Grade of land around house

[Modigliani]

We have found a new house we would like to buy in TV however the grass behind us slopes slightly toward (what would be) our Lanai. I have been advised that the rain here can sometimes come in a deluge and that our Lanai could become flooded. Any comments would be appreciated.

[rubicon]

A few years back this area was hit with a tornado. Where I live we only experienced rain and it poured down fast and hard. It was the only time in the 8 years that I lived here that I witnessed rain run-off spill on to the concrete lainai. Our land has a very level grade

[champion6]

The lawn behind my house slopes slightly towards the lanai. It has never flooded in 3+ years. Keep this in mind: 1)the floor of the lanai is raised above ground level; 2)the soil is very porous and drains quickly; 3)if graded properly, the lawn should also slope gradually towards the sides of your house to direct water to the sides.

[Bonanza]

We have found a new house we would like to buy in TV however the grass behind us slopes slightly toward (what would be) our Lanai. I have been advised that the rain here can sometimes come in a deluge and that our Lanai could become flooded. Any comments would be appreciated.

Yes, you are correct that in a deluge, that lanai could become flooded and there is no outlet provided for the water to drain. There is no reason why the grade is towards this house and not away from it. And if you can see the downward grade, it probably will end up being worse than you can imagine. I will caution you to be very wary about buying that particular property. I have found that most of the properties here do not have enough fill to really drain or run off properly.

We had a terrible drainage problem and were told that if the property drained within two days (can you imagine --two days!), we didn't have a problem. Dig down a little and you will find clay in most areas. Clay doesn't drain.

Anyway, finally, after many phone calls complaining, they came and dug a French drain from the far side of our property to past the house next door and out towards the golf course somewhere.

We have been in our house over a year now. Our next door neighbor had a drainage problem. His problem encompassed four additional properties besides theirs. After a couple of weeks of grading, etc., they said the problem has been fixed. They re-did his complete back yard a few feet of ours (to repair the swail, and parts of the other properties three sides and back. The job cost over $30,000 (I asked the job superintendent). Now I see another area a block away where they are doing the same thing.

I was also told that the construction company was worried about the possibility of a sinkhole. I'm not an engineer so can't comment about that possibility, however. Perhaps that is why they did a seemingly "overkill" job.

Forewarned is forearmed!

[kcrazorbackfan]

If you enclose your lanai, you could have an indoor pool! ;) Seriously, I would be concerned with drainage toward your home. I believe the Tuesday before Thanksgiving, it rained about 6.1" that day. That was the day we did the walk-thru on our new home. Good luck.

[Polar Bear]

The lawn behind my house slopes slightly towards the lanai. It has never flooded in 3+ years. Keep this in mind: 1)the floor of the lanai is raised above ground level; 2)the soil is very porous and drains quickly; 3)if graded properly, the lawn should also slope gradually towards the sides of your house to direct water to the sides.


Grades toward your house can be acceptable if there is proper grading over the entire lot, such as the slopes to the side that Champion mentions, connecting to side lot line swales to the street. If the slopes are subtle, the best way to be sure is to try to observe during a heavy rainfall.

[NYGUY]

In our area of the Village of Charlotte (south/east area) I was told by our builder that the land had a 35 foot hill that had to be cut off in order to build homes. By eliminating the hill, they eliminated all the naturally sandy soil, leaving solid clay. Clay is hard and non-porous. I was further told, that for the first time ever, every home within our unit was built with a type of french drain around it to alleviate the clay soil drainage problem. I don't think it worked because any heavy rains cause standing water for 2 or more days. Due to a years worth of complaints from most homeowners, the developer has regraded most of the properties around me but insists there is no problem. We doubt it has had any effect. I suspect our best remedy is to buy flood insurance.

[mickey100]

As others have said, if you see a problem with the grade, most likely there will be issues with drainage. The land behind our house slopes away from the house, and when it rains it looks like a small river flowing. We get tremendous amounts of rain in the summer.

[tuccillo]

Your house should be on a "hill" with the land sloping away from the house on each side. There should be a swale between houses to direct the runoff. This was something I looked for before we bought our house. If you have doubts you might want to consider another property.


We have found a new house we would like to buy in TV however the grass behind us slopes slightly toward (what would be) our Lanai. I have been advised that the rain here can sometimes come in a deluge and that our Lanai could become flooded. Any comments would be appreciated.

[alanmcdonald]

Our problem is that there are "troughs" between our house and the ones behind and to the side (we are on a corner) that have killed our grass in both areas from standing water. They need to regrade to have these raised and angled towards the road.