The Swamp

The Sybian wrote: ↑Thu Jan 11, 2024 12:08 pm

Brontoburglar wrote: ↑Wed Jan 10, 2024 8:50 am I know you've probably said this previously, but is this all groundwater? How is your yard sloped?

I still have PTSD from all the times my basement flooded and I had to stay up all night with wet vacs, so I totally can relate. it's terrible.

Looks like the wife saved out guest room, but the mudroom carpet is soaked and probably water under the steps. Not sure if I need a remediation company for that, or just replace the rug and hope the water evaporates. Wife is deadset on selling the house now, as the patio guy said there is nothing else we can do to mitigate future damage.

The backyard is on a slight slope towards the back of the house. The house is weird, kind of built sideways with the patio off the back corner of the house. Tons of underground water runs off the backyard, across the patio and towards the driveway. Patio guy has made numerous attempts to mitigate, patched a hole in the foundation and tarred the foundation where water first came in. Then but a drain in the patio in front of the sliding door after the water on the patio was high enough to get in through the door. He put in a sump pump in the backyard where the underground water was the worst, and that pumps out to the opposite side of the house. We need a new driveway anyways, so I want to see if they can pitch the driveway away from the garage, and run some drains from the patio out towards the street.

Brontoburglar wrote: ↑Sat Jan 13, 2024 9:58 am

The Sybian wrote: ↑Thu Jan 11, 2024 12:08 pm

Brontoburglar wrote: ↑Wed Jan 10, 2024 8:50 am I know you've probably said this previously, but is this all groundwater? How is your yard sloped?

I still have PTSD from all the times my basement flooded and I had to stay up all night with wet vacs, so I totally can relate. it's terrible.

Looks like the wife saved out guest room, but the mudroom carpet is soaked and probably water under the steps. Not sure if I need a remediation company for that, or just replace the rug and hope the water evaporates. Wife is deadset on selling the house now, as the patio guy said there is nothing else we can do to mitigate future damage.

The backyard is on a slight slope towards the back of the house. The house is weird, kind of built sideways with the patio off the back corner of the house. Tons of underground water runs off the backyard, across the patio and towards the driveway. Patio guy has made numerous attempts to mitigate, patched a hole in the foundation and tarred the foundation where water first came in. Then but a drain in the patio in front of the sliding door after the water on the patio was high enough to get in through the door. He put in a sump pump in the backyard where the underground water was the worst, and that pumps out to the opposite side of the house. We need a new driveway anyways, so I want to see if they can pitch the driveway away from the garage, and run some drains from the patio out towards the street.

do you have french drains anywhere, or is the yard not sloped enough that it's even possible?

The Sybian wrote: ↑Thu Jan 11, 2024 12:08 pm
One drain in front of the sliding door. Patio guy said not enough pitch to the driveway for additional drains. I need to find someone more experienced who might have some additional ideas.

Brontoburglar wrote: ↑Sat Jan 13, 2024 12:44 pm

The Sybian wrote: ↑Thu Jan 11, 2024 12:08 pm
One drain in front of the sliding door. Patio guy said not enough pitch to the driveway for additional drains. I need to find someone more experienced who might have some additional ideas.

I now find myself wanting to re-landscape your yard and solve this issue for whatever weird reason

Brontoburglar wrote: ↑Sat Jan 13, 2024 12:44 pm

The Sybian wrote: ↑Thu Jan 11, 2024 12:08 pm
One drain in front of the sliding door. Patio guy said not enough pitch to the driveway for additional drains. I need to find someone more experienced who might have some additional ideas.

I now find myself wanting to re-landscape your yard and solve this issue for whatever weird reason

Brontoburglar wrote: ↑Sat Jan 13, 2024 12:44 pm

The Sybian wrote: ↑Thu Jan 11, 2024 12:08 pm
One drain in front of the sliding door. Patio guy said not enough pitch to the driveway for additional drains. I need to find someone more experienced who might have some additional ideas.

I now find myself wanting to re-landscape your yard and solve this issue for whatever weird reason

MaxWebster wrote: ↑Sun Jan 14, 2024 5:22 pm Syb- ugh. Echoing everyone else in here, just awful - sorry as hell to read all that.

(i'll note but not complain about my basement getting water seeping up from the ground in 2 big spots. i sprinkled some baking soda on it, i'm sure that'll take care of everything #professionalhomeowner)

- - -

am middle-aged now (fk) and yet still am always like a little kid amazed at localized weather. We got awful wind and overnight about 7" (a few larger drifts in the backyard) but has been almost completely clear-sky sunny (and quite cold) since 1pm here - 1 block north of the city. My buddy who lives in Hamburg 10 miles away is getting 3-5" per HOUR with blizzard winds.

Just hoping for I-90 to be open/clear tomorrow at 9am for the drive to PIttsburgh....

MaxWebster wrote: ↑Sun Jan 14, 2024 5:22 pm

am middle-aged now (fk) and yet still am always like a little kid amazed at localized weather. We got awful wind and overnight about 7" (a few larger drifts in the backyard) but has been almost completely clear-sky sunny (and quite cold) since 1pm here - 1 block north of the city. My buddy who lives in Hamburg 10 miles away is getting 3-5" per HOUR with blizzard winds.

The Sybian wrote: ↑Tue Jan 16, 2024 10:02 am
I still can't believe the localized weather events. I still about the day we had 36 inches of snow in one day on campus, then driving off camopus the next day and a mile away there was one maybe 4 inches, another mile nothing. Or the number of times my mother called me asking how bad the snow was, because she heard massive blizzard in Buffalo, and we got nothing. And it's funny you called out Hamburg, because in my memory, it was always in Hamburg.

Pruitt IV wrote: ↑Mon Jan 15, 2024 11:38 am

MaxWebster wrote: ↑Sun Jan 14, 2024 5:22 pm Syb- ugh. Echoing everyone else in here, just awful - sorry as hell to read all that.

(i'll note but not complain about my basement getting water seeping up from the ground in 2 big spots. i sprinkled some baking soda on it, i'm sure that'll take care of everything #professionalhomeowner)

- - -

am middle-aged now (fk) and yet still am always like a little kid amazed at localized weather. We got awful wind and overnight about 7" (a few larger drifts in the backyard) but has been almost completely clear-sky sunny (and quite cold) since 1pm here - 1 block north of the city. My buddy who lives in Hamburg 10 miles away is getting 3-5" per HOUR with blizzard winds.

Just hoping for I-90 to be open/clear tomorrow at 9am for the drive to PIttsburgh....

But the game's in Buffalo!

MaxWebster wrote: ↑Tue Jan 16, 2024 8:58 pmToday's return drive...holy shit. Bad from the start in Oakland and for 10 minutes north of Erie was arguably the worst drive of my life. Total whiteout, couldn't see 4' beyond the car in any direction and there were no tracks. Eventually saw many cars way way off the road including a few semis.

mister d wrote: ↑Wed Jan 17, 2024 10:51 am

MaxWebster wrote: ↑Tue Jan 16, 2024 8:58 pmToday's return drive...holy shit. Bad from the start in Oakland and for 10 minutes north of Erie was arguably the worst drive of my life. Total whiteout, couldn't see 4' beyond the car in any direction and there were no tracks. Eventually saw many cars way way off the road including a few semis.

Definitely not the reaction I would have had seeing many cars way way off the road.

sancarlos wrote: ↑Sat Jan 13, 2024 2:51 pm

Brontoburglar wrote: ↑Sat Jan 13, 2024 12:44 pm

The Sybian wrote: ↑Thu Jan 11, 2024 12:08 pm
One drain in front of the sliding door. Patio guy said not enough pitch to the driveway for additional drains. I need to find someone more experienced who might have some additional ideas.

I now find myself wanting to re-landscape your yard and solve this issue for whatever weird reason

After we had flooding problems some years ago, we re-did the backyard, adding some slope and a french drain and a dry well. Works great.

elflaco2 wrote: ↑Fri Jan 19, 2024 12:56 am school cancelled for tomorrow by 7pm --
latest forecast has 1-3 inches, starting at 7a tapering by 2p

oh and the school year gets extended by a day.

what a joke.

The Sybian wrote: ↑Thu Jan 18, 2024 11:23 am
Curious what this kind of work ran you. I had a paving/water diversion guy come out and suggested a dry well. He is going to dig a 7 foot deep hole in the center of the top part of my driveway and install a dry well. He'll run an underground pipe with holes in the top across the front of my backyard to collect the ground water runoff and pipe that into the dry well. He is going to rip up and repitch part of the patio and driveway, as he needs to rip up the patio to run the pipes from the backyard. Then he is going to tie in the gutters from the back half of my house into the well, and run the front half into the street under the driveway. He will tie in the current drain to nowhere into to the dry well too. Previous estimates for the driveway were $12-$15k without any of the water piping. He said he should be able to the drywell and water piping now, as the ground isn't frozen yet, but he has to wait until March or April for the driveway.

My concern here is piping all of the water to a well under my driveway. He said the well empties into the ground, basically holes throughout the well to allow the water to drain into the soil. He insisted multiple times that the ground can absorb that much water, but it makes me nervous. Last year's (maybe two years ago) hurricane had a rapidly moving river running from my backyard through across the patio and down the driveway. This was the storm that I vacuumed over 400 gallons of water out of my guest room. I told him, we'll see. He looked at me like I was crazy and said "it's 7 feet deep, it won't affect the driveway." If I understood his heavy accent correctly, it'll leave me with a manhole cover in my driveway. Not a good look, but better than flooding.

The Sybian wrote: ↑Fri Jan 19, 2024 6:37 am

elflaco2 wrote: ↑Fri Jan 19, 2024 12:56 am school cancelled for tomorrow by 7pm --
latest forecast has 1-3 inches, starting at 7a tapering by 2p

oh and the school year gets extended by a day.

what a joke.

Ours called an early dismissal for today yesterday afternoon with potential for closing. School normally ends at 3:00, early is 12:30. Snow was expected to start around 7 or 8 and stop around 1 or 2. Sending them home at the worst possible time.

mister d wrote: ↑Fri Jan 19, 2024 10:14 am We're on a half-day here because they want to avoid another Ice Disaster of 2018/2019 (I can't remember).

A_B wrote: ↑Fri Jan 19, 2024 10:08 am Is it super cold? They called off one day here because they didn't want kids at the bus stops it was so cold.

rass wrote: ↑Fri Jan 19, 2024 10:21 amUGH

I'm not sure what I did after I got home that evening but I was a lot calmer at that point than I was in the car. Just about the worst.

Gunpowder wrote: ↑Fri Jan 19, 2024 9:10 am Water always seems to find the route you don't want it to find; I'd be skeptical too.

Syb, I would seriously post that to some applicable reddit thread and see if anyone else has had a similar experience.

The Sybian wrote: ↑Fri Jan 19, 2024 6:37 am

elflaco2 wrote: ↑Fri Jan 19, 2024 12:56 am school cancelled for tomorrow by 7pm --
latest forecast has 1-3 inches, starting at 7a tapering by 2p

oh and the school year gets extended by a day.

what a joke.

Ours called an early dismissal for today yesterday afternoon with potential for closing. School normally ends at 3:00, early is 12:30. Snow was expected to start around 7 or 8 and stop around 1 or 2. Sending them home at the worst possible time.

Brontoburglar wrote: ↑Fri Jan 19, 2024 9:01 am

The Sybian wrote: ↑Thu Jan 18, 2024 11:23 am
Curious what this kind of work ran you. I had a paving/water diversion guy come out and suggested a dry well. He is going to dig a 7 foot deep hole in the center of the top part of my driveway and install a dry well. He'll run an underground pipe with holes in the top across the front of my backyard to collect the ground water runoff and pipe that into the dry well. He is going to rip up and repitch part of the patio and driveway, as he needs to rip up the patio to run the pipes from the backyard. Then he is going to tie in the gutters from the back half of my house into the well, and run the front half into the street under the driveway. He will tie in the current drain to nowhere into to the dry well too. Previous estimates for the driveway were $12-$15k without any of the water piping. He said he should be able to the drywell and water piping now, as the ground isn't frozen yet, but he has to wait until March or April for the driveway.

My concern here is piping all of the water to a well under my driveway. He said the well empties into the ground, basically holes throughout the well to allow the water to drain into the soil. He insisted multiple times that the ground can absorb that much water, but it makes me nervous. Last year's (maybe two years ago) hurricane had a rapidly moving river running from my backyard through across the patio and down the driveway. This was the storm that I vacuumed over 400 gallons of water out of my guest room. I told him, we'll see. He looked at me like I was crazy and said "it's 7 feet deep, it won't affect the driveway." If I understood his heavy accent correctly, it'll leave me with a manhole cover in my driveway. Not a good look, but better than flooding.

there isn't a logistical/feasible way to get the water in the front yard to a storm sewer in the street?

mister d wrote: ↑Tue Jan 23, 2024 11:57 pm If it helps, I bet it looked really funny.