wlandymore

thank you very much for that. was very clear, a lot of good information and got the point across to not take on the french drains myself. All I was looking for. Have a good night.

no, I believe I'm totally open to all advice. It could have been given in a nicer way, sure. but it also may be that putting in soil around the foundation in the front and getting the slope running downhill might be enough too. I just wanted to have a polite discussion and hear all the options.

the inspector said to fix the negative slope towards the house, that's about it.

If you got someone you know to read your comments they would probably disagree. Perhaps now they just call it "blunt" instead.

I'm sorry that looking at people's mistakes frustrates you. It seems to be creeping into other areas though. Yes, that may be good advice: but the part that I was talking about was: The words you're looking for in cases where you have been rude are: "I'm sorry". Just FYI

that second comment would have gone over much better than the first one. But instead you chose to be flat out rude. What's even better is that you have a business website link in your signature as you're making those types of comments. I'm sorry my friend, but regardless of the questions you may get there are always tactful ways to express opinions. Yours was not. I have a lot of questions about this, but I enjoy to learn and do it myself for the satisfaction I get. Sure, I might have to go to a different forum to get information, but I'll get there in the end.

wow...I thought this was a forum where questions could be asked regardless of the amount of experience one has. I didn't realize this was for non-newcomers. I'm sure if you asked me some questions about designing a server farm within a data center I could make you feel like a jackass, but alas that isn't my style. I would still try to exhibit patience and tolerance. good luck with that...

I mean, maybe I don't need an actual french drain for this. It seems like it's not a great deal of water because I don't see pooling of it around anywhere. But the slope of the flower beds around the house definitely doesn't take it away. maybe directing the downspouts and putting in a regular drain to take it to a dry well might be a better solution? Thoughts?

The slope towards the house is not a big one. Almost level actually, but for the last foot of distance before you reach the foundation it slopes ever so slightly down towards the foundation. Tough to explain I guess.

I was confused about how the drain took in the water, but I think I'm more clear now. So you are basically laying the drain across the front of the house and then the water just seeps into the ground and into the drain eventually and then out the end? Then I would have to fix the negative slope so it at least goes towards the drain and not towards the house. I thought there would be a more direct way to get the water into the drain line since 95% of it is probably coming from the downspout anyway...

the one foot I was talking about is the distance of the slope to the house. IE - if I put soil in there from the foundation of the house going one foot would probably take it far enough that it would start to run off in the other direction. What I was talking about with the downspouts was more like - digging the trench, putting in the gravel, cloth, pipe in but then you have a receptacle at the ground level that accepts the water and then it runs through the drain. However, it's also possible to get a small plastic hook up that will guide all of the water right into the drain instead of having it hit around the grate and possible get on to the soil as well.

yeah, I was definitely going to put in french drains to take what was coming out of the downspouts and send it to the sides, but I was just wondering about being super-anal about this and then putting in the raised beds and any other ways to stop water running down the sides. The negative slope is not very big. It's about a foot from the house to the foundation, so I guess I could just put soil in, compact it to change the slope, I just wanted to be sure that all water was going elsewhere...

I just bought a house and the one problem that I see is that on the front of it there is a negative slope towards the house. Water will be coming towards the house and I need to fix this. I will be putting in french drains at both corners to drain it to the side because it runs downhill there, but I was wondering I could build something against the front like raised beds with timbers and then even put some rubber down between the house and the planters so that no water is going towards the house. Does anyone have any advice for someone who hasn't done this before so that I can make sure water is not heading in?