Drainage problem on a slope

by Kerry
(Margaret River)

Hi Susan,

I'm a long way from your homeland (Australia) but my issue is pretty generic. I bought a house that is lower than the road and my front grass slopes toward my front door. Sometimes we have torrential downpours, like today, and the rain puddles at my doorstep and in the open carport. There's nothing much I can do about the carport since it's paved right to the road, but I'm wondering if I could stop the rain running down my grass as much as it does.
Would you recommend something like soakwells in the front yard, or do you think it could help if I planted shrubbery and other plants at the top of the grass? Not sure if this could block runoff or not?

Sorry I don't have a photo to make it clearer for you, but thanks for any help!

Kerry

ANSWER

Hi Kerry,
Australia! I guess we still can ave the same water issues though!

The best thing to do would be to divert the water away from you house. This can be done by various methods such as re-grading, pipes, etc. Without knowing the lay of your land (other than it slopes to your house) I can't provide a specific suggestion. In addition, I don't know how steep your front yard is.

I don't think the rain garden type of solution will work because if you are on a slope it won't capture enough of the water in big rains. Probably the easiest solution would be to install a French drain which is a perforated pipe along the bottom of the hill close to your house. You can read about how that works on this page. Perforated Pipe. The thing is it will have to be pitched correctly and lead elsewhere. Whether or not there is an "elsewhere"...I don't know.

I am sorry I couldn't be more specific in finding a solution, but I would need more information.

Susan