[gomoho]

My house is situated near the bottom of a small hill on my street. When we get these torrential downpours we've had recently we have quite a flooding problem in the backyards with all the water coming down the hill to the sewer drain. It does eventually drain; however, the fact that the swail is constantly saturated all we have are weeds, weeds, and more weeds in these areas. This is a five year old neighborhood so is it too late to ask the developer for help??? I have only been here a year - had I been here from day one I would have been very active to get the problem resolved.

Curious if this is common in TV or something peculiar in our backyards???

[gmcneill]

It's never too late to call in such matters.

The worse that happens is that you get a "No, sorry" response.

The best that happens is that you get the issue resolved. The remedy could be a simple regrade of the area, or maybe the installation of a French drain.

[Happinow]

I can only say pursue, pursue, pursue.......take pictures and show them to the proper people. Hound them until they come out and see the problem. Don't let them tell you " if its gone in 48 hours there is nothing they can do". Don't fall for that. Someone should be able to fix that. Best of luck.

[buggyone]

Since the problem has probably existed for 5 years, I would guess that the resolution (French drain is the best idea) will have to be funded by you. Maybe you can get your neighbor to chip in.

[JC and John]

We are facing this issue with the swail between our house and a neighbor. Short story, both called home warrantry. We were both told that our homes are over 1 year(just a few months) they will not handle and recommend we call our respective landscapers who installed our initial landscaping. Neighbor called his landscaper. Short answer, the grade is within acceptable limits and unless water stands for 48 hrs. they will not fix. Because we don't want the area to sink further and deal with the dead grass and weeds, we called a third party KB Landscaping for a solution. Solution is a French drain along the side of the 2 houses and across the back of neighbor's lot to a main drain. We will share in the cost of approx. $3,000 which includes new sod and tie ins of neighbor's downspouts. Got out home warranty papers and drainage is addressed. Standing water 24 hrs/48 hrs yes is covered, otherwise no. Did not experience this issue prior to our 1 year inspection. It developed because of the massive amounts of rain we have had so far this summer.

[gomoho]

JC and John - I had a feeling that is what the situation would be. There is a home on either O'Dell or Stillwater that has a beautiful rock garden in their swail. I'm assuming they paid to have it done themselves. Would love to do something like that, but doubt I could get the neighbors to chip in. I have a neighbor that is an engineer that has been taking pictures and is working something up on his computer to present so maybe we'll get lucky, but I'm not holding my breath.

[Bill32]

We had the same problem and TV installed a French drain around our houses in 2008 (home was less than a year old). We still have a river flowing between our homes but because of the grading it runs right out to the street. Hasn't damaged the lawn or landscaping so we just ignore it. It will stay a little soggy on that side but no reason for us to be walking over there.

[Mallory Voice]

Originally Posted by gomoho

My house is situated near the bottom of a small hill on my street. When we get these torrential downpours we've had recently we have quite a flooding problem in the backyards with all the water coming down the hill to the sewer drain. It does eventually drain; however, the fact that the swail is constantly saturated all we have are weeds, weeds, and more weeds in these areas. This is a five year old neighborhood so is it too late to ask the developer for help??? I have only been here a year - had I been here from day one I would have been very active to get the problem resolved.

Curious if this is common in TV or something peculiar in our backyards???

This problem is very common. Solution: get together w/ neighbor and install a French drain - it's the ONLY permanent way to solve the problem. One of the many construction boo-boos in TV!
Mallory voice

[graciegirl]

Originally Posted by buggyone

Since the problem has probably existed for 5 years, I would guess that the resolution (French drain is the best idea) will have to be funded by you. Maybe you can get your neighbor to chip in.

I dunno, Buggy one. I think Gomoho may be surprised. Call warranty first and see what they say. The owners are very proud of their drainage systems, I would say.

When we get upwards of two inches in a short span here we get little lakes forming here and there between our properties but they disappear in a half hour. French drain may be the answer. They aren't very expensive.

[kittygilchrist]

Originally Posted by gomoho

JC and John - I had a feeling that is what the situation would be. There is a home on either O'Dell or Stillwater that has a beautiful rock garden in their swail. I'm assuming they paid to have it done themselves. Would love to do something like that, but doubt I could get the neighbors to chip in. I have a neighbor that is an engineer that has been taking pictures and is working something up on his computer to present so maybe we'll get lucky, but I'm not holding my breath.

gomo, I am confident that you can get a buy in if you have a neighborhood party and man up on the grill.
K.
ps this is absolutely the wettest summer ever....think about that before investing $$.

[jimbo2012]

We had the problem, but recognized it before we closed took pic's and it was done by warranty in two weeks after closing, all is good.

But that was between houses, a straight run of about 140 feet.

Simple, but if your issue is in the back that drain must go out to street, U may need to make it go across the back and down one side. Don't think that would be $3k.

Do u have a clay base below the turf rather than sand?

[cquick]

Yes, this year sure has more rain than we have had for at least 5 years.

We have never had a swimming pool with an automatic drain and fill. This year it has been draining a lot! We are thinking about different ways to contain the water because it is killing the grass. One of our ideas was to build a "rock creek" along the swale to allow the water to drain into the soil.

I googled "French Drain". There were some very interesting variations.

My husband is in favor of a gravel filled dry well to allow the water to slowly absorb into the soil.....not sure what we are going to do yet.

In our old house, we had to hook up a garden hose to the pool drain to empty the pool into the street. I remember one of my neighbors forgot the pool was draining,and she poured half her pool down the drain!

[Tweety Bird]

Originally Posted by Mallory Voice

This problem is very common. Solution: get together w/ neighbor and install a French drain - it's the ONLY permanent way to solve the problem. One of the many construction boo-boos in TV!
Mallory voice

Is this a French-kissing lanai?

[alanmcdonald]

We were also lucky and found the problem bwtween our home and the one behind us the day we signed the purchase contract. It was fixed before closing.

[kittygilchrist]

Originally Posted by cquick

Yes, this year sure has more rain than we have had for at least 5 years.

We have never had a swimming pool with an automatic drain and fill. This year it has been draining a lot! We are thinking about different ways to contain the water because it is killing the grass. One of our ideas was to build a "rock creek" along the swale to allow the water to drain into the soil.

I googled "French Drain". There were some very interesting variations.

My husband is in favor of a gravel filled dry well to allow the water to slowly absorb into the soil.....not sure what we are going to do yet.

In our old house, we had to hook up a garden hose to the pool drain to empty the pool into the street. I remember one of my neighbors forgot the pool was draining,and she poured half her pool down the drain!

re your pool draining. there might be an adjustment to height of water in the pool that can be made. inside the lanai where the pool drains a piece of pipe determines the level of the water. If that pipe could be shortened, it would make the normal water level lower, possibly allowing less draining when it rains.