half of the water they'd normally use . . . no showers, no dishwashing, no laundry. Two of the lasting images I'll never forget: A house all by itself, surrounded by water, on fire. I guess those people are some of the lucky ones because they surely had fire insurance and nobody had flood insurance. The other one is a portable classroom that looked to be maybe 60 feet long, floating down the freeway. They said it went more than a quarter mile before breaking up. I think the death toll is officially 13 or 14, but that will go higher because there are people unaccounted for.

I have struggled through just this type of project. I was called to expertly assess and repair and replace the woodwork from a grand 3 story victorian home of a close friend. I was able to save a great deal, including their masterpiece hand carved, curved staircase. I (re?) developed techniques through the project to seal odor and reverse water stains in their 120 yr old quartersawn oak trim. Spraying down remaining structural woodwork (studs) with a solution of lemon juice and water, followed by a sealcoat of shellac (in a day or 2, after the lemon water dried) worked miracles to stop the smoke odor. Cleaning and restoring with the Old fashioned remedies of sunlight, lemons and shellac were far more effective than the slow, expensive hi-tech "ozone machines" recommended by the insurance co and servicemaster". In other words, saved the company MONEY! The citric acid in the lemons and volatile compounds in the real lemon peels actually worked with the tannic acids natural in oak (and many other hardwood trim woods) to neutralize and reverse color and chemical changes that were caused by charring, water stains and smoke. I could go on, but my point is : all may not be lost if there still remains some parts that make you feel like "home" restoration may be a viable option. Keep your spirits and your standards high. wish you the best, here to help, Reid

Used book sales, dusty ol' book shops, library sales, they are my favorite haunts and past times. I end up sitting cross-legged on the floor all dusty, I look like a bum.. a book bum. However...mini rant to follow... while I love to browse and purchase books, I get so fed up with booksellers and antique dealers who are pushy and grabby and seem to have no manners what-so-ever. They are only interested in the bottom line - profit and condition - and I feel like elbowing them straight into the ol' textbooks section. Ah.. thank you for your patience. Rant over. After years and years of searching for a copy of Workers in the Dawn by George Gissing, I do confess to popping onto an old book site, finding the one I wanted and punching in the golden ticket numbers.. that would be my charge card number. Presto. Twenty-four hours and about $100 later, I owned it. Turns out, it is a very hard to find book and finding it for under $100 is nearly unheard of. And if I find another copy for a quarter someplace? I'll buy it and give it to a fellow Gissing fan. I am all for the thrill of the hunt to find that special title, but after a while, I just want my hands on that book. PAM