Last year I got great help from everyone regarding poor drainage and a flooding basement.
(https://www.askmehelpdesk.com/plumbing/basement-leaking-through-cinderblock-242374.html)

A year later, all is good, but after some heavy rains, I'm nervous that some pooling water in the yard will seep into the basement.


Here's the situation:
1) side of yard has been graded away from house and has polyethylene buried 2 inches.

2) Adjacent yard is undeveloped lot that is 6-8 inches HIGHER than my yard.

3) all areas of yard are higher than the one spot where water pools.

Any ideas on how to get rid of this pooling water?

This picture is a diagram of the side of my yard:

Any ideas on how to get rid of this pooling water?
Perforated PVC and a dry well, (see image) come to mind.
That's about all I cam come up with. Good luck, Tom

Create a trench away or along side that elevation. Just dig deep enough and put about an inch of rock (gravel) and then lay 3" pipe with holes in the bottom. (they should have it at the big box ) The holes must be positioned on the bottom, not the top.

Then lay more gravel over it. If you run it along that area and about 1.5 feet down next to the elevation and slope it down as you run it to day light (the end will stick out at where the earth is level or drops down)

Elevation _________
Trench ----------------- directing the water away.

You will be giving the water a place to go and where you want it to go.
"Earth Plumbing" so to speak.

BTW - these types of shallow trenches do work well. Usually at about 2 feet deep. I had to do it on the side of the house where I live where the drain tile doesn't reach too.

Usually about 3.5 to 4 feet away from the house. Two feet deep and just wide enough to get your stone and pipe in, then you need to direct it away at some distance.

Good advices above... You can also insert bucket where the water puddles, put in small pump and pump it away through PVC discharge .

Does this happen all year around or only in rainy season ?

Good advices above...... You can also insert bucket where the water puddles, put in small pump and pump it away through PVC discharge .

Does this happen all year around or only in rainy season ?


It only happens on the heaviest rains -- 2-3x per year.


Perforated PVC and a dry well, (see image) come to mind.
That's about all I cam come up with. Good luck, Tom

I thought about a drywell. But, considering that any potential location in the vicinity is just as far as the puddle, won't a drywell actually ACCELERATE the problem. (That is, now I'm accumulating MORE water within the same radius of the basement.)

I don't know how much you want to spent to solve the problem. If it happens only few times a year I would assume you want to do something temporary. If you insert bucket in the lowest point, put in a pump and attach a hose to it, you can lead the hose anyplace you want. Pump will pump out water automatically through the hose. Once the rainy season is over, you can remove the pump, hose, put cover on the bucket and all is in order again.

I like the trench, drainage pipe and collection bucket solution. If you don't mind spending some energy, you could do it once and the right way. Just make sure your ground can absorb all the water.

Good luck... Let us know what you decided to do ! Milo

Create a trench away or along side that elevation. just dig deep enough and put about an inch of rock (gravel) and then lay 3" pipe with holes in the bottom. (they should have it at the big box ) The holes must be positioned on the bottom, not the top.

Then lay more gravel over it. If you run it along that area and about 1.5 feet down next to the elevation and slope it down as you run it to day light (the end will stick out at where the earth is level or drops down)


I thought about this too. But, the nearest downward slope for a trench to exit is probably 50 feet+ away. The spot where the water accumulates is truly a valley of the property.

Looks like pump and collection bucket is your solution...

Is there any area that's low enough to use Milos solution? Are you concerned that a dry well will fill up and back up into the basement? Let me know, Tom

Is there any area that's low enough to use Milos solution? Are you concerned that a dry well will fill up and back up into the basement? Let me know, Tom

I like Milos' idea, but I am shooting for something a little more permanent.

As for a drywell -- yes, I'm worried the well will accumulate MORE water, acting as a funnel into the basement.

It seems that my option is to divert the water to another area of the yard: 50+ feet away.

Well, fifty feet away sounds like a lot, but it will help you do what you need. YOu seem to understand the water moves mostly sideways through the soil and have a place for it to go is your best bet I think. I have done this in an area where I get a lot of water. I have a sump, but the drain tile stops at a point, and I started back aways with a trench and it does work nicely. Digging yes - or you could rent a rig that digs for you, but you only need about six inches to lay the pipe and the rock.

If you work on it a length of a time, it isn't so bad. Let us know how you are doing with it.

Well, I came up with a new possibility: I will go with a french drain, but in the neighboring lot. I'm going to grade down the section that is higher than my yard, and lead it to a french drain running parallel to my water problem.

It should divert my puddle under the fence into the adjacent property where it will find the french drain.


One more question and I'll shut up:

I dug the trench mentioned above in the neighboring lot. (It is a trench and does not exit anywhere specific.) I can:
A) fill it with gravel and leave it open
B) fill with gravel and cover with dirt
C) drop a perf. Pipe with gravel underneath it.
D) leave it as a simple dirt trench

Any thoughts?

Here's a link that will give you instructions on constructing a french drain,(see image) french drains how to - Google Search (http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&aq=t&ie=UTF-8&rls=GGLJ,GGLJ:2006-43,GGLJ:en&q=french+drains+how+to)

Good luck, Tom

Also, and in addition to Tom's advice, I am adding few photos of run-off systems to give you better idea how to proceed. Of course, you don't have to use the pipe if you want to create "dry well" kind of run off system which would collect water and than allowed it to percolate w/o draining it away from the point of collection.

Of course, you don't have to use the pipe if you wanna create "dry well" kind of run off system which would collect water and than allowed it to percolate w/o draining it away from the point of collection.

That's exactly what I'm after since a run to daylight would be 50 or so feet. Thanks.

See my earlier post where I suggested both drainage tile and a dry well. What are you going to do if you have a heavy rain and th line loads up. Where will the water drain then? The dry well's a safety factor against overloading the drain tile. As for leaking back into your basement it's more likely you'll get a back up from the drain tiles then from a dry well. Good luck, Tom