Drainage on the side of the house

[Stanley]

With all the rain in the Houston area lately I have found that water pools up on the side of my house. I dug a trench to the sidewalk as a temp fix the other night, but I want something more permanent. I have looked into French drains where you burry the pvc pipe with the holes in it and water "leaches" into the pipe through the rock put around it during installation. I have also seen where a surface drain is used, but the area I need to drain is about 20' so I'm not sure what good one would do.

Has anyone done this? How did it work? Did you add a surface drain also?


Thanks for any help.

 

[Coiled03]

How close to your house is it pooling? If it's far enough away, I'd be comfortable with just the trench you dug already. If it's literally right next to your foundation, you need to have your yard re-graded to make sure water flows away.

 

[MachJoe]

I'm from the Houston area as well. This rain has been horrible. Do you have gutters? I put the extension hoses on my gutters to keep the water from pooling around my foundation. I'm also considering the french drains around my back patio. My parents just put in a couple pop-up drains in their yard which were about 20ft long as well.

 

[Stanley]

How close to your house is it pooling? If it's far enough away, I'd be comfortable with just the trench you dug already. If it's literally right next to your foundation, you need to have your yard re-graded to make sure water flows away.

It was from the slab to about five feet out or so.

I'm from the Houston area as well. This rain has been horrible. Do you have gutters? I put the extension hoses on my gutters to keep the water from pooling around my foundation. I'm also considering the french drains around my back patio. My parents just put in a couple pop-up drains in their yard which were about 20ft long as well.

There isn't a gutter on that side, but we might be moving soon so I don't want to spend the money on gutters even though it would help. My shovel time is free. My next house will have gutters on all sides for sure!

 

[Coiled03]

It was from the slab to about five feet out or so.

If you were staying, I'd say re-grade for sure. But since you might be moving, just make some temporary paths to get the water away from the foundation.

 

[CobraBob]

I had water problems around my foundation and under my driveway/garage for many years. I finally had an engineer come in and install pvc drain pipe (non-perforated) that tie into my five corner downspouts (4 corners & driveway). The pipes were carefully angled downward out about 100' to the tree line. To use a drainpipe system, the area to discharge the water has to be lower than the inlet. The drainpipe should slope downhill at least 1/8 in. per foot (100' pipe = 1 ft. lower at the end). No re-grading of my backyard was necessary. That was 5-6 years ago. Zero issues since. Whatever you end up doing, try to get the water to drain as far from the foundation as possible. Ideally the water should drain away from the foundation, but that's not always possible. A french drain system would work, too. I personally prefer the solid drainpipe because it carries all of the water well beyond the foundation, assuming the grade is appropriate (1/8" per foot). Let us know what you end up doing.

 

[SweetSVT99]

This company makes a few products that should help with your situation. I just buried 40' of their pre-made french drain, it sure beat the hell out of having to carry a bunch of rock up my very steep hill to get it where my problem area was. Some people will say not to use corrugated over PVC, but in my case it's a non-issue because there will never be any sort of vehicle traffic or equipment heavier than a push mower anywhere near it.

http://www.ndspro.com/drainage

 

[tistan]

This company makes a few products that should help with your situation. I just buried 40' of their pre-made french drain, it sure beat the hell out of having to carry a bunch of rock up my very steep hill to get it where my problem area was. Some people will say not to use corrugated over PVC, but in my case it's a non-issue because there will never be any sort of vehicle traffic or equipment heavier than a push mower anywhere near it.

http://www.ndspro.com/drainage

I have used these a few times. Never had any problems, and much easier than rock.

 

[Stanley]

Thanks for the info. I'm not real big into shoveling rock so I like that option already.

 

[Stanley]

This is the area.






*And no, I wasn't drunk...

 

[SweetSVT99]

Looks like a French drain is exactly what you need. Do you not have gutters?

 

[Stanley]

Not on that side. I'm sure they would make a big difference.

 

[Blkkbgt]

What most people won't tell you is that depending on your type of soil a french drain could be useless. In my area I have har pack clay that doesn't absorb water fast and when it does the clay holds onto it. I had no choice but to place 3 surface drains in my backyard because the French drain was put there did absolutely nothing. All my friends that live in my area have yards that flood during the winter because the builder out in frech drains.

If you have easy to dig low clay content soil a french drain will do just fine. If not use 3 inch surface drains.

 

[Stanley]

If you have easy to dig low clay content soil a french drain will do just fine. If not use 3 inch surface drains.

Thanks for the tip.

 

[SweetSVT99]

Not on that side. I'm sure they would make a big difference.

If the roof slopes off on that side, I would strongly recommend gutters. In fact, I'd put up gutters and get that water as far away from your house as possible before doing anything else. Unless you have other parts of your or your neighbor's yard draining into that area, the lack of gutters is probably your problem.

 

[MovingZen]

What's that blue thing off your neighbors house? Looks like he has a french drain below it already? How well does that work? If you've never really seen water pooling there before and it took the monsoons you guys have been dealing with to puddle I'd just occasionally dig the trench as needed to release the water. Or is that algae growing in the first picture? Looks like there's a little hill in your neighbors yard between your crepe myrtles.. looks like that's what's holding the water in the back.

 

[Stanley]

I think the blue thing is just a trash can, but I didn't really pay attention to it. I wouldn't do anything if it wasn't hurricane season and the wife is scared something might happen that would hold us up on getting the house on the market.

If I put up gutters and put in the drain, I could tie the downspout into the drain and be done. I need to see how long of a run is recommended for gutters. I don't know if some needs to angle to the backyard rather than all to the front.

 

[HudsonFalcon]

Going through the process of installing a french drain over the past couple of weekends.

I have the same water pooling problems between the side of my house and the garage. The clay soil around here holds a lot of water on the surface and while it's great for my pond it's not so good for the rest of the property. During heavy rainstorms I'll get a river in the first bay of my garage plus the problem area is my dogs yard which turns into a mud pit. I'm sure my boys love it but it's not so great to come home from work and have to deal with two dogs covered in mud.

I used a pre-wrapped french drain system and covered it with river rock. I used a rototiller to get rid of all the grass then graded the soil towards the trench. From there it will empty into the yard. The deck in the last picture will be removed and a concrete patio will be poured that will also have drainage. I'm also going to install a new gutter system on the house and garage to keep the water flowing into the trench and not my yard.

 

[MovingZen]

I think the blue thing is just a trash can, but I didn't really pay attention to it. I wouldn't do anything if it wasn't hurricane season and the wife is scared something might happen that would hold us up on getting the house on the market.

If I put up gutters and put in the drain, I could tie the downspout into the drain and be done. I need to see how long of a run is recommended for gutters. I don't know if some needs to angle to the backyard rather than all to the front.

I have both my front and back gutter plus a 12x12 box drain tied to a single 4 inch pipe that runs from the back yard to the side walk in front of my house. There is a pop up drain at the side walk that is pretty much unnoticeable. The water pressure pushes the top up and the water flows right on out. When I know we're going to get really heavy rain I just pop the top off and set it to the side and it flushes any bs right on out. Might be worth considering for you.

 

[Stanley]

I have both my front and back gutter plus a 12x12 box drain tied to a single 4 inch pipe that runs from the back yard to the side walk in front of my house. There is a pop up drain at the side walk that is pretty much unnoticeable. The water pressure pushes the top up and the water flows right on out. When I know we're going to get really heavy rain I just pop the top off and set it to the side and it flushes any bs right on out. Might be worth considering for you.

I have one of those that ties three 12" box drains and two downspouts together. The pop up part got loose so I took it off. I have to pull a little overgrown grass off of it sometimes during heavy rain, but other than that it works like a dream.