Sloping driveway causing drainage problems

[Crossy]

We have a sloping yard from the roadside to the front of the house. The entire bottom of the house is covered with earth and the earth sits directly up against Besser Brick. Due to a lack of drainage all water which runs off the yard hits the front of the house, seeps through the earth and then leaks through the Besser Brick causing flooding in our downstairs living area. I want to turn the front of the house into a driveway but need to fix the drainage first. I just need some help with what the best way to fix the drainage or do you think I should just remove all the earth and forget about the driveway? And if I do put in a driveway what would be the best material to use to help with drainage (concrete, pavers, etc). Any help would be appreciated greatly

[joe greiner]

Not quite enough information about the shape of things to provide specific advice. Pics? In general, though, earth should slope away from the house at minimum 2 percent slope, preferably for a distance of about 3m. Then, best to shape the earth so as to direct it around the house toward the lowest part of your parcel. In awkward situations, swales or buried piping can be employed to achieve re-direction. This isn't necessarily standard practice in Oz, but water does not respect nationality.

Joe

[Dean]

what about a grated drainiage channel running along the front too? This seems fairly standard for houses where the driveway slopes down toward the house.

And of course, have earth sloping away from house too

[DJ’s Timber]

Sounds like you need to dig up the earth, seal the besser blocks, put in some agi drainage and back fill with crushed rock.

You would be best getting in a Civil Engineer to assess it

[journeyman Mick]

It's not really very clear from your post but I assume that the yard slopes down to the house. Had the same situation when we bought this place. The road is about 2M higher than the house slab and when we first moved in the yard sloped down and the dirt was actually about 50mm higher than the verandah slab. The dirt riveway sloped down to the garage with a small concrete channel in front of it for drainage. Apparently when it rained heavily (which it often does here) water would run through the garage and out the back door (good thing it had one).

To fix the drainage I:
Got a backhoe in to dig the front yard out, sloping away from the house and with a 50mm step up from the dirt to the verandah.
This formed a semi-circular "courtyard" area which will (eventually) be paved and have a feature retaining wall.
At the top of the semi-circular cut out a dirt mound or bund wall was formed which directs any water around the house. On one side it runs around the house, on the other it hits the drive which has an open drain in it at this point.
The courtyrard area has a pit which feeds into a drain which runs around the side of the house.
The driveway side of the house needed to have about 2 m3 of dirt removed which had washed off the drive over the years and built up to the point where water couldn't run around the house but needed to go through the garage.

The drive area is the biggest problem, especially if it's concreted as the water runs of very quickly. Mine has two diagonal open drains running across it which divert any water to one side and force it around the house. These drains I just dug in by hand and laid besser "bond beam" blocks in to form a channel. These blocks are "U" shaped in cross section.

Since I've carried out these works there's been no more flooding. There's two steps to the water problem, diverting away as much as possible and then catching/draining away what does get close to the house. If you simply put in a concrete drive way it will possibly make things worse as the water will travel faster as it can't soak into the ground.

Mick

[Bleedin Thumb]

Yes, I agree with DJ and Mick.

What I would do is expose the wall, waterproof it with a roll out membrane, place plaza-deck or sheetdrain against it with agdrain at the bottom that feeds into Stormwater. Backfill with a clean gravel for drainage against the sheetdrain,
Once you have done that backfill and compact as required, pour your slab to the correct level - with a grated strip drain between the driveway slab and the house - also connected to stormwater.

This may seem like a big job.......it is but by the sounds of it you have a big problem.

[patty]

Well I hate to say it but I am glad I am not the only one encountering this problem our house is set down off the road and has been cut into the ground and the driveway goes down beside and we are encountering problems with water coming through the brickwork and rising damp you name it I have just finished the front of the house... where back when the house was first built the owner must have thought it was a great idea to put a garden in right along the front, well a garden holds water, (smart thinking)I got a bloke in with an backhoe and exposed all the front of the house right down to the footings waterproofed the wall black plasticed it and burrow loads of bluemetal and ended up concreting the front with a box drain running the full length that leads into a pit then down to the backyard..

But I suggest as I have been recommended to get a builder into look at the wall instead of just slapping on some waterproofing as the bricks might need to be silicone injected to repair the damp course.. I will be doing the same as the last thing I want to do is have to pull it up and start again because i decided to cut corners

[joe greiner]

I learned the suggestions I posted earlier the hard way, too. But it was on the side yard; less serious at the driveway. Idjit that built my older house (1976) sloped the ground down to the house (house is on enclosed crawl space). Water found its way under the shallow footing and created a damp environment under the house - lots of brown/black fuzzies on the floor framing above. I excavated the side yard and built a retaining wall at the parcel boundary, with gravel blanket and drain pipe leading to a French drain in the back yard. The side yard was too narrow for the full 3m I suggested, but at least most of the water is now diverted.

And BTW, I AM a Civil Engineer; fat lot of good that did for me when I bought the house about 4 years ago. Oh well; at least I knew how to fix it.

Joe

[Planned LScape]

Never underestimate the power of water... it can quite easily destroy things.

All the options mentioned in this thread I would do quickly so that one day it doesn't flood your house, or worse. Imagine the weight of waterlogged soil against the walls.

Make sure you install the drainage right, use the 90mm PVC pipe for better results, you could even step the front yard in tiers so to stop the runoff speed over the slope, also some plants etc to bind the bank.