Check out this pic I took today of my backyard during a storm: All of that water is from a small opening on the right side of my fence and it goes rushing through there. I even packed in a lot of dirt and the water eventually pushed through it all. You can see in this pic how the black dirt was pushed away: It looks scary in real life since that water is really moving fast. The problem is that all of the homes around me are up on little hills and the water that drains from their homes is supposed to go out into the street, and most of it does but it also likes to take a little detour into my back yard. However, when I went outside all of that water never actually touches my house. It is about eight inches away, even though I know they say it has to be about 10 feet. The funny thing is that the rest of the yard is not even muddy since all of the water flows in the direction where you can see in the pic. I have done a good job digging trenches and running downspout water away from my house for the left side that is not pictured, but I probably need a professional and spend thousands to fix the major problem. I may not be willing to do that though as this is not my dream home. I just kept getting all of my home bids rejected and wanted to get a home before the first time homebuyer tax expired (before they announced the extension). I do not hate the house but I do not plan to be here forever hopefully. Also about 30 minutes after the storm most of the water is gone.
Interesting. We had a similar issue when we first moved into our house about 7 years ago. We live in a 30+ year old home on the downside of a gentle hill which points directly the south east corner of the house. Over the years the topsoil had slowly flowed up to the base of the house. After we had been in the house about 3 months it finally rained like a true fall Oklahoma rain. The water flowed up to the front door and in, then we noticed it coming into my sons closet through the "cold seal" which is a space between the slab and the footing. Long story short we had a surface drain and a french drain installed all along the front of the house. Now the grass is hardly even wet up against the house. You could dig a shallow trench (5-6" deep, 6-8" wide)directing the water exactly where you want it to go and fill it with gravel. That would stop the flow over the ground and through the ground (hydrostatic) eventually the grass would grow over but the effect would remain.
Yeah I did a lot of research on french drains but I tend to want to give up on digging once the hole gets deeper it is harder to try and shovel more dirt. However perhaps I can just spend an hour per day on it until it finally is finished. I know I could rent a truck and some equipment that could make the job easier, not sure if I am willing to go through that extreme especially if what happened today is the worst case scenario. I was thinking, before I tried to dig a trench towards the street where it comes in under the fence, but since it seems to naturally flow around the back part of my yard, perhaps I should add a drain to flow towards that area instead. Also on the left that you cannot see, the water is flowing under a gap under my fence out onto the street. I wonder if I get one of those drain buckets or whatever they are called, and place it in the ground near that gap and run a pipe under the fence for some of the water to shoot out of would make things better. I am afraid that it would go in reverse and fill up with water instead though. If I point it at an angle towards the street I would hope it wouldn't.
Hmm I just had an idea. Those water grate things are kinda expensive, 420 - 440 for that piece of plastic. Perhaps I could buy one of those rubbermaid tote boxes and cut a hole to fit a drainpipe. I would fill it up with gravel and place the soil/grass over it.
