Not a good idea if it's lightning
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Gutters/Water drainage help
- Thread starter A3370
- Start date
And nothing else?
depends on your relationship with your neighbors.
I've dealt with these problems extensively. The house I'm in currently has cracks in the driveway and you can see effervescent building up on the walls in the crawl space. That means that the water is coming downhill, toward me, under the carport and into the basement. The fix for that is that I have to dig a trench about 18" deep alongside the carport, sloping downhill going into the back yard. I may need to dig a hole for what they call a dry well. That is just a hole in the ground with some gravel in it and a field line going into it.
Anyway back to the trench. It will be dug sloping downward into the backyard. A "curtain" of plastic will line the wall of the trench on side nearest to my carport as a stop for the water; a small layer of gravel on top of that, and field line like a septic tank line will then be put in. That will be covered with a small layer of gravel and then the dirt put back in. The alternative to this are these guys that come in and put a drainage line inside your house.
Do you really want the water to enter your house, then try to get rid of it? Some people literally allow the water to come in and then drain back out of your house. Me personally - I don't want the water to ever come in to start off with. It's your decision.
For gutters, you will know by inspecting them. Are they free of debris? Is there any rust in them? Where the gutter is nailed to the fascia, is there any evidence that the water is running off behind the gutters instead of into them? That evidence would be brown or black streaks where the rainwater hits the fascia board and / or leaves hanging between the fascia and your gutters. Make sure your downspouts are not plugged and that you have ample plastic pipe and a splash block to make sure the water is sufficiently diverted away from your house.
BTW, I spent $2800 a couple of years ago and one of the big box guys put a drain near the center of the driveway; they broke the drive way up and ran a pipe across the driveway and through my front yard past the house and then, in theory it was suppose to go downhill. That didn't work any better than allowing the water to come in then draining back out. Sorry for the wall of text, but hope it helps.
If water is coming through your walls you need to rewater proof them. Fixing drainage and what not helps but if there's a way for water to get through it it will. It might only do it on heavy rain days or when it rains multiple days in a row but it will still leak. It does matter if thats once a week or once a quarter. Water in your house is water in your house. It will cause mold and ruin carpet.
