"Will" wrote in message
...
"Scott Hildenbrand" wrote in message
...
I don't want to be discouraging but you are trying to build a 100x4
flagstone road that you know will be subject to adverse drainage
conditions.
I'd consider getting the advice of a pro.

The concrete guys wanted $5K to build just a trench, and $12K to build
a
sidewalk. We are the tenants, not the landlord, and the landlord is
refusing the solve the problem. I have about $3K to spend.

The fact that you're willing to dump 3k into a rental is... Well..
shocking..

Sometimes your only choices are all bad choices, and you want to find the
least bad option. I'm not thrilled about spending anything much less
$3K,
but simply cannot afford to dump $12K into this, which is what
professionals
want to do it.


Look at doing something like this, which will be the base of your work.
You can lay the flagstone over this for stepping stones.. No need to
over
complicate things, but the stones will shift.. I'm however assuming that
you're looking at leaving gaps around the stone.

Drainage:
http://www.askthebuilder.com/407_Dry...y_Ground.shtml

Thanks. And that illustration is helpful.

What happens if you line the ditch with plastic and then fill with 1.5"
drainage rocks, but do not put in the perforated tube? I guess the main
issue is about preventing the water from rising too high and upsetting the
sand or gravel top layer?


You'll need a place LOWER than what the water is currently at to drain
to.
Perhaps run it around the house and drain down the driveway if it's
paved.

That much was clear, and we have the ditch running into a storm drain.


But then again, is it really worth it for a rental? That's up to you all
so I'll leave that as an opinion.

The entire situation sucks. We were the only building tenant and so had
exclusive access to the limited front parking area. The landlord found a
tenant for other side of building, and they are now filling up the front
area, requiring us to park in back of building, and find our way through
mud
and dirt to the front. The next door neighbors are selfish in their
thinking about this problem, taking a "first come first serve" attitude
even
though their side of building has parking lot surrounding it on all sides
and ours only has the limited front and back parking. The building
management is simply lazy and doesn't care. So we got screwed for not
anticipating this in our lease, and now we just have lots of bad choices.


Will,

IMHO I think you need to look at this a bit differently. You need to call
your attourney. In any jurisdiction if you have an employee who trips due
to unsafe walkway or walk area or whatnot on the landlord's property, the
landlord is liable for their medical bills, not you. It is only your
problem once
the employee has entered the location your renting. But out in the parking
lot,
or walkway from the parking lot to the building entrance, it's the landlords
problem. For $500 you can have a lawyer explain this to them in legalese.
Also, the lawyer can explain that if the state workmans compensation
insurance
company were to investigate on a workplace safety that the landlord would
be cited as things are now.

IMHO spending your money on a building common area is incredibly dumb.
If you put any kind of structure in there, and someone trips and falls on
it,
then the landlord will just sue you for the medical bills and likely win.
Also,
the landlord can simply wait until you have the thing completed then call
in the building inspectors and make you rip it out.

Ted