i have a house that is placed on hill and i've been trying to figure out what i will need to do to grade away from the house. i know that i will need to get a bobcat or some sort of machinery, but does anyone have any advice on the process to do this? any help would be great and i've attached some pictures of what i'm dealing with. as you can see the right hand side (picture view) of the house is where the hill is sloping to.
Grading away from my house
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Do you have a wet basement?
yes, its been getting very wet in that left hand corner of the house in the pictures. after looking at the pictures it does look like the ground is sloping away but there is a high point about 5-7 feet away from the house that slopes back into the house.
Based on having some very similar problems; that downspout looks like it goes into the sewer system? Have you checked that out? Made sure it isn't clogged; cracked; leaking, etc?
I don't think you need a bobcat; we have been slowly fixing our grading; You just need dirt + stamper unless you really need to 'take away' a lot of dirt; and even then standard gardening tools worked for us.
The more important thing is to get the grading "stakes" and string to make a map of the yard so you really know what is going on grade wise.
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perhaps at the bottom of that hill on the left, you could dig a trench, fill it with stones and one of those black tubes with holes in it?
it would catch the water and make it flow down hill away from your house.
it would catch the water and make it flow down hill away from your house.
Typically it's having no gutters, or the downspouts drop all their water right next to the house. If the left side of your house is the problem you will probably need a bobcat but that tree and roots may be havoc. You have to keep at least 8" of your foundation exposed, it sure looks tight there on the left side. Usually you need to keep it sloped an inch for every foot. I personally like to have 12" exposed as from experience all the areas of my house that are less get bugs finding every nook & cranny to sneak into while those 12" pretty much get none.
For the rest of your house you could have fill brought in and slope it away, it should be clay to have as much water as possible drain without absorbing but it is looking like a bobcat or something. A bulldozer will make real quick work of it and would also make quick work of that banking if you want more room, and bulldozers slice through roots.
Just watch out if your breaker panel is on that side, typically they have to put in 2 grounding rods and if your panel is on that side that's where they would bury them. I've found mine accidentally rototilling, they were only about 2" below the surface.
For the rest of your house you could have fill brought in and slope it away, it should be clay to have as much water as possible drain without absorbing but it is looking like a bobcat or something. A bulldozer will make real quick work of it and would also make quick work of that banking if you want more room, and bulldozers slice through roots.
Just watch out if your breaker panel is on that side, typically they have to put in 2 grounding rods and if your panel is on that side that's where they would bury them. I've found mine accidentally rototilling, they were only about 2" below the surface.
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