# Improper drainage around my home? Suggestions and cost estimates



## daluu (Jan 2, 2012)

On heavy rain, some areas in the perimeter of my home and yard mini floods w/ puddle of water. It appears the home is not properly or well landscaped for water drainage. See photos. Most of the area around the home where gutter downspouts are is all flat concrete (not sloped). Also, while the puddling is not good, it does absorb into the earth below eventually, within a matter of hours unless the heavy rain pour is constant, though that is very unlikely in northern California here.

2 questions. 

What might you suggest on how to properly drain the areas?

How much might it cost to retrofit the area around the home for proper drainage? In terms of DIY or more practically having some experience contractor do the job. Just want to get some ideas on cost when I do get around to fixing this problem.

While this is problematic, we don't get heavy rains often enough to make this a major problem.


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## brockmiera (Oct 9, 2012)

Looks like the majority of your problems are caused by the settling of soil nearest your house. What I would do is have your local landscaping company drop off a few yards of fill dirt and correct the grade around your house so that it slopes away. 

Pretty inexpensive first step. Fill dirt usually runs about $10-20 per yard. I've found quite a bit of it on Craigs List for free also.


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## daluu (Jan 2, 2012)

Thanks for the suggestion. But part (not all) of the landscape where water is pooling is concrete walkway (flat, not sloped). So I don't think I should just lay sloped fill dirt over the concrete (unless as last resort and cheap option), right?

If you look closely, you may see it in the photos, but may be kind of hard to notice since water pools over the concrete so you may not see it that well.


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## brockmiera (Oct 9, 2012)

daluu said:


> Thanks for the suggestion. But part (not all) of the landscape where water is pooling is concrete walkway (flat, not sloped). So I don't think I should just lay sloped fill dirt over the concrete (unless as last resort and cheap option), right?
> 
> If you look closely, you may see it in the photos, but may be kind of hard to notice since water pools over the concrete so you may not see it that well.


You know it really depends on how you want to do it. Do you want to do it right or do you want a bandaid? 

Settling is settling. Its pooling over your concrete because the ground under the concrete has settled causing a low spot. How do you fix it? Remove the concrete. Fix the grade, compact correctly then place concrete back over the corrected grade. 

In the areas on the side of your house I'd probably put in a drain that would carry water towards the front or back of your house. 

I'd also remove that concrete planter border because it is functioning as a dam right now.


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