Excessive Water Issue

[escanlan]

Originally Posted by 19782009

With the recent heavy rain and snow melting my backyard became a swimming pool.
It is not the first time that this is happening, but this time it was the worse.
Sump pump was working overtime for 2-3 days to help keep my crawl space dry.
Now, the question is...is this problem all my responsibility or the village has to help me in some way?
I mean, I am at the lowest point of all surrounding houses and the neighbor behind me sits the highest.
All the water from their yards coming into mine, especially from the house just right behind ours and that house is new construction (few years old I believe).
That house actually sits very high, looks like when they build it they put a lot of dirt or whatever to make their yard that high.
Is there anybody out there with the same problem and idea how to solve it?

Before you approach the local Authority Having Jurisdiction (AHJ, Building Department) I would first speak to a drainage professional. Your number one issue is that you are the lowest point of all homes around you. Depending on the size of your lot, positioning of the home, location of storm drains, and a few other factors, there might be a simple method to capture and drain the water off near the perimeter of the property, and before it reaches the home. This could be as simple as digging gentle swales (gullies) around the perimeter of the property to channel the majority of the water towards the storm sewer point(s).

A good drainage specialist can give you a much better idea. Drainage specialists came in all variety of flavors. They can be landscapers, Professional Engineers, even builders who specialize in building near wetlands. When you look for the drainage specialist make sure they have experience in dealing with drainage issues on properties. A good drainage specialist should be able to at least provide you descriptions and pictures of their past problems they solved. If you find a drainage specialist that is familiar with your homes general area (city, township, etc.) they might also be familiar with any building requirements at the time your home was built. Their information can help you when you approach the local AHJ for your area.

Once you understand fully the problem, potential solutions, and what if any errors the original builder made then you can be well armed when approaching the local AHJ. Of importance when approaching the local AHJ are the following:

• What were the local building codes in affect at the time your home was built?
• Did those building codes have provisions for a builder to follow for site planning? Site planning would include such items as grading and drainage on the property.
• Does the local AHJ still have the full inspection records available for when the home was built? Records retention requirements vary from one AHJ to another. Depending on the age of the home the records might already have been purged except for the records of issuing the final Certificate Of Occupancy. I would also ask if these records are archived anywhere and how they can be accessed.
• I would ask the local AHJ if they can come to the property and review the site grading and drainage to determine if it was properly completed per the local requirements. I would also ask they review the surrounding homes that are newer than yours to determine if the site grading and drainage rules/codes were properly followed. Be ready to hear that "conditions change over time" speech and that they can not tell you if it was properly performed when originally built. However, if the newer surrounding homes are causing issues on your lot then those can definitely be identified as being properly built or not.

Good luck and let us know how it turns out.

[19782009]

Thanks and I'll post once this is done.

Originally Posted by escanlan

Before you approach the local Authority Having Jurisdiction (AHJ, Building Department) I would first speak to a drainage professional. Your number one issue is that you are the lowest point of all homes around you. Depending on the size of your lot, positioning of the home, location of storm drains, and a few other factors, there might be a simple method to capture and drain the water off near the perimeter of the property, and before it reaches the home. This could be as simple as digging gentle swales (gullies) around the perimeter of the property to channel the majority of the water towards the storm sewer point(s).

A good drainage specialist can give you a much better idea. Drainage specialists came in all variety of flavors. They can be landscapers, Professional Engineers, even builders who specialize in building near wetlands. When you look for the drainage specialist make sure they have experience in dealing with drainage issues on properties. A good drainage specialist should be able to at least provide you descriptions and pictures of their past problems they solved. If you find a drainage specialist that is familiar with your homes general area (city, township, etc.) they might also be familiar with any building requirements at the time your home was built. Their information can help you when you approach the local AHJ for your area.

Once you understand fully the problem, potential solutions, and what if any errors the original builder made then you can be well armed when approaching the local AHJ. Of importance when approaching the local AHJ are the following:

• What were the local building codes in affect at the time your home was built?
• Did those building codes have provisions for a builder to follow for site planning? Site planning would include such items as grading and drainage on the property.
• Does the local AHJ still have the full inspection records available for when the home was built? Records retention requirements vary from one AHJ to another. Depending on the age of the home the records might already have been purged except for the records of issuing the final Certificate Of Occupancy. I would also ask if these records are archived anywhere and how they can be accessed.
• I would ask the local AHJ if they can come to the property and review the site grading and drainage to determine if it was properly completed per the local requirements. I would also ask they review the surrounding homes that are newer than yours to determine if the site grading and drainage rules/codes were properly followed. Be ready to hear that "conditions change over time" speech and that they can not tell you if it was properly performed when originally built. However, if the newer surrounding homes are causing issues on your lot then those can definitely be identified as being properly built or not.

Good luck and let us know how it turns out.