New build next door is flooding our yard - WWYD?
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Anonymous
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I don't want to be like the crazy Chevy Chase driveway lady, but I'm trying to figure out how to handle this situation. The house next door to ours was knocked down almost a year ago, and they are putting in a house that is literally 10x the size of the original. The original was on a slab, and of course they dug a proper (huge) foundation and basement for the new house.
We are at a significantly lower grade, and ever since the foundation went in next door, we have had a mud pit (and occasional small pond) in a corner of our yard. Nothing like this ever happened in the dozen years we've been here, and it's going to be crazy expensive to mitigate, because we're surrounded by other houses and we'd need pumps and god knows what else to get the water from this corner of the yard to the street. All the companies who have come out to give estimates for the work have said we should call the county, because it seemed obvious that it was an effect of the new build. We were uncomfortable with being the PITA neighbors even before anyone is living there. But thanks to today's storm I got to see in real time how water is literally pouring out of the retaining wall between our houses and flooding our yard. It's still pouring out even long after the rain stopped, and there's literally a river running from the retaining wall to the back of our yard, with our kids' swing set submerged in at least 6 inches of water. I feel like this tips the balance to file a complaint, but I wondered what DCUM has to say? Anyone ever dealt with anything like this? Is there any possibility that the county (MoCo) will force the builders to divert the water away from our yard? The house is being built by a small-time guy who seems to flip them eventually, and he's only around sporadically. It has been just such a nightmare living next door to this - workers outside our windows from 645am till after dark, a port-a-potty 3 feet from our driveway (that random people will stop and use), and so on. It's been going on almost a year, often on weekends as well as weekdays, and they're nowhere near finished. I know they have a right to do what they want on their own property but they don't have a right to ruin our backyard... do they?! |
Anonymous
| No, they don't. I don't know what jurisdiction you're in but the first thing they generally do when you build is force you to deal with drainage, put in silt fences, etc. Stand up for yourself, call the buildign department. |
Anonymous
I feel for you, OP. My next door neighbor has been building his house at snail pace 18 months so far. I don't have flooding but hear a generator running on most days. |
Anonymous
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Who owns the retaining wall? If it is yours, it might need some work on the drain tile that is on the high side of the wall.
I don't think that the county government will be much help. |
Anonymous
| Measure how far down spouts are from your yard and look up regulations for your area. Our neighbors had their downspouts to close to our property line and they flooded our basement several times b/f we figured this out. |
Anonymous
| Ffx county will. |
Anonymous
| Thanks PPs. The retaining wall literally divides our properties; I can't access the top of it unless I'm on their property. The previous owner next door installed a fence on top of the wall, so I've always assumed it's their property. (He would have needed a permit and show it was his land, right?) From what I can tell from the front yard, the builders haven't done anything drainage-wise - it's just a mosh pit of construction stuff all around. |
Anonymous
| Take pictures/videos of the water. I don't know if MoCo will do anything, but I would definitely try. Sometimes you have to be a pain in the ass in order to protect yourself. If that doesn't work, I would consult a lawyer. |
Anonymous
| OP take videos of this rushing water and go to the county asap. do this before it is sold -- there's no hard feelings etc when just dealing with a builder/flipper. get it done before it's sold and owners move in. |
Anonymous
| Just talk to your neighbors, we had a much less extreme issue of our downspout and sump discharge washing away thy mulch. had no idea that it washing away our neighbors mulch. We ended up burying our down spout and extending it to the street. |
Anonymous
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I don't think that there is really much you can do. However, I would start by documenting the water flow. Video during rains, video of the after effects, photographs and anything else you can think of.
I would approach the developer next door if it is a flip or the new owners. Most of the people do want to be good neighbors. When they sod the house, try to ensure that they actually till the soil deeply and add plenty of new fill. The ground in Chevy Chase/Bethesda is usually clay and when packed down by work equipment after being dug out for a new foundation, it will not absorb any water. We spent almost $10K installing a "rainscape" in our backyard to deal with the overflow from a new build next door. The county did give us $1500 in the form of a grant. |
Anonymous
| Definitely call the county. We are in MoCo and the people behind us put up a huge addition that covered a large percentage of the yard. Our neighbor complained about runoff (we are both downhill from this house) and they were required to put in some kind of catch basins for the water. I really wouldn't worry about calling - it's code and should be part of their construction project. |
Anonymous
| It's a flipper. Call the county |
Anonymous
By not worry about calling I mean you should call the county and not worry about offending the builder. |
Anonymous
| If it's a new build there is a grading plan approved by the county.You may have wait until they do the final sod and grading. |