[acali]

The front of my house has a soil grade level with the top of the mudsill.
The exterior is brick. Crawlspace foundation.
Bay Area California.

The house did not have gutters (previous owner did not repair them when broken) but now does.
The ground slopes away down and then goes back uphill to the road.
Regrading would be difficult being downhill from the road.
With the gutters fixed there is not really a drainage issue in this part of the house.

Can I put in a french drain against the house, and fill it to the current height (level with the mudsill) with rock?
The goal would be to lower the effective grade against the house significantly below the mudsill, not so much to move siginifcant water away in the drain.

The main concerns are fungus and termites.

 

[Nealtw]

Can you describe what you are calling a mud sill.

A sill is a board on the flat, a mud sill is usually right on the dirt laying flat.

 

[acali]

I'm likely not using the correct terminology.
I'm referring to the lowest piece of horizontal wood on top of the foundation, like in this picture.

 

[Nealtw]

I'm likely not using the correct terminology.
I'm referring to the lowest piece of horizontal wood on top of the foundation, like in this picture.

That is a sill with out the mud:wink2:
Usually the brick on the outside is on a ledge in the foundation some inches below the top of the foundation.

 

[acali]

Thanks for the clarification. I'm not sure on what to call everything yet.
If this were my house the soil on the picture you attached would come up to top of the 3rd level of bricks. On my house the brick continues much further down.



Are there any problems with my plan?

 

[Old Thomas]

Do you see small weep holes between some of the bricks? They might be like string, maybe plastic inserts, maybe missing mortar. Weeps are necessary to let moisture behind the brick escape. Usually they are every 3 or 4 bricks. It is desirable to have weeps above grade.

 

[Nealtw]

Thanks for the clarification. I'm not sure on what to call everything yet.
If this were my house the soil on the picture you attached would come up to top of the 3rd level of bricks. On my house the brick continues much further down.



Are there any problems with my plan?

From under the floor you should be able to measure where the floor is from the concrete, then from a door you should be able to figure where behind the brick the sill is and as mentioned,look for the weep holes.

There is no way to seal the foundation to the wood wall with the brick there so what ever it is, it will have to be done with the dirt level.


Where does the gutter water go?

 

[stadry]

au contraire, mon ami,,, we'd use this: https://www.master-builders-solutio...below-grade-waterproofing/masterseal-hlm-5000,,, it WILL seal the joint between brick/conc &/or wood/brick, brick/conc, etc,,, we do this work often for condo/hoa prop mgrs,,, proper french drain ( landscaper's term = swale ) would also be appropriate

 

[huesmann]

Unless there's an issue with the grading around the house blocking an entrance, you want it as high as possible anyway.

 

[acali]

From under the floor you should be able to measure where the floor is from the concrete, then from a door you should be able to figure where behind the brick the sill is and as mentioned,look for the weep holes.

Yep that's how I measured it. The dirt level is well below the interior floor level but even with the sill.

As for weep holes I don't see any.
I've attached a picture of the side of the house which shows, as far as I can tell, no weep holes anywhere. And a picture of the front from before I moved in. Above the brick is stucco.

Where does the gutter water go?

I've piped the downspouts in this area to drain on to the driveway which flows steeply away from the house.

 

[acali]

Unless there's an issue with the grading around the house blocking an entrance, you want it as high as possible anyway.

Am I misunderstanding or are you saying the grade should be high even above the sill?

 

[Nealtw]

The front of my house has a soil grade level with the top of the mudsill.
The exterior is brick. Crawlspace foundation.
Bay Area California.

The house did not have gutters (previous owner did not repair them when broken) but now does.
The ground slopes away down and then goes back uphill to the road.
Regrading would be difficult being downhill from the road.
With the gutters fixed there is not really a drainage issue in this part of the house.

Can I put in a french drain against the house, and fill it to the current height (level with the mudsill) with rock?
The goal would be to lower the effective grade against the house significantly below the mudsill, not so much to move siginifcant water away in the drain.

The main concerns are fungus and termites.

So to get big to your first question, yes, it would be good if you could find the weep holes which should be below the sill and above ground level and have the drain below that and just back fill with gravel and maybe a small retaining wall of any description to hold the yard dirt back,

 

[huesmann]

Am I misunderstanding or are you saying the grade should be high even above the sill?

No, obviously not—you wouldn't have fill against siding. But you want it as high as practical against brick or concrete.

 

[acali]

So to get big to your first question, yes, it would be good if you could find the weep holes which should be below the sill and above ground level and have the drain below that and just back fill with gravel and maybe a small retaining wall of any description to hold the yard dirt back,

That's the basic idea. But the rock fill would end up above the sill in some places.
Grading the yard to be below it would be very difficult due to the shape of the land and existing driveway, sidewalks, and retaining walls.
Also, per my previous pictures, I don't believe there are weep holes.

 

[Nealtw]

That's the basic idea. But the rock fill would end up above the sill in some places.
Grading the yard to be below it would be very difficult due to the shape of the land and existing driveway, sidewalks, and retaining walls.
Also, per my previous pictures, I don't believe there are weep holes.

You have a garden of sorts with brick in the fort, I would dig than down lower than the sill install the drain and fill it with gravel.
How deep would at have to be?

 

[acali]

I may be able to knock out that little wall and get the grade down sufficiently.


But around the corner is the same issue but worse as the sill level is much lower there give the slope of the land. And it would be quite tricky to regrade as that would involve demolishing and rebuilding lower a large retaining wall and who knows what else.



I suppose I could just dig the trench sufficiently deep with a small retaining wall and just not put any rock past the level a little below the sill.
I'd rather fill it even with the grade so I don't have a deep moat going around my house.


Any problems just keeping the rock fill a little high?

 

[Nealtw]

I may be able to knock out that little wall and get the grade down sufficiently.


But around the corner is the same issue but worse as the sill level is much lower there give the slope of the land. And it would be quite tricky to regrade as that would involve demolishing and rebuilding lower a large retaining wall and who knows what else.



I suppose I could just dig the trench sufficiently deep with a small retaining wall and just not put any rock past the level a little below the sill.
I'd rather fill it even with the grade so I don't have a deep moat going around my house.


Any problems just keeping the rock fill a little high?

The ugly fix would be to hold the house up, remove some of the nee wall and raise the foundation inside.



On the side wall picture we can see wet bricks at the bottom, Hard to tell if that is just driveway water or water from behind the brick


How deep below ground level is the sill in the front and the side.

If you had a drain pipe below the sill level and even if you bring the gravel up to level would be a big % better than you have now.

Right now the fear is water can get behind the brick and just sit against the wood with no where to go.

 

[acali]

Thanks for your thoughts on this.
I think I may have to step back and looking at doing more than originally planned.
The retaining wall on the side of the house that dictates the soil level there is not in great shape and might just push me to redo it and improve this issue at the same time.

 

[FM3]

I suppose I could just dig the trench sufficiently deep with a small retaining wall and just not put any rock past the level a little below the sill.
I'd rather fill it even with the grade so I don't have a deep moat going around my house.

I think you're thinking what I'm thinking. If that area around your house is stones, you can regrade 4-6 feet or whatever around the house and then add enough stone to make it all look level even though it's sloping away from the house underneath.

If the water already flows away from the house, and you don't have any subsurface water problems now, I'd try to avoid putting a french drain right next to the house. I want water going away from the house, not towards it.

The idea I'm thinking of, which looks to be what you mentioned, is to regrade the 4-6 feet or so of ground near the house. Lower it to get it lower than the sill, since that's the main thing you're wanting to do, but still have it all slope away from the house. Then you'd have a swale 4-6 feet away from the house where the lowered ground meets the old ground.

If that swale trench area is gradual enough, it might be hard to even notice it. Or maybe put a mini retaining wall there so that 4-6 feet looks like a walking path around the house. etc. Then make sure the water in that swale trench area can flow away sideways to discharge away, or put a french drain underground there if you have to.

The main point is, water would still be flowing away from the house (out to 4-6 feet anyway), and you wouldn't need a french drain next to the house. And you might even like having a sort of walkway type area around the house if you make it look like one. In your picture, it looks like you already have a flagstone walking path.

I did similar in part of my yard where the grading was flat at best. Part of it is where the flower/shrub area next to the house ends. There's brick border edging there for the flower area, and despite the swale trench and sloping ground under there, it looks as level as I want it to be because it's filled with stones. A thin layer next to the house, getting deeper away from the house.

And yet huge amounts of water can and does flow through there and away from the house because of the slope and swale under the stones. I have a french drain under there too, because reasons, but the swale does most of the work.

 

[acali]

Yep, writing this all out has led me to the same conclusion.
Thankfully I like to dig!
Hard to explain the need for all this to my wife but she'll come around.
Thank you for sharing your experience and giving me some ideas on how to execute the changes.