Drainage Suggestions

[LoveTheSmellofDiesel]

We just finished having an addition constructed to the house pictured (cedar box), and ran out of runway with some un-budgeted items leaving the landscape to be completely DIY. I am looking forward to it, but want to make sure we do it correctly. Any suggestions on how to properly handle the drainage by the hill that comes down by the A/C unit? My thought was to empty the downspout from the roof to a PVC pipe entering into a perforated PVC pipe running parallel to the new addition (cedar) foundation and out into the yard, cover it with crushed stone and then dirt. We will ultimately terrace the hill shown to the left of the house for a garden of some sort, but we need to address the drainage issue immediately as every rain creates a torrent flowing down by the side of the house/foundation.

Your thoughts are welcomed! Thank you.

Jim

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Kubota B7610, 54"MMM, LA352 FEL, King Kutter Carry All

 

[LoveTheSmellofDiesel]

Would have helped if i uploaded the pictures before saving, here you go, thank you.

Jim

 

[Treemonkey1000]

I am sure that you will get some good wise advice about running the water away from your home. The thing that I see as a tree geek is the one tree fairly close to the home with what looks like a good sized branch over the house. Are those tree's prone to breaking with wind, snow, or ice loads? It's no fun clearing a tree or branch off of a home in the middle of winter. I try to let people know about those things when I see them. Around here we have cottonwood tree's that get huge and are very brittle (soft wood).
Good luck with your place. Looks pretty nice there actually.

 

[LoveTheSmellofDiesel]

Thanks, branches rarely fall from that Shagbark Hickory, as we keep a pretty close eye and trim any suspecting branches right away, but we do have an open hole about five feet higher than the window level home to a family of about 4 squirrels over the past two years in that tree. Hard to see from the picture, but the tree leans away from the house. When built it was nestled between three principal trees that and had a ton of natural shading from the trees. The side you see with the hill had 100yr+ oak that we had to take down last year - and now that side of the house gets afternoon sun beating on it that we will have to work on.

Thanks on the compliment of the house, my parents built it back in 65-66 themselves, quite ahead of their time... Now my family is moving in to take care of my ailing mother, and restore it back to full glory.

Jim

 

[Treemonkey1000]

Sounds like a fun project! That is ahead of it's time then. It doens't sound like you need my advice on planting stuff that loses leaves in the winter or too close to the foundation for root damage.
That's nice that you are stepping in to take care of your Mom. I am taking care of my Dad's place and him as well.. The old duffer decided to go and grow a brain tumor..

 

[LoveTheSmellofDiesel]

Getting old is tough, mom's got Alzeimher's, but is physically fit as a 16 years old at 92lbs soaking wet. Last year we had a new roof put on and we caught her climbing up a ladder to make sure the contractor "did it right"...

 

[dave1949]

I would consider a diversion wall that starts about where the gutter downspout reaches ground level and curves out around the cedar box about 6'-8'.

Trying to think of some material to put on the up hill side of the wall that is not expensive, pond liner?

Good on you for helping your Mom.

Dave.

 

[dave1949]

For something temporary that won't cost a ton, you could build the diversion wall by setting PT 4x4's in post holes and nailing PT plywood to them on the uphill side, cover that with 6 mill black plastic. Put some angle braces to ground behind the 4x4's. That will last a long time as long as you bank dirt up on the plastic.
Dave.

 

[LoveTheSmellofDiesel]

Thanks Dave for the suggestion, you are right, it will stop the erosion from continuing for the time being at least.

 

[Kays Supply]

DON'T put your down spouts and foundation drain in the same pipe. You are asking for trouble. Keep them separate. Keep the down spout solid pipe until it is far from the house. If there are any trees close keep it solid until well past them. Roots will cause a lot of trouble down the road. Be sure and glue all fittings. Roots can get into the smallest cracks. and make them bigger.

 

[crazyal]

Try to get grass growing anywhere there's dirt. Even if you plan on digging it up in a few months grass does wonders to stop erosion.

 

[LoveTheSmellofDiesel]

Well, from the last time I posted I missed one of our largest downpours as I was out of town for work... You can see the results, a lot of sand into the front yard and ultimately into the lake. While good for this summer, sand vs muck - the County Storm Water folks would have my tail if they saw it. After that put up a temporary silt fence. and started going to work on a 4" PVC solid piping for the downspout, have the slotted and filtered pipe for a french drain by the foundation and have gravel arriving tomorrow to finish the first phase in reclaiming the hill. Had planted grass seed, but it hadn't started as of the storm. I had a little more clean up of the trench to make it deeper and was able to take advantage of another storm to finish it. I'll post those pictures when able, they aren't included below...

 

[Maxfli]

Just a note on the Hickory tree. Like you located McHenry county. My house is surrounded by Oaks and Hickory trees. Two summers ago we had a strong storm (microburst ??) that came in. Took out a big branch on one of the oaks (that did some roof damage) and snapped a hickory right into two peices. Fortunately the hickory (about 27" at the base) missed the house. We were very lucky. I still need to hire someone to come in and do some trimming. It should be on the top of the list on things to do but somehow I never get that project funded.

 

[LoveTheSmellofDiesel]

We learned the hard way a few years back.. a large pine fell in our yard where houses are a sneeze away. We were very fortunate that it fell across our lot line took out the neighbors fence and just missed their house. Learned the property insurance issues and both of us knew the "unwritten law".... If it falls and was a healthy tree, it goes on the neighbor's property insurance, if the neighbor has notified you that they think the tree looks dangerous..then it can fall to you... Luckily while I paid for the tree to be taken off the power line, he took care of the fence cost and some landscaping. Now, while I look at trees as beautiful objects, I also look at them as potential liabilities...that can cost some dough. What I've done is pay for the big limbs that could cause damage to be dropped to the ground and then I cut them up for firewood, ends up costing a lot less.

 

[spc]

DON'T put your down spouts and foundation drain in the same pipe. You are asking for trouble. Keep them separate

Good advice. 6 years ago when I built my house I ran my foundation perimater drain and some of my downspouts out thru the same 4 inch pipe to a dry creek bed Never was a problem until yesterday when we got a months worth of rain in about 12 hours. The one 4 inch pipe couldnt handle the volume and the perimter drain backed up and I got water in my finished basement. It came though the crack where the footers and walls meet. I was able to shop vac most of the water up but I had to pull the carpet up in the wet areas. Fans have been running since yesterday and the carpet is drying but i will probably end up replace parts of the pad.

Last night (in the rain) i dug up a spot where the perimeter drain and down spout connect to the pipe leading to the dry creek and broke the connection. I have everything temporarily rerouted but once its dry I will be redoing my entire drainage plan. Everything is going on its own pipe out.

 

[LoveTheSmellofDiesel]

Hear you on the don't connect the two. I have the solid 4" PVC coming off the downspout and will exit over by the base of a rock spillway to keep it away from discharging out in the open, and then have 100' of corrugated/perforated pipe - shown that I'm going to lay around the foundation, meet the two lines at a T junction and run it over by the discharge of the downspout. Hope to get to it this long weekend...

 

[LoveTheSmellofDiesel]

Got a lot of time on this project this weekend...WHOOOO it was hot, but no rain...

Couple of lessons learned:
1. Sure could have used a backhoe attachment, but the FEL worked its magic
2. Even though tempting, I kept the FEL 5' away from the house at all times so as not to curse when taking down the cedar cuz it would save my back
3. 4 shovels full of gravel into 5 gallon buckets at a time for me is manageable, not topping them off..my shoulders are still screaming this morning.
4. I need to put in a water basin that bottom drains at the end of the 4" PVC rain gutter drain and use the top only as overflow, the last picture shown shows a 90 degree with drain cover but the pipe would keep standing water up to that level - not a good idea...
5. 45 year old Hostas are a $#%@ to take out when they are close to structure...
6. Both my dogs have killer instinct; there was a small chipmunk napping on the patio and before he could scurry off, my australian shepherd had it in its mouth; I yelled to drop it, and as soon as it hit the ground, the cattle dog mix had it up in her mouth... After she dropped it, it had enough internal injuries it was probably not going to make it, put it under a shady area away from the house and it was gone by afternoon - either by its own or by one of the 3 cats that patrol the area.
7. I've got bruises that I have no idea where they came from...
8. Most important, cold, frosty beverages solve all ailments and improve the satisfaction quotient when reviewing one's handywork.

Should be able to get it all covered tonight... Hot, and heavy project, but fun so far.

 

[LoveTheSmellofDiesel]

Just about got it backfilled before the storm came through last night and this morning... I stopped due to killer mosquitoes and darkness and you can see the effects. Did not grade downhill from the two outlets. In the one picture you can see the drainage box that empties into about 5 feet of slotted pipe, the other is under water. Once it dries I'll backfill and regrade. The gutter downspout worked as desired and I don't see anything that needs to be modified. The other pool prior to the outlets came off the hill. The 48" United box blade from Everything Attachments comes Monday so I'm hoping it dries up and I can get it wrapped up this weekend and plant some grass over the top. Last pic is the mist blowing across the lake - it was nasty, but now its 20 degrees cooler :thumbsup:

 

[LoveTheSmellofDiesel]

Looky at what the friendly YRC delivery driver brought yesterday.... Big fun after work testing it out, what have I done without a BB for so long . I made a decline in front of the house, but I think I'm going to add back about 4 feet near the top for flower beds.. and to keep the mower away from the windows/cedar. Tackled the big slope with 2 passes down before it got dark. I found where all the misc roots and crap got dumped for the remodel...on that hill. Still need to figure out how I'm going to handle that grade. I've got tons of the field stone, so I might try to use that for a 1-2 foot stone high retaining wall incremented up the hill.. I'm certainly not a landscape designer. Then used some of the excess sand to fill in depressions on the other side of the yard where it constantly floods, I am going to build it up 3-4 inches then top it with some topsoil, plant seed and roll it and see how it works for the remainder of this year versus putting in drain tile. I only have one tree within the low area I'm concerned about compacting its roots... What do you think?

The last shot is at dark of the overflow from testing the downspout exit to make sure I did not get holes during the back fill. I need to lower the surrounding dirt down enough for grass and to not allow puddles to flow back into the distribution box. Took about 30 minutes for the 6 foot of perforated pipe that exits into gravel to get saturated and flood out the top. Had a significant rain last night and this morning and luckily not too much erosion without seed and straw down. Just can't get enough hours at one time to nail it out.

 

[JB4310]

Looks like you are doing a great job and learning along the way.

My only question is, is that perforated pipe set lower the lower level slab, all around the perimeter, especially in the back?
can't tell by the pics
I usually comment on drainage threads, cause I do that type of work, but I must of missed yours.

Cool looking house

JB.