mm wrote:
On 27 Dec 2006 05:07:57 -0800, wrote:
wrote:
When it rains, my backyard floods. I believe the house (recently
purchased) has the subpump pushing the water out to the back of the
yard, and this is where it floods. The ground does slope inwards to
this spot (both sides, so its like a v, but not too steep). Any ideas
on how to prevent the flooding/fix it? Remove the pipe is probably
not realistic, and I am assuming there is a way to fix this with dirt.
I have a buddy who offered me red dirt to fill the area to level it
off. Will this work/help? Any ideas?
Thanks.
Marc
To keep water away from the foundation and basement you need 3 things:
Trader probably knows more about this than I do, but he was ansering
the wrong question!
It's the yard that's wet, not the foudation or basement.
If you guys read my reply, I addressed the yard area, as well as the
area immediately around the house. Yes, I told him what to consider
close to the house FIRST, because that area is most important. Who
knows what's going on there, which way it's graded, etc. It would be
pretty stupid to fix a low spot 20 ft out in the yard by adding fill
and not look at what is most important first. Without considering
that, he could just add fill and wind up with it graded sloping towards
the house.
In reality, there isn't a lot that anyone can tell him about how to fix
this without knowing more about the situation, most importantly the
grading possibilities, given what he has as boundary parameters.
I can only tell stories.
We had a corner of the yard that was wet all spring. It was 50 feet
from the house and every spring it would take me by surprise when I
tried to mow the lawn. The self-propelled lawnmower would actually
leave ruts in the ground. But being Indiana, it dried out by August.
Oh, our crawlspace, 3 or 4 feet high, was wet all year long, but I was
10 when we moved there, and I this was normal. Our previous house had
a basement with a drain in the middle of the floor and it was wet a
lot too.
I too have thought one could just put in dirt until the land was
higher than the water table, but I've never been able to verify this
myself, nor have I asked anyone reliable.
The house 3 doors down from us had a back yard where the whole thing,
100x60 feet, was wet most of the time. One day I was looking at the
map of Indianapolis, and I realized that it indicated there was a
stream on our block, but I didn't know the stream. Suddenly I
realized the stream was in his back yard. I don't know what it looked
like when the builder got there, but it was as if they added dirt
until it was dry, or they built in August. Still I think if they had
added more dirt, it would have been made dry eventually, although I
suppose capillary action brings the water higher than it is now.
Maybe you will end up with a hill in the middle of your yard.
Post this question to alt.home.repair.
1 - The ground should slope away from the house, not towards it. You
want it 2 -3 inchs lower at 10 ft out from the house.
2 - The sump pump should discharge a reasonable distance from the
house, 15ft minimum.
3 - Rain from downspouts should be directed away with a long splash
block as a minimum and if that doesn't work well, then a short length
of 4" flex pipe.
Pooling may still occur if you have a low spot. That can usually be
fixed by proper grading. Sometimes you may have to put in some type of
underground drain system, depending on what you actually have to work
with there.
If you are inclined to email me
for some reason, remove NOPSAM :-)