# Water against foundation



## AhSo (Sep 13, 2009)

I'm a first time home owner and an older single woman.

Problem:
The house is lower than street level...
there gradual downward slope from the street 
to the alley in the back. 

No gutters.
No basement. 
 Has a shallow crawl space 
1932 house.
Foundation looks good (except when it rains). 
House is solid and level.
But, there is no down slope from the foundation at all.

I don't know what kind of expert to call in. 

So I've call everyone. Gutter guy. foundation guy, landscaper.

Top priority .. avoid water in crawl space and get the water away from the foundation ( and stop the garage from flooding)

I'm a little afraid of wasting money because I know nothing about home ownership and maintenance. 

Any suggestions for the problem and money management?


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## Bondo (Dec 8, 2007)

> Problem:
> The house is lower than street level...
> there gradual downward slope from the street
> to the alley in the back.


Ayuh,... This is Better,... Thank you...

How far is it from the street to the house,..??
How much lower is the house than the street,..??
Is there water shedding Off the street towards the house,..??
What is the landscape,+ soil types between the house,+ the street,..??
How wide a lot are We talkin',..??
Is the street uphill, down-hill, or level,..?? What's the general lay of the land in the area,..??

Like I said in Jak's thread,.... Pictures would Help...


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## AhSo (Sep 13, 2009)

The distance from the curb to the front of the house is about 65-70 feet.

The front of the house is about 3-4 feet lower than the street.

There is a curb that will block water from coming in off the street unless there is a very big rain.

The water load is coming off the roof which has no gutters.

This part of Oklahoma is flat with low rolling hills. The street is level.
It used to be a very dry area and houses weren't built for the amount of rain we get now.

The soil is sort of sandy but the previous owner 

has made a flower garden next to the front foundation all
across.....

that turns to ankle deep black mud and puddles when it rains 

And to make it worse, the gardens are surrounded in stone that keeps 
the water in and turn the garden into a pond when it rains.
Argh!

The lot is about 55 feet wide.

I'll work on the pictures. I tried to copy and paste from the inspector's picture but it didn't work. 

Much appreciation


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## AhSo (Sep 13, 2009)

*got pictures*


^ this is the house 
have more pictures in my album in profile if you have time to look.
I will work on figuring out how to navagate 
No experience with forums.


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## Scuba_Dave (Jan 16, 2009)

Put up some gutters to direct the water away from the house & gardens
Direct as much water out back down the slope as you can 
You need at least 6" clear between the bottom of the siding & the ground


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## Gary in WA (Mar 11, 2009)

Your pictures were a great help. On the right side of the house, I would use concrete poured in a shallow trough to the back yard picking up that side's downspout water from the roof, to a backyard dry-well. In front, a drain-tile trench (between house and tree) picking up that side's roof water, to a backyard dry-well. Pour 2 concrete diverters on the driveway slab, (like speed bumps but shorter) angled towards the yard, to direct water off slab towards drain-tile near house. Looks to be post and beam, car-decking floor or slab on grade. If P & B, install 6 mil. plastic as a vapor barrier on soil under house. Use dry-wells for water run-off - not sent to back neighbors, you are *responsible and would be liable* with any improvements done that would flood others.http://www.servicemagic.com/article.show.Foundation-Drainage.13702.html Easy to rotor-rooter: http://www.easydigging.com/Drainage/pipe_tile.html http://www.easydigging.com/Drainage/drywell_soakaway.html http://pwd.org/pdf/water_resources/conservation fact sheets/dry_wells.pdf
Be safe, Gary


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## Tess (Aug 3, 2009)

*Not a professional opinion*

French drains and gutters? A lawn drain? Or gutters and landscaping? For example, in the front yard, I didn't notice anything that would help divert water from the foundation. Planting foundation shrubs and creating a garden border that goes around the perimeter of the front and sides (that could work sort of like a trench or ditch for water to get to a lower spot in the backyard or to the alley) might help during heavy rains when combined with gutter downspouts that take water away from the foundation. 

Also your neighbors seem to be in the same boat--no pun intended. Have you talked to any of them? 

And out of curiosity, have you been in your crawl space?

ETA more stuff after looking at the album


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## AhSo (Sep 13, 2009)

*Fear of looking at crawl space*

The crawl space is shallow. 
It's pretty much covered all the way around. The vents have insulation and are difficult to remove..

Inside the house the opening has been carpeted over.
I hope there's nothing under there that needed to be hidden for the house to sell...I worry too much.

But that crawl space has been in the back of my mind since I moved here.

The crawl space will have to be looked into and maybe vented.
I hope it's dry.

Ya'll have given me great advice and I will follow though.

I'll let you know if any interesting solutions or problems turn up.

Thanks and appreciation.


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## AhSo (Sep 13, 2009)

*another question*

It's hard to find a place for the gutter water to go 
once I get them installed.

What about draining it into a rain barrel 
and then the hose from the rain barrel 
to drain back to the sloping back yard ... ???

Would that work and would it be easy?

I could go ahead and have the gutter drains extended all the way to the middle of the back. But it's going to be a very long drain. 

Got one gutter estimate...$1000 another one $700. 

Also been looking at a book, "Home Water & Moisture Problems, Prefvention and Solutions" by Branson.

A lot of it looks like major earth moving. 
Excavating the soil to create a slope away from the house then build a French Drain with swales.
The big Sycamore trees in the front might be prone to falling on the house with that solution.

Any thoughts anyone?


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## Scuba_Dave (Jan 16, 2009)

AhSo said:


> Problem:
> The house is lower than street level...
> there gradual downward slope from the street
> to the alley in the back





GBR in WA said:


> Use dry-wells for water run-off - not sent to back neighbors, you are *responsible and would be liable* with any improvements done that would flood


As long as it is an alley in back then neighbors in back do not seem to be a problem

A normal rain barrel will only hold about 55g
Larger size will hold 250-300g
But even that is not a lot depending upon the size of your roof 

If the slope of the driveway is towards the garage then you either need to:
Install a bump as GBar suggested to divert water away
Have the driveway repoured/resloped 
Cut a trench & install a drain across the driveway to divert water

Problem with the bump is if you get snow & have driveway plowed
Repour/reslope is expensive
Cutting drain can cost $$ & you may not have enough slope

Regrade the front lawn & divert water to the side & then down back to the alley

I'd almost consider bringing a gutter from the left side of the carport across the front & to the back right side to drain out back

No pics of the back slope?


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## AhSo (Sep 13, 2009)

I made a "speed bump" with some cement colored bricks. It's a temperary fix at least. 

What do you think are most trouble free type of gutters? 

There's an alley in back. The slope of the yard in back looks a lot like the slope in front.

The back is larger and maybe the slope a little steeper...it's down hill all the way to the alley 
and then the neighors across the alley are even futher down hill. Poor things.

My next door neighbor said they dug a trench all the way down their back yard to the alley 
Didn't get a chance to ask more about it yet. How deep of a ditch would I have to dig?
I might try it myself. It's about 60 feet in lenth. Good exercise. 

I finally looked in the crawl space. It's dry at least.

The crawl space is really shallow. If something went wrong with the plumbing I guess they'd have to go through the floor. 

Sure am glad I'm all electric so there probably aren't any gas lines under there.
The house was built in 1932 so who knows what's under there. 

Excuse me for rambling. 

Thank you for your help.


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## Bondo (Dec 8, 2007)

> My next door neighbor said they dug a trench all the way down their back yard to the alley
> Didn't get a chance to ask more about it yet. How deep of a ditch would I have to dig?
> I might try it myself. It's about 60 feet in lenth. Good exercise.


Ayuh,... Not very deep,...
Water flows Downhill,... As long as the next foot of run is lower than the last foot of run,...
The water will flow...


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