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Plumbing Landscape Design

Drainage Issue

10 months ago

Looking for advice. We purchased a new build home about a year ago. Since then we have had a drainage issue in the front of our house. We have located the source of the issue to be our neighbors sump pump. The pump goes off constantly. The water basically spits out between the two houses and drains down to the sidewalk and grass in front of our property. This is unfortunately where the water sits and pools.

We have had a lot of rain lately so now there is so much water is is killing the grass. Not to mention it’s just unsightly and gross. We have talked to the builder several times. They have had the grading checked, checked for leaks ect. They say that there is nothing wrong. that

That this is “normal,” water drainage. Our neighbor has had the city come out twice to inspect, also with no real results. Our neighbors don’t water a ton or anything.

I am just at a loss as of what to do about this. I suppose our next step would to be to work on getting some kind of drain put in??

Any suggestions?

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Comments (12)

thinkdesignlive
10 months ago
You are better off speaking with a landscape architect to maybe consider a french drain along that side of the house. A good neighbor would have put one in on their side to address this.
PRO
Joseph Corlett, LLC
10 months ago
The dead grass in the corner is from being driven over.
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A french drain only works if you have somewhere to discharge to, either daylighting or pumping a basin in a warm climate. It doesn't appear you have those options. The water pooling against the house is not a good situation. Bricks/mortar absorb water, which then can move to the interior buildout, and mortar can deteriorate based on the PH of the water. Since it appears you cannot rid the water offsite, I would focus on keeping it away from the house. That means starting with grade 4" below the masonry (or top of slab if you only have brick to below grade), then sloping 5% (6inch over 10ft) down and away towards the back fence. What looks like will happen when removing the soil to accomplish that is you will have a lower detention area at the back. And although that area will still be holding water until it percolates into the soil, at least it won't be pooling against the house. You can run your gutters here too. Everything is dependent on grade elevations.
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HU-867564120
10 months ago
Why don't you, with the neighbor's approval/help, connect piping to the sump pump discharge and route the output to where it would be acceptable to you?
PRO
Me
Original Author
10 months ago
Yeah, considering that. The issue is that the acceptable place for it to go would probably be into the street, which would involve the drain going under the sidewalk.
PRO
Me
Original Author
10 months ago
And yeah, I really think the dead grass is from the water pool. Not from being driven over.
PRO
Me
Original Author
10 months ago
And also, we really like our neighbors so don’t want to start problems but are a little disappointed they haven’t done anything more to resolve the issue.
HU-867564120
10 months ago
Going under the sidewalk is pretty much a non-issue.

https://www.homedepot.com/p/Orbit-Walkway-Tunnel-Kit-53333/100127846
PRO
Me
Original Author
10 months ago
Very helpful! Thank you!
3onthetree
10 months ago
A surface drain or (even dug lower) a french drain will not help if you don't have the slope to daylight the drains. And even IF the city allowed you to cross under the sidewalk with a pipe, you can see from the picture that you do not have the slope, nor curb style, to daylight a drain to the street.

Assuming that the city follow ups ok'd the distance the neighbor's sump discharge is away from the property line, and lacking any place on the neighbor's lot for a retention area of the sump discharge, the best scenario (without pics) seems to be to have the neighbor route their discharge farther away from your lot, like into their main front yard so there is more field to accept the water. And if you edge the sod to the concrete (leave at least 1/2" gap) then it will help with some water to not flow onto the concrete surfaces.
PRO
DeWayne
10 months ago
There shouldn't be grass there anyway. The rock dry creek bed was set up to deal with the water, and just needs to be extended to the other side of the hell strip, next to the street.
3onthetree
10 months ago
Anything you can do to keep the water from overflowing onto the sidewalk would be better. One, you'll get staining (both from soil and grass clippings after mowing), and two, I'm sure a neighborhood walker at some point will complain (even if it's just water and not a legitimate concern with ice). AMHIK.

When I look across the street both houses have a grade slope down to street. So I would extrapolate that both you and your neighbor have a falling grade in the back of your houses. If so, route both your sump discharges there.
woodbutcher_ca
10 months ago
Hi, Do you have gutters on your house and if so where do they drain? I So, maybe you can put a drainage system and tap into where your gutters drain.

Good Luck Woodbutcher

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