Driveway issues

hbfl4

Not sure if I'm in the right topic area but here goes. Our house is a raised ranch with the south end totally above ground. That is were the garage and entrance door to the laundry room is. The driveway slopes down to this area and also the laundry drains out in front of the garage too. There is a drain there but it isn't draining properly and we've had water pool in front of the garage during rain and also when I do laundry, and during heavy rain water goes into the garage and laundryroom. We have a very wide driveway. We are the last house on a dead end street but do have neighbors living behind us and we share part of our driveway so they have access to their driveway from the street. At the end of the driveway directly across from the garage it slopes down into a valley, lots of trees on the side of the hill down to a clearing which is owned by the people that live behind us. (hope that makes sense) So my question is what kind of drainage system to we use to keep the water away from the house and is this something that could be done by a do it yourselfer? Or should we hire a pro?
I did some searches and found some info on French Drains. Could this be a possible solution? We have a lot of clay in our soil here so not sure if that would work. Any help or suggestions would be great!
I could post some pictures if I can figure out how if that would help.
Thanks

*Kennedy*

Pics always help for sure. If a drain already exists, what is the current problem/status of that drain. Is the drive leading into the garage and walk-in door concrete, pavers, mud, etc.
It's pretty simple said, but you make a place for the water to be caught and then leveled in such a way that it runs toward the direction you want in either a pipe or by using other drainage products. Run it to wherever you would like.

hbfl4

The driveway is gravel but not much of that left so mostly dirt/clay showing.(we plan to get gravel but want to wait until we fix the drain) Not sure the current problem with the drain just that it's not draining. We're were told by the past owner that when the people behind us put in their driveway they broke the drain pipe from our drain.
The laundry also drains there but wasn't draining for a while so I couldn't do laundry, now it seems to be draining but not out in front of the garage like it used to so I don't know where it's draining to now.

DangerMouse

well, that's simple enough.... it's draining into the sinkhole it created under the inconsiderate neighbor's driveway!
this will be most evident when his car falls into it.......

DM

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hbfl4

Ok so the hubby and I did some digging this morning in the driveway. We followed the cement(I think it's cement) pipe about 50 feet until we came to where the 2 driveways meet up and there were no breaks or cracks so it must be somewhere in the neighbors driveway. So is there someway to repair the break without redoing the whole thing?
We have new neighbors behind us not the one that broke the pipe to begin with.

DangerMouse

you might explain to them what may be going on and discuss what to do next?

DM

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*Kennedy*

I might just run me a new drain pipe. Put a corrugated black pipe with sediment sleeve in the area in front of the doors so the water that runs down to that area can at least seep into the corrugated pipe and then attach the corrugated to a non corrugated where the water does not stand. This will carry out the water to wherever you want.

DUDE!

not sure of course, but before you start draining your laundry water across the country side, you might want to check your local code. Not saying that is never done, but my thinking is the local health inspector will stop by to chat with you.

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