Lot Drainage Solutions Prevent Flooding

Lot Drainage Solutions | Water flows towards the grass in this photo. It can get high enough to get into the garage. The solution is just below.

Lot Drainage Solutions - Some are Tough To Do

Do you have lot drainage problems as Arlen does? When it rains hard water can flow into his garage in the photo above.

Here's a lot near my home that requires at least two lot drainage solutions:

What Causes Lot Drainage Problems?

Flat ground is the primary cause of lot drainage problems. The other top causes are:

• dense clay soil
• roof rainwater dumping next to a foundation
• regrading soil that blocks water movement

CLICK or TAP HERE  to get FREE BIDS from local regrading contractors.

Why is Clay Soil Bad?

Clay soil is bad because water can't move down through the soil. The water travels through the topsoil and once it is saturated the water flows overland.

Why is Roof RainWater Undesirable?

Water pouring off a roof in heavy rain can be measured in the hundreds or thousands of gallons. CLICK or TAP HERE to discover how much rain dumps onto the ground from an average home in a typical 1-inch rainfall event. You'll be STUNNED.

What are Examples of Regraded Soil?

Raised landscape beds next to houses are the best example. It's common to see mounds of mulch about 6 feet away from a foundation. This mulch prevents water from draining freely away from the house.

On a bigger scale, builders can create nightmares by not installing drainage swales around a house in the final grading stage of the building process.

How Can You Solve Arlen's Problem?

The ground around Arlen's house can't be regraded because the abutting property owners lots would also have to be regraded.

The best solution, but it's not affordable nor practical, is to raise up his entire house 12 inches and slope the ground away from his house and garage. This would cost tens of thousands of dollars now, but wouldn't have cost one penny more when Arlen's house was built.

The only thing he can do easily in my opinion, is to install a curb in front of the garage door to prevent water from entering the space. Think of the curb as a tiny levee that you might see next to the mighty Mississippi River near New Orleans. Here's an example of one in my neighborhood that prevents street water from running into a driveway:

The red arrows point to a concrete curb that stops water from flowing down the driveway you see on the left side of the photo. The rounded curb is about 5 inches tall at the center. Copyright 2020 Tim Carter