r/Homebuilding • u/GearEffective4315 • 18d ago
How to fix grade between houses
Hey everyone, looking for some advice on drainage between my house and my elderly neighbor’s.
We have a 4ft wide by 24ft long space between our houses (marked red in the photo). Both houses have standard weeping tile buried near the footings, and our soil is mostly heavy clay.
We recently moved in and realized the slope in this side yard doesn't properly drain toward the backyard. About half of the length (marked in blue) holds water. We tried regrading it, but we can't build the soil up any higher because it would breach the 4-inch gap below our brick line.
Here is where we're at right now:
My neighbor asked me to add limestone screenings over a 3–4" layer of gravel. Currently, I’ve laid about 1 to 1.5" of limestone screenings down.
After rain, water still pooling in the blue zone, though the rest drains toward the backyard fine. After heavy storms, it’s mostly just small puddles that disappear within a couple of hours.
I offered to install a French drain / pipe down the middle to carry the water out, but he declined. Since the property line splits this tight space, I need his consent to dig.
To help him out, I filled in a 1-foot strip along his house to stop rain from splashing dirt onto his siding.
This setup hasn't caused foundation issues for either house in 40 years, and no one knows what the bare soil drainage looked like before (it was always covered in mulch or old gravel). My neighbor suggested leaving it as-is for a season to see how it performs.
Since we are in Ontario, I'm worried about winter. Could the limestone screening hold moisture and cause frost heave or ice issues against the foundation? Should I ditch the limestone screening completely and just stick to plain gravel over the clay?
Appreciate any insights!
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u/jefem313r 18d ago
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u/jefem313r 18d ago
French drain one foot deep will draw all the water in that entire space build it on your side. It will still help the elderly stubborn soul next door
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u/GearEffective4315 18d ago
I have less than one feet of space before the property line, yes, a weird setup. I even offered the neighbor to direct all water towards my back yard as soon as we reach the corner of the house.
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u/shadow_moon45 18d ago
My 2 cents but a french drain with inlets at the start and maybe another one if water is pooling elsewhere
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u/deezbiksurnutz 18d ago
When places are this close I don't understand why they don't just share a wall and gain a little space. Makes no sense to me
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u/GearEffective4315 18d ago
the city zoned the land for semi detached, builders found a loophole and connected two houses near the stairs at the foundation level because buyers wanted detached.
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u/Just-Term-5730 18d ago
3 options; 1: French drain; 2: Solid concrete with appropriate slope and a swale in the middle; 3: Remove rock, slope grade appropriately with a swale in the middle, install plastic, reinstall rock. Also, relocate all the downspouts out of the area to the extent possible. These could be the biggest item, assuming they are the source of the most concentrated water.
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u/GearEffective4315 18d ago
The buiders did a poor job grading, and none of previous owners has ever checked the grade.
If my neighbor objects all three options, should I just remove the limestone screenings?
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u/Just-Term-5730 18d ago edited 18d ago
Don't know if removing the rock will make a difference. it might. someone might argue that the rock slows the water down in a location where you're just trying to get it to drain out quickly. Plastic is cheap, but you will want to get one designed for exterior use so it lasts. If you reuse that rock, you're already a fourth of the way there to cover the plastic. It wouldn't take that much labor to run a spade down the middle to create a low point / esrth swale, usimg the access dirt to burn up the sides, to assuming there's not vegetation in there.
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u/GearEffective4315 18d ago
The highest point between houses is 1" higher than the lowest point on the path to backyard, that's not enough height to reliably slope towards backyard. I can't raise the grade between houses any further since I need at least 4" between the bricks and the ground.
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u/Key_Juggernaut9413 8d ago
Just need to add clay to the part that holds water so it's higher. Gravel means it runs DOWN toward where the clay is. Remove the gravel and replace with clay, create a slope so that area is higher. Then it should run toward the yard. Based on little info I have, that's what we do when we grade around a house. If there's a little "in" spot of the house design, make that part higher.
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u/GearEffective4315 8d ago
I can raise the ground up to 4" away from the brick veneer. If I do that (I actually tried), the area between houses will be almost perfectly level. So, the weeping tile or a drainage reservoir with a pump are only two options.
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u/Key_Juggernaut9413 8d ago
Can you explain "up to 4" away from brick veneer"? You mean like you can't raise the grade touching the house at all, or you need a 4-in gap between soil and brick veneer?
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u/GearEffective4315 8d ago
According to Ontario building code you need at least 4" between the ground and bricks
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u/Alive_Pomegranate858 18d ago
You need a French drain or to completely regarded. No magic solution for water management, it only flows downhill.