Yard sloping toward house - how much does it actually matter?

[Anonymous]

I’m curious because when we were house hunting I read everywhere how problematic this is, and we ruled out a ton of houses that grading could not fix. I’ve started paying more attention and SO many houses are like this. The funny thing is that we got a well graded house/lot and still have significant basement water problems. Does slope matter as much as everyone says? Does everyone I know with a house like that secretly have basement flooding?

[Anonymous]

We have a house like this and the basement has not flooded. We’ve lived here 12 years. The biggest negative, for us, is not having a flat lot for the kids to play and general aesthetic purposes. I do think we were able to get a better deal on the house bc of backyard and it was a buyers market at the time. I’m not necessarily excited about the yard when we need to sell.

[Anonymous]

If you think about it, grading only helps with water on the surface.

Obviously not all houses can be on top of a hill, except maybe in Kansas or something. I think what matters is that you’re not at the BOTTOM of a hill. As long as the slope continues, you just need to route the surface water around and away from the house.

You can’t really make your house a boat. Basements have drainage systems to take water away from the foundations. Those systems don’t last forever, and a lot of houses around here are older. There’s more complicated dynamics than just ground slope that accounts for which basements have more water to deal with than others, but if the system (including the basement drains and the gutters) is working as intended that should just be a matter of the sump pump running more often so maybe needing more frequent replacement.

[Anonymous]

You don't want the lowest point against your foundation. A slope towards it but with a swale redirecting the water around the side is fine. Ideally, you'd want 10' or so shallow slope away from your foundation into that swale.

[Anonymous]

Proper grading is very important, but is just one dimension of dampproofing and waterproofing. Correctly sized and well-maintained gutters, downspouts which direct water well away from the foundation, waterproof coating and membrane on the exterior subterranean walls, and buried perforated foundation perimeter drains which feed sumps with pumps are all desirable characteristics to ensure a dry basement. Further, sump pumps should have battery back-up power and should be tested regularly.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Proper grading is very important, but is just one dimension of dampproofing and waterproofing. Correctly sized and well-maintained gutters, downspouts which direct water well away from the foundation, waterproof coating and membrane on the exterior subterranean walls, and buried perforated foundation perimeter drains which feed sumps with pumps are all desirable characteristics to ensure a dry basement. Further, sump pumps should have battery back-up power and should be tested regularly.

How many houses actually have a membrane/coating? The housing stock in this area is so old and no one did any of that in 50+ years ago.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Proper grading is very important, but is just one dimension of dampproofing and waterproofing. Correctly sized and well-maintained gutters, downspouts which direct water well away from the foundation, waterproof coating and membrane on the exterior subterranean walls, and buried perforated foundation perimeter drains which feed sumps with pumps are all desirable characteristics to ensure a dry basement. Further, sump pumps should have battery back-up power and should be tested regularly.

How many houses actually have a membrane/coating? The housing stock in this area is so old and no one did any of that in 50+ years ago.

I think it’s useful to think of basement drains like the roof or HVAC. They have a lifespan, which can vary a lot for all sorts of reasons. The old terra cotta drains can collapse, fill up, etc. But I don’t think it’s abnormal to have to replace them so if you have an old house where it hasn’t been updated you might want to factor that in. It wouldn’t be a reason to not buy the house necessarily.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We have a house like this and the basement has not flooded. We’ve lived here 12 years. The biggest negative, for us, is not having a flat lot for the kids to play and general aesthetic purposes. I do think we were able to get a better deal on the house bc of backyard and it was a buyers market at the time. I’m not necessarily excited about the yard when we need to sell.

Np, and I agree. We had a house with a sloping yard for five years and never had any issues with flooding. The issues were useless yard space for the kids when they were young and aesthetics as the pp mentioned. I will say that it was loads of fun for the kids the few times we got big snow .

[Anonymous]

We were down-slope from another house and did take on a lot of rainwater in a storm. They have since renovated in put in dry wells. BUT, in the meantime, we probably spent $30k+ on regrading to put in swales to direct water around the house and then to upgrade gutters. All of that work made a big difference in how the water moved around the house AND we were able to flatten out a nice rectangular spot for playing, running, etc. Had the sellers and their realtor properly disclosed how many water problems they had (a flooded basement within a short period of time of selling and rainwater into the garage), we probably wouldn't have bought the house. But we love it and have fully fixed the issues.

[Anonymous]

I grew up in a house like this, and our basement flooded numerous times. Once it was because a water main in the street burst and the water flowed down the slope and right into our basement.

[Anonymous]

I've owned two homes over the course of almost 20 years and I never experienced a single issue with water and the basement. One house we built a paver patio and the other house has a deck.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I've owned two homes over the course of almost 20 years and I never experienced a single issue with water and the basement. One house we built a paver patio and the other house has a deck.

QP here, forgot to add - both homes had sloped yards (toward the house)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Proper grading is very important, but is just one dimension of dampproofing and waterproofing. Correctly sized and well-maintained gutters, downspouts which direct water well away from the foundation, waterproof coating and membrane on the exterior subterranean walls, and buried perforated foundation perimeter drains which feed sumps with pumps are all desirable characteristics to ensure a dry basement. Further, sump pumps should have battery back-up power and should be tested regularly.

How many houses actually have a membrane/coating? The housing stock in this area is so old and no one did any of that in 50+ years ago.

They barely do it now. Code requires only a weeping barrier so most contractors are spraying or rolling on a thin tar coat that isn't very effective and doesn't last long. They aren't spending any extra money on a a membrane and they won't do anything with the downspouts.

[Anonymous]

You should also pay attention to small creeks in the vicinity- some of those are spring-fed so you want to know the origin point and path of the water.

[Anonymous]

I wouldn't do it. We lived in a rental where the basement flooded constantly.