is his yard right outside your wall as in the house is on the property line? around here there are setback in the county codes.

Yeah the wall shared ( one side is my bedroom wall and the other side is his backyard wall) is on the property line. I am in Orange County,CA. I don't know very much about the setback.. What to do

So your house is directly on the lot line?

How about turning him in to the city for using sprinklers. Isn't that illegal in CA right now because of the drought?

What kind of finish is on the house wall?

This is one of those times when you need to get a lawyer ... HIS watering system is damaging your house. And to fix it, his garden is going to have to be dug up to waterproof your walls.

With a zero setback like yours, the user of the water has to be careful to not overwater.

Yeah my house is directly on the lot line:( I am not sure about the finish on the house wall..How can I find out.. Should I go to the city to complain his watering system damaging my house or it is not something the city will handle?

If possible I would like to try to resolve it with the neighbor before getting lawyer involved due to cost concern..

So in order to fix this issue I will need to hire someone to dig up the dirt along the shared wall from his side and apply waterproof material on the wall from his side?

I really appreciate your guys/girls' input!!! I know very little in this field:(

The city won't likely handle this kind of thing.

Finish on the house wall: stucco? Vinyl siding? Brick? Post a photo if you don't know.

I'm confused how water hitting the side of the house is getting through the wall. This is on a slab, not a crawl space or basement. We're not talking underground leakage, we're talking through-the-wall penetration, if I'm understanding correctly. But by that token, rain would cause the same thing.

A photo of the side of your house and your neighbor's yard would help.

Yes, that's stucco.

So you can't access ( or even see, judging by the high wall) the exterior wall of your house to examine it without going in your neighbor's yard? Do you have windows on that side of the house that look directly into your neighbor's yard?

Here's what I'd do: Take off the baseboards and cut the drywall off so you can see what's wet behind it and where it's coming from. It still seems weird to me that water could come through stucco. But that will show you if it is.

Take some photos of that. And then post them over in Remodeling or Home Repair. You'll get better help there.

Your neighbor should be able to shoot a fire hose at your home and no water should penetrate. Your neighbor's sprinkler being the cause of this is ridiculous and laughable. You've got an envelope/flashing/siding problem. Fix it. And leave your neighbor alone.

Show us the ground where all those supplies are standing. My guess it is cement with a questionable grade.

It does sound like there is some kind of failure happening, either on the neighbor's side of the wall, or somewhere else like the roof and the water is coming down inside the wall and surfacing at the bottom.

You did say the neighbor's yard is higher than yours, which means there is soil above the level of that baseboard, correct? So water would certainly come in if the wall was not sealed properly, either originally or the sealing has failed, whatever it was.

I would file an insurance claim. Believe me if the Insurer believes it is due to your neighbours watering they will deal with him to reimburse them for loss. No need to talk to your neighbour. I don't think you need a lawyer at all at this point. I hate shared property lines including condos with shared interior walls.

You may have to get a contractor out to look at the wall and determine what is wrong with it before the insurance co. can evaluate whether it is covered. I suspect the repair is going to require digging out the soil along the wall on the neighbor's side, repairing or possibly removing stucco completely to fix problems underneath. Start looking for a good contractor who will do it right because it's going to be a pain and you don't want to have to do it more than once.

I'm only responding so I'll be notified of how this turns out. DH worked for a builder in Orange County, CA and he told me zero lot lines are common there, but there needs to be a drainage swale on the other side AND his dirt needs to be at least 4 inches lower than where your weep screed meets the wall foundation.

I do agree with those who say to contact your insurance company. If the problem is with your house, then you could have recourse against the builder.

Good luck to you.

Just an update to my above post. DH thinks this article will help you understand the term "weep screed," why it's there and what could go wrong with it. http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-a-weep-screed.htm

A good example of why you don't buy a house with zero setback on one side.

Some basic info adding on to what Suzi said above. Stucco walls are only resistant to water. If there is no eaves protecting them from rainfall or if there are winds causing rain to hit them, they can get fairly wet inside. They have a space behind the stucco and any water that penetrates flows down the inside and out the weep screed. Soil needs to be 4" below that and the ground needs to slope away from the house at 5% minimum. 2% is allowed for a hard surface. If the project had a geotechnical report, it could make additional requirements.

I guess that is a long preamble for my next statement, which is that the weep screed is there to get water out of the wall from rain and maybe some spray from watering - not drip watering.

His ground level better NOT be higher than your cement slab. Clearly, there can NEVER be standing water above your slab level. He is totally wrong about his liability based upon what we see in your information, limited as it may be. Even without the zero lot line variable, it is routine large damage payments for excess watering, sprinkler leaks, or changes in grade drainage issues causing problems for downhill lots.

Also, do your eaves hang over into his property?

Are you in a HOA?

Edited to add: I noticed this in a forum dedicated to old houses. Stucco houses built before about 1980 or so probably don't have a weep screed at all. Is this an "old" house, whatever that means.

DH had a home built in the 60's in OC and it DID have weep screed. Yours may not. This is hard for us. Thanks for the additional pictures, but I'd love to hear what your insurance man has to say. Good luck to you!

I thought I replied a couple of weeks ago via my phone and just realized my comments were not here (could be an user error;( ).

gregbradley,Wow you are so knowledgeable!!!! How did you know my house was built in 1973?!?!?!? To answer your questions, I believe it is a solid block wall on his side (since I don't know what other options could be?). I will need to access to neighbor's backyard in order to count the blocks. But his ground level is for sure higher than mine.

Do you think if I have people to dig up the dirt on his side which against the wall about 6 feet and apply tar will that help prevent water from leaking through ? Also I am thinking I may need to add a drainage close to the wall on his side to get the water away from the wall. Any thoughts on it?

We are supposed to have some big storm coming in Nov. I am super scared about the situation :(

Again thanks so much for everyone's input and help!!!!