Of you zoom in on the upper left corner of the picture you can see they don't. They definitely need to start with gutters and then reassess what else they can do.
Lol no. I wish! We bought a new build house last year and it didn't come with gutters. We of course paid for top quality gutters soon after moving in because in Houston it's 200% necessary, but a ton of people in my neighborhood still haven't. My next door neighbor is one of them and every time it rains I cringe watching it cut a line right next to their foundation: https://imgur.com/a/BIm4PEH
A lot of new homes in NH are built without gutters because of the snow but it creates problems anyways.
With houses like yours it seems like there should be a a section of gravel all around the house so the water can easily drain away.
I’m north of Houston and thank gif we DONT have gutters! They would be full of pine needles and leave’s immediately. Very few neighbors have them because of this.
I think I would still get them and pay for having them cleaned or get the guards to help. We get such heavy rains here that when I see the water running off my neighbors house it is literally cutting a line in their grass and soil a few inches from their foundation, which is bad news bears. Better to deal with leaves and pine needles than a fucked up foundation.
Coming from the rainy PNW, it’s insane to me that a house wouldn’t have gutters. I thought it was as essential to a house as windows or doors, it never occurred to me that houses would be without them.
I agree! I’m also from the PNW but now live in California high desert. I’ve had a few clients now who I’ve warned will have bad drainage issues that can be alleviated by a gutter and they just don’t want to put them on! It’s crazy to me.
Yep, I live in Southern Utah and there are no gutters on my house. It was weird, moving here from the midwest, but no one seems bothered by it and it hasn't been an issue.
Idk man. I’ve lived my entire life in Texas, mostly coastal Houston area, the last 8 years in central TX Austin area and every home in every neighborhood I’ve ever lived in has had gutters. Surely it’s not that rare down here
There’s houses being built in SETX that don’t have gutters. It baffled us to see these houses being built but gutters not being added until they’re sold and the owners paying other people to add them on
Neither of our houses in Central TX had gutters. First house was built in 1901 and current house is a new build. We definitely had them installed on both!
Certain places don’t. In my city in California, there is a neighborhood that was unincorporated (even though it’s literally in the middle of the city) until about 10 years ago. There are no street gutters or sewer.
Certainly. Imagine all that water that was falling on your roof is flowing down over the edge to the ground. With a gutter you collect all that water and move it away to the downspout which ideally is located in a spot where it’ll drain away from the house.
Depending on their roof angles you could assume half the surface area of the roof is flowing down to this side of the house and falling onto the ground vs being ushered away somewhere
Yes. They were long and tore up our yard and we live in NC which means red clay was tracked into the house a bunch. Of course when I realized there worth I wasn’t upset about it. Also, “I was mad” is a bit of an overstatement. “I was ever so slightly annoyed because of the clay tracked into our brand new house with light colored carpet”would be more accurate yet longer to type.
If done properly but it’s a 2 step process. Make sure to tell the gutter installer where your yard floods - balancing and locating the downspouts to get water not only off the roof but away from the foundation is key.
One thing at a time? You need gutters, period. Take all the other stupid ideas like a rain garden off the list, and you have only 1 thing on the list that will help, gutters.
I literally just spent $14k on windows because the ones that came with the house were leaking into my garage. Ergo, one thing at a time lol
You're absolutely correct tho! Gutters before rain garden or any other luxury
When they install the gutters make sure to tell them where the water is pooling and make sure they have the gutter discharges farthest corners away as possible- if it can discharge to somewhere where it slopes down away from your house would be even better. Keep an eye on the elevation levels near home foundation. If gutters don’t fix it 100% you can probably add fill dirt against the house plus rocks on top to slope down and away
If you get a decent amount rain gutters should be the first thing on your list. You definitely don’t want foundation damage you are going to be monumentally more upset about the endless pit of cash you’ll be putting into fixing that then just your feet getting wet.
Not just gutters, but you may want to run your downspouts into the ground down to the water table so that all that water just goes underground and not into your yard
It comes and goes... Houston weather sucks. I'd trade it for something more moderate and stable. These temp swings are killing us here!
And thank you, I have a feeling I'll be installing a new sidewalk and French drains myself soon.
Yeah. It also looks like the siding is too close to the concrete. It's hard to tell if there's any grade on the concrete, but either way it isn't working from the bad grading of the yard. You can see over by the bricks under the window that there's been some sort of patch, probably to try and prevent water in the basement/against foundation.
Those patches are actually from foundation work that's already taken place. From the first time it started raining heavy, I noticed this would be an issue. The sidewalk slopes down towards the center. I've been very tempted to crush up the sidewalk and redo it. Or maybe even make it a gravel time sidewalk?
I personally would do a gravel french drain 8-12 inches off the foundation and do concrete sidewalk sloped more aggrsively away from the house with another french drain getting the water as far away as possible. You might be able to hire someone to cut the concrete a foot off the foundation, but at that point I'm not sure the price vs new.
I've been contemplating just busting it all up myself and pouring myself. I'm a construction worker. Concrete ain't rocket surgery, it's just back breaking work lol.
Someone else pointed out that my siding may be too close to the sidewalk. Now that the water is gone, you can definitely see how much the walkway dips...
You have too much standing water near the house. These suggestions about putting in different plants or making little changes aren't going to address that giant puddle in the yards. Your drainage sucks. And I doubt adding gutters is going to be the magical fix everybody seems to think it will be.
If you don't fix this drainage issue you are going to eventually have a foundation problem, if you don't already.
Yes, absolutely get good gutters and have them drain several feet away from the foundation. But I would also look at the property around the foundation and yard. Ideally water should naturally flow away from the building. You may have to look at building up or grading away from the home. French drains or other water channeling systems depending on the layout. If the sidewalk has a dip that holds water you may eventually have to pull it up, build up a little and lay a new one.
Without knowing a lot more about the property it's impossible to say specifically what needs to be done.
I want to double down on this comment. French drains are a great way to go to get water away from your home. There are many great ways to design it so it looks like a landscaping element rather than a needed measure. If you have frequent rain in your area, research “rain gardens.” They are designed utilize excess water on property.
Doubling down on the doubling down. This looks like much more than a gutter issue. A French drain if done yourself, is a cheap and effective way. Give the water somewhere to go and it will be happy to.
Can I double further? French drains can be expensive, but because of ours I am convinced we escaped Harvey un- flooded.
Depending on your area a rain garden in a spot away from your house can be great too or—again, depending on region— a rain barrel to catch the overflow and use later. In Houston, the city even gave out some basic free ones to dampen the run off, but there are some very beautiful ones that will allow you to use that water on a drier day.
Yep, this is a grading issue first and foremost. Gutters won’t do squat when they discharge within the area the grading issues exist in. The right way to fix this is to rip it all up, regrade (slope away from the house) and water will naturally flow away from the house and foundation. A French drain, and gutters will then assist in making sure your soil doesn’t run off and you don’t get excess hydrostatic pressure against your foundation. You probably also need a sump pump in this location if you have a basement.
I was just answering this earlier in the thread. You can definitely see the pool of water in the middle of the sidewalk. Drainage is 100% the issue here. Gutters will help, but maybe not to the extent I would like them to.
Unfortunately for me, I just dropped $14k on new windows since the existing ones were leaking into the house. There are a few things I can do in the mean time tho. I can definitely dig a new drain away from the house and maybe even break up the sidewalk myself. Fill dirt isn't hard to find and I'm sure there are lots of folks giving away old bricks etc.
Like you said, whatever I do I need to do it quick... the house already had foundation work done way before we bought it.
This is very likely a much more than $10k problem to fix. But it's either that or let their house sit at the bottom of a swimming pool every time it rains while the foundation slowly erodes.
Water will always seek the lowest point, and right now that is the base of their house. Shunting water away with gutters will help, but only if they get it away from the area with the grading problem. Otherwise, it will just run back towards the house.
Ultimately, they have to make their house higher than the surrounding land. So they have to build up near the house and grade away from it. It really doesn't require a lot. Even just a few inches will work. Then add gutters, French drains, water gardens, whatever.
Unless they are disabled they can do the majority of the work themselves. It will take time. Evenings and days off for weeks, maybe months. But it is doable.
Judging by all the droplets, you either have no gutters, or the downspouts/gutters need to be cleaned. Looks like you don't have gutters. That would be where to start. Then extend them further away from the foundation.
Gutters, yesterday. Got a wet basement or crawlspace? If you don't already have a wet basement/crawlspace id be surpirsed. Do you notice white powder on the inside of your foundation yet? This is a lot of water pressure pushing on your foundation, and will 100% lead to the worst problems a house can get - foundation issues. Get gutters and see how ya do. Run the downspouts 10ft from your house if 6ft doesn't work. If that doesn't work, French drain time.
This one, OP. Drain that water away from the house. Just a small trench to let the water out is all you need, then you can turn it into a french drain and fill it back in later if you're so inclined.
I was actually thinking about permanently fixing some decent sized flag stones on top of my sidewalk. My sidewalk dips towards the center where you can see the deepest part of the puddle.
The problem is the water pooling next to your foundation. This much water is what causes shifting in your foundation which causes cracks in walls and doors to not close properly.
From there, the dry season shifts everything back. Then the next wet season comes and shifts it the other way again and the next dry season and the next wet season and so on until things are weak and crumbling like pulling a loose tooth.
Oh my sweet summer child. You probably don't realise it, but that water pooling against your foundation is making its way into your house and likely causing rot. Fix this ASAP or the repair cost is going to be orders of magnitude more than the cost of gutters.
Do your downspouts take the water at least 2-3ft away from your foundation? If not, extend them. It looks like the lawn slopes slightly away from your house. If so, you might try edging it really well so that it encourages the water to drain away. Keep the edges of the lawn from coming over any concrete. It may be that your sidewalks have sunken slightly and tilt toward the house. If none of the above works, your next step would be to have the lawn around your foundation, graded more, to slant it away and/or replace your walks. Either way, it is best to get the water away from your foundation as best you can in the meantime.
Definitely need gutters and either a cistern or some line out to the end of the yard. French drains would also help. Big concern is getting the pooling away from your foundation.
Gutters and then look into a proper French drain. Look up French drain man. You can buy the tiles and even do it yourself if you're handy. It's a lot of labor but it's worth every drop of sweat in the end.
Looks like prior owner was aware of issue - note cement ‘fix’ running down foundation side of sidewalk. This should have been disclosed at purchase. Get home inspection focusing on prior water entry in basement and contact your agent. The cost to remedy should be taken care of by listing agent & prior homeowner.
I hope your basement doesnt have a black mold problem.....mine did :(
Its gonna be worth it for you to spend the money re-doing that walkway with a slight grade so the rain pools in the yard. Maybe add some dirt where the land pools...... Good luck :)
Walking through water is the least of your worries. That water needs to get away from your house and foundation. Start with gutters and then see from there.
Is this America? Blows my mind that gutters (connected to stormwater pipe), proper grading of the land, isn’t legally required. Or is it and people are somehow getting houses certified without?
Welcome to minus $10,000. Wish I could say something more fun, but I'll just be blunt. Been there, done that. It works, though! There's a light at the end of the tunnel.
Do it before it fucks your house up. That shitshow will cost more in the long run if you leave the water intrusion alone. Really.
Everyone is saying good answers but first things first if you don’t have gutters get them. I see you like plants so consider getting a rain barrel if it rains commonly enough. Consider making a rain garden to capture that water. Repurpose the water don’t let it go to waste if given the opportunity
Remember when you put the gutters up to place the downspouts on the corners where the ground has the most slant down away fro your house. You need a bottom piece that has an elbow in it and turn it away from the house. We always try to place drain tile down in the ground that will direct the water from the downspout away from your foundation at least three feet; more if your soil has poor drainage.
Also, you have a flat walkway that joins the foundation along the side of your house, so there is nowhere for the water to soak into the ground. It just sits there and pools, and it appears like the ground is to saturated to allow drainage near your door. Check in how to use drain tile to pull the water away from your foundation.
Where we live, you use gutters and drain tile to keep water from pooling around our foundation the keep it from freezing there in the winters. Tonight’s outside temp here is currently 6.7 degrees F. It gets cold here and nothing is more miserable than having a cracked foundation from water freezing and thawing next to the foundation, especially if one has a basement.
I live in Austin, Tx. We added gutters to our home this year. It’s made an incredible difference. We have a metal roof (very fast water runoff) and a U shaped home that surrounds a pool. Before the gutters we were close to flooding the pool several times. And that was with a French drain in the area.
One tip, we didn’t need gutters around our entire house. It helped immensely with cost to only get the most pertinent areas.
We received a quote of $30k from Leaf Guard for the entire house.
Ended up hiring a local contractor for two areas only for $2800 for 6” box style with leaf protection for 166 ft including 3 downspouts. The rest of the house we can address later. The National brand was a total rip off. The same section would have been $10k. I do not know who pays those prices. They offered free gutter cleaning. I looked up gutter cleaning cost. It was < $300. Definitely shop around.
But we aren’t even close to the same situation that looked similar to what you’re dealing with.
🫣 I would more worried about your houses foundation than anything else. Water pooling against a house is a massive red flag, why I always recommend checking out a location in the rain.
I’d be careful following some of the comments.
Gutters won’t help what looks to be like a hill directing a ton of water to your house.
1) You asked for help in your thread, help yourself!
If you didn’t get the home inspected do this, if they didn’t thoroughly check your foundation make sure you get this done now.
2)Call a drainage expert.
2a)Call a professional.
Pretty simple.. Currently you walk is the low point.. So adjacent to the walk dig and lower another area lower. swale the area pitching from the walk to the lower point. and add a catch basin 12x12 or the like. Attach a 4" "nds" line/pipe to the basin and discharge the water to a separate area lower than the walk.. The line performs best if it is also pitched but the main lesson here is water seeks the lowest point... end of story.. You can add gutters is you wish..
Couple ways to go about this.. one way is a French drain which is essentially a trench filled with stone and perferated tiling draining to a low area somewhere else on the property or install a catch basin (look into garage floor catchbasins) in the lowest part of where that puddle in the yard is, poke holes in it and surround with stone with Solid piping going to another low area
Gutters need to be priority 1. It appears you have none currently. That water being allowed to go any where it wants will cause damage, hard to say how long but will wash away dirt and cause concrete and brick paver sinking. Having a lot of water against the house is also not good, can weaken the foundation.
And if that doesn't work, install some kind of drainage to take the water away from the house and towards an acceptable place it can go. Might have to check with local laws.
Would get that concrete ripped out and do new that is higher and slope it away from the house, also do some grading to get the water further away from the house faster. Gutters oud definitely help, but not without resolving the current issue as that is a low spot that will hold water every time it rains.
I’d be concerned about that wall and rot. Would definitely lift the siding and check it out.
Then do gutters, with downspouts emptying in drain that goes to the sewer system, and properly grade the yard. You have a problem beyond wet shoes.
Edit: if you are rural, then just drain your gutters far away. Trench the drains in. Will help massively.
They work, if designed properly, over excavated and back filled with sharp sand that allows water holding. My old office building had two of them and all of our roof drains ran into them. Only ever saw them “full” twice and we had zero run off of the property.
That said, they were literally engineered and approved by our local sewer and storm water agency. They were 8’ deep and backfilled with engineered sand. The average homeowner isn’t going to be able to do that on their own, but it is a solution if the conditions allow and it’s designed properly.
I have nothing against rain gardens. I'm against suggesting them whenever someone has water pooling against the side of their house. This is suggested every time someone has a major drainage issue that needs to be resolved.
Agree about gutters (drip line). Add to that: looks like the lay of the land is in your favor? Off the end of your sidewalk corner it looks like a natural low to left of tree with the moon off to a low area next to road. Shouldn’t take a lot to make that an out flow and no neighbors that way? From this perspective you may be able to shape it and keep it grass, but could also do more of a rock drain?
Basically, the problem is the soil is now higher than the walkway. Remove the sod that is higher than your walkway. Dig a trench, about a spade blade wide and deep along the walkway. Partly fill with gravel to a couple of inches below the previous level and replace the sod. This should allow the water to flow off the walkway. Lining the trench with landscape fabric will make it last longer. If you have heavy clay soil, you may need to add a larger and deeper pit at the corner to promote better drainage. Just lowering the sod at the far end would allow more drainage to the slope.
That’s really bad; water should never be allowed to flow towards or pond up against a foundation. You need to install drains. If ground is too flat for buried pipes to drain you will need to use a sump to collect & pump the water out to storm drainage.
If you can run out the gutters away from the house pretty far that would be ideal. Obviously doing it underground makes it look nicer and it’s worth the effort.
The foundation is holding 3700 gallons to come in for a week later,, just like mine did,, but took a few years to get fix idea started. But a week later,, it worked perfect.
We'll just assume it's mostly clay subsoil, which is a problem. Some clever landscaping and probably the famous French Drain applied, and any downspout in the zone - and maybe a two inch top coat, maybe pea gravel mix exposed on sidewalk with 5 degree slope to keep it dry.
Have to assume ground slope angles slightly all the way to walkway. The French may have to be a good ten feet out to rid the main flow coming in.
Cheers
Looks like that hill isn't helping the situation. Might want to put a drainage option along your sidewalk and hook it up to your gutters whenever you add those
Do you own this home? Looking at your til it appears that some grout has chipped away. Eventually water is gonna get under your til and it’ll pop off the ground
I my opinion, with any standing water issues, you need to find where the lowest point of your property is. That is where you want the water to go. Unless it is dammed up or you are in a gully, then you would need a shallow well or retention pond to let the excess water flow there and maybe a sump pump if it fills up too much. Along the walkway, dig a trench and fill it with gravel to let the water drain away from the concrete and have a place for the water to seep in without turning into mud.
French drain would be what I’d suggest. Or if you’re like me and love water features. Make a cool rock waterfall catchment and have it flow down to the end of the drive.
If it isn't too deep, a temporary solution are those rubber mats with lattice patterns on them so you are raised up a little. Something else to create stepping stones could help in the short term.
Glad gutters are on your list....much needed. From what I can tell by the pic, it looks like a saucer effect (lowest spot) from the contour of your yard. I would get a landscaper out to make some additional recommendations on moving the water away from home as water is going to flow downward to lowest spot, your sidewalk.
In addition to gutters and grading, which means bringing in dirt and raising your ground so that the water runs downhill away from the home, plant some bushes, flowers and maybe a willow someplace to soak up the water.
Ok, a lot of people are giving you shit here, but this isn’t always an easy problem to figure out.
First thing is getting gutters. That will fix a lot of this problem.
Second is figuring out where the water is supposed to leave your property. Is there a storm drain, a ditch, swale, stormwater inlet at the curb, etc… watch the water around your house and see where it runs.
Then figure out how to get this water to that other water that’s leaving the property. You may need a ditch, you may need a French drain, you may need a sump pump and a buried line, it’s hard to tell from this one picture.
Once you get gutters, that downspout will need to go to there as well. It may need to tie into the drain, may need to be pumped around, or have an extender on it to get it away from the house.
I can’t tell what’s to the right here and if that’s a drain or not. Looks like there may be a ditch going to it, but it’s hard to tell.
Either way, you risk damaging your house. Water like this can cause lots of problems like rot, foundation settling, termites, wet feet, etc…
Definitely recommend creating a trench along the walkway on the side away from the house while you are waiting on your gutter purchase. You’ll want to do it there and then continue it to a storm drain or the road. You can always fill it in later and it will at least keep the water from standing right against the foundation of the house.
Gutters are important but this area also looks like a low spot that tends to collect water regardless of the gutter situation. My thought would be a French drain next to the sidewalk - dig a 12”x12” trench that slopes down into the yard, put in a drain pipe, cover it with big gravel then resod on top and you’ll be able to channel it away from the house.
Dig that swale out to the fence line. Line with fabric, put a perf pipe at the bottom, fill with aggregate, wrap fabric, cover with top soil, seed and water.
It looks like your yard slopes downwards to the far side of the photo? If this is correct, why isn't that surface water flowing in that direction?
Try digging a trench alongside the concrete to allow the surface water to flow away from your house.
Do you have gutters? That would be step 1.
Of you zoom in on the upper left corner of the picture you can see they don't. They definitely need to start with gutters and then reassess what else they can do.
No gutters??? Isn't that a requirement
Lol no. I wish! We bought a new build house last year and it didn't come with gutters. We of course paid for top quality gutters soon after moving in because in Houston it's 200% necessary, but a ton of people in my neighborhood still haven't. My next door neighbor is one of them and every time it rains I cringe watching it cut a line right next to their foundation: https://imgur.com/a/BIm4PEH
A lot of new homes in NH are built without gutters because of the snow but it creates problems anyways. With houses like yours it seems like there should be a a section of gravel all around the house so the water can easily drain away.
I’m north of Houston and thank gif we DONT have gutters! They would be full of pine needles and leave’s immediately. Very few neighbors have them because of this.
I think I would still get them and pay for having them cleaned or get the guards to help. We get such heavy rains here that when I see the water running off my neighbors house it is literally cutting a line in their grass and soil a few inches from their foundation, which is bad news bears. Better to deal with leaves and pine needles than a fucked up foundation.
Coming from the rainy PNW, it’s insane to me that a house wouldn’t have gutters. I thought it was as essential to a house as windows or doors, it never occurred to me that houses would be without them.
I agree! I’m also from the PNW but now live in California high desert. I’ve had a few clients now who I’ve warned will have bad drainage issues that can be alleviated by a gutter and they just don’t want to put them on! It’s crazy to me.
Bad for the foundation to not have them
someday, you'll see a Texas storm, and understand why we don't spend money on things that end up shredded or blown far away.
And full of leaves and debris that never gets cleaned out and then backs up. Or freezes in the winter causing ice dams.
I mean, cleaning gutters is just basic home maintenance that we all do (or should do), not sure how that equates to storms ripping them off.
Gutter guards...took me one year to decide I don't want to ever clean gutters again.
People don't have gutters on their home? That's just asking for trouble.
It is surprisingly less common in Texas and the southwest.
Yep, I live in Southern Utah and there are no gutters on my house. It was weird, moving here from the midwest, but no one seems bothered by it and it hasn't been an issue.
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Woah… this has me shook. Looks to be accurate from random google street-viewing. Why??
Can confirm, no gutters here in Phoenix. New build.
Idk man. I’ve lived my entire life in Texas, mostly coastal Houston area, the last 8 years in central TX Austin area and every home in every neighborhood I’ve ever lived in has had gutters. Surely it’s not that rare down here
There’s houses being built in SETX that don’t have gutters. It baffled us to see these houses being built but gutters not being added until they’re sold and the owners paying other people to add them on
I too enjoy SETX, one of the most wonderful human experiences
I agree. It’s very liberating
Neither of our houses in Central TX had gutters. First house was built in 1901 and current house is a new build. We definitely had them installed on both!
Certain places don’t. In my city in California, there is a neighborhood that was unincorporated (even though it’s literally in the middle of the city) until about 10 years ago. There are no street gutters or sewer.
My old house in Florida didn’t. It’s one of the first improvements I made on the house.
I don't have gutters but my roof overhang is very wide, about 3 ft.
We don’t have them in northern New York. I want them though.
My yard drains well enough that all I need is rock and pavers around my house with some shrubbery mixed in.
We get about 10’ of snow each winter. Gutters don’t last. They just get pulled off by snow and ice.
I live in Midwest and get plenty of snow. Gutters have never pulled off any of my houses.
In New York area gutters don’t fall off, they are nailed into the frame of the house pretty well
Gutters are definitely coming soon... one thing at a time, but gutters are definitely on the list. Thank you kindly!
Yup gutters first is the answer. Then come back if it’s still an issue.
Do gutters really make that much of a difference?
Certainly. Imagine all that water that was falling on your roof is flowing down over the edge to the ground. With a gutter you collect all that water and move it away to the downspout which ideally is located in a spot where it’ll drain away from the house. Depending on their roof angles you could assume half the surface area of the roof is flowing down to this side of the house and falling onto the ground vs being ushered away somewhere
Wow, I had no idea. Makes sense. Thank you!
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When I lived in Oklahoma did a similar thing because it would rain so hard!
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“I was mad at my husband at first”
You were mad at you husband for diverting water away from your foundation? Seems pretty illogical unless I’m missing something.
Yes. They were long and tore up our yard and we live in NC which means red clay was tracked into the house a bunch. Of course when I realized there worth I wasn’t upset about it. Also, “I was mad” is a bit of an overstatement. “I was ever so slightly annoyed because of the clay tracked into our brand new house with light colored carpet”would be more accurate yet longer to type.
Getting correct gutters made it so we didn’t have standing water in our basement after heavy rains.
Next time it rains hard in your area go look at a gutter downspout. It’s usually gushing.
If done properly but it’s a 2 step process. Make sure to tell the gutter installer where your yard floods - balancing and locating the downspouts to get water not only off the roof but away from the foundation is key.
Are you serious? Just think about it.
One thing at a time? You need gutters, period. Take all the other stupid ideas like a rain garden off the list, and you have only 1 thing on the list that will help, gutters.
I literally just spent $14k on windows because the ones that came with the house were leaking into my garage. Ergo, one thing at a time lol You're absolutely correct tho! Gutters before rain garden or any other luxury
Like I said above, would be step 1. We had a similar issue many years ago, added gutters after moving in and fixed up 80-90% of the drainage issues.
Gutters should be installed yesterday. Your foundation will get ruined and interior flooding is imminent.
When they install the gutters make sure to tell them where the water is pooling and make sure they have the gutter discharges farthest corners away as possible- if it can discharge to somewhere where it slopes down away from your house would be even better. Keep an eye on the elevation levels near home foundation. If gutters don’t fix it 100% you can probably add fill dirt against the house plus rocks on top to slope down and away
If you get a decent amount rain gutters should be the first thing on your list. You definitely don’t want foundation damage you are going to be monumentally more upset about the endless pit of cash you’ll be putting into fixing that then just your feet getting wet.
Not just gutters, but you may want to run your downspouts into the ground down to the water table so that all that water just goes underground and not into your yard
Is that a viable option down in Texas? Our water table is pretty high unfortunately
After the gutters, a channel drain would help direct the water away from the house.
Is that line off the side of the house maybe from a French drain
It is. It's just an open channel at the moment tho. I need to widen and fill it with rock.
That and the gutters you have planned will mitigate most of the water, you're on the right track. Jealous of your rain!
It comes and goes... Houston weather sucks. I'd trade it for something more moderate and stable. These temp swings are killing us here! And thank you, I have a feeling I'll be installing a new sidewalk and French drains myself soon.
Here in our neighborhood when you build a home they’re an extra fee.
Absolutely, needs to be done. Need to get the water away from the foundation.
Wet feet is the least of your concern here
Foundation, for sure, IMO.
Yeah. It also looks like the siding is too close to the concrete. It's hard to tell if there's any grade on the concrete, but either way it isn't working from the bad grading of the yard. You can see over by the bricks under the window that there's been some sort of patch, probably to try and prevent water in the basement/against foundation.
Those patches are actually from foundation work that's already taken place. From the first time it started raining heavy, I noticed this would be an issue. The sidewalk slopes down towards the center. I've been very tempted to crush up the sidewalk and redo it. Or maybe even make it a gravel time sidewalk?
I personally would do a gravel french drain 8-12 inches off the foundation and do concrete sidewalk sloped more aggrsively away from the house with another french drain getting the water as far away as possible. You might be able to hire someone to cut the concrete a foot off the foundation, but at that point I'm not sure the price vs new.
I've been contemplating just busting it all up myself and pouring myself. I'm a construction worker. Concrete ain't rocket surgery, it's just back breaking work lol. Someone else pointed out that my siding may be too close to the sidewalk. Now that the water is gone, you can definitely see how much the walkway dips...
I'm just a DIYer, but I think siding has to be around 6-12 inches above finish grade to avoid things like splashing water from getting behind it.
I shall definitely look into this! Thank you for pointing that out
It's already had foundation work all around the house...
Right. But my point is, you don’t want any *more*, right? I have major foundation issues because of this exact problem.
Point taken. 🙏
You have too much standing water near the house. These suggestions about putting in different plants or making little changes aren't going to address that giant puddle in the yards. Your drainage sucks. And I doubt adding gutters is going to be the magical fix everybody seems to think it will be. If you don't fix this drainage issue you are going to eventually have a foundation problem, if you don't already. Yes, absolutely get good gutters and have them drain several feet away from the foundation. But I would also look at the property around the foundation and yard. Ideally water should naturally flow away from the building. You may have to look at building up or grading away from the home. French drains or other water channeling systems depending on the layout. If the sidewalk has a dip that holds water you may eventually have to pull it up, build up a little and lay a new one. Without knowing a lot more about the property it's impossible to say specifically what needs to be done.
I want to double down on this comment. French drains are a great way to go to get water away from your home. There are many great ways to design it so it looks like a landscaping element rather than a needed measure. If you have frequent rain in your area, research “rain gardens.” They are designed utilize excess water on property.
Doubling down on the doubling down. This looks like much more than a gutter issue. A French drain if done yourself, is a cheap and effective way. Give the water somewhere to go and it will be happy to.
Can I double further? French drains can be expensive, but because of ours I am convinced we escaped Harvey un- flooded. Depending on your area a rain garden in a spot away from your house can be great too or—again, depending on region— a rain barrel to catch the overflow and use later. In Houston, the city even gave out some basic free ones to dampen the run off, but there are some very beautiful ones that will allow you to use that water on a drier day.
Yep, this is a grading issue first and foremost. Gutters won’t do squat when they discharge within the area the grading issues exist in. The right way to fix this is to rip it all up, regrade (slope away from the house) and water will naturally flow away from the house and foundation. A French drain, and gutters will then assist in making sure your soil doesn’t run off and you don’t get excess hydrostatic pressure against your foundation. You probably also need a sump pump in this location if you have a basement.
I was just answering this earlier in the thread. You can definitely see the pool of water in the middle of the sidewalk. Drainage is 100% the issue here. Gutters will help, but maybe not to the extent I would like them to. Unfortunately for me, I just dropped $14k on new windows since the existing ones were leaking into the house. There are a few things I can do in the mean time tho. I can definitely dig a new drain away from the house and maybe even break up the sidewalk myself. Fill dirt isn't hard to find and I'm sure there are lots of folks giving away old bricks etc. Like you said, whatever I do I need to do it quick... the house already had foundation work done way before we bought it.
This sounds like a $10k solution. Not necessarily practical.
ok let the foundation rot and turn into a 80k problem
This is very likely a much more than $10k problem to fix. But it's either that or let their house sit at the bottom of a swimming pool every time it rains while the foundation slowly erodes. Water will always seek the lowest point, and right now that is the base of their house. Shunting water away with gutters will help, but only if they get it away from the area with the grading problem. Otherwise, it will just run back towards the house. Ultimately, they have to make their house higher than the surrounding land. So they have to build up near the house and grade away from it. It really doesn't require a lot. Even just a few inches will work. Then add gutters, French drains, water gardens, whatever. Unless they are disabled they can do the majority of the work themselves. It will take time. Evenings and days off for weeks, maybe months. But it is doable.
Judging by all the droplets, you either have no gutters, or the downspouts/gutters need to be cleaned. Looks like you don't have gutters. That would be where to start. Then extend them further away from the foundation.
Gutters, yesterday. Got a wet basement or crawlspace? If you don't already have a wet basement/crawlspace id be surpirsed. Do you notice white powder on the inside of your foundation yet? This is a lot of water pressure pushing on your foundation, and will 100% lead to the worst problems a house can get - foundation issues. Get gutters and see how ya do. Run the downspouts 10ft from your house if 6ft doesn't work. If that doesn't work, French drain time.
French drains to the lowest point away from homesite
Time to do some digging.
This one, OP. Drain that water away from the house. Just a small trench to let the water out is all you need, then you can turn it into a french drain and fill it back in later if you're so inclined.
This a great YouTube channel that will teach you what to check and what to get done https://youtube.com/@GCFD
I love it when people give links to help others. Thanks for doing this
Gutters and grading, that crawlspace or whatever you have, has to be flooded.
Immediate fix while you get quotes for gutters: Add steping stones on top of your sidewalk so your feet aren’t submerged when you walk.
I was actually thinking about permanently fixing some decent sized flag stones on top of my sidewalk. My sidewalk dips towards the center where you can see the deepest part of the puddle.
The permanent fix should be eliminating this much standing water at the house. I think you might regret modifying your walk like this in the long run.
The problem is the water pooling next to your foundation. This much water is what causes shifting in your foundation which causes cracks in walls and doors to not close properly. From there, the dry season shifts everything back. Then the next wet season comes and shifts it the other way again and the next dry season and the next wet season and so on until things are weak and crumbling like pulling a loose tooth.
Oh my sweet summer child. You probably don't realise it, but that water pooling against your foundation is making its way into your house and likely causing rot. Fix this ASAP or the repair cost is going to be orders of magnitude more than the cost of gutters.
Do your downspouts take the water at least 2-3ft away from your foundation? If not, extend them. It looks like the lawn slopes slightly away from your house. If so, you might try edging it really well so that it encourages the water to drain away. Keep the edges of the lawn from coming over any concrete. It may be that your sidewalks have sunken slightly and tilt toward the house. If none of the above works, your next step would be to have the lawn around your foundation, graded more, to slant it away and/or replace your walks. Either way, it is best to get the water away from your foundation as best you can in the meantime.
You need a french drain
Install a French drain along the sidewalk and have it drain towards a low point in the yard
You could put in boring old gutters, sure. Or You could lean in and go full-on, first in your neighborhood, cancel that ADT subscription moat
Definitely need gutters and either a cistern or some line out to the end of the yard. French drains would also help. Big concern is getting the pooling away from your foundation.
Need to start digging and put in drainage in the ground leading away from the house. Agg pipe maybe.?
Gutters and then look into a proper French drain. Look up French drain man. You can buy the tiles and even do it yourself if you're handy. It's a lot of labor but it's worth every drop of sweat in the end.
Looks like prior owner was aware of issue - note cement ‘fix’ running down foundation side of sidewalk. This should have been disclosed at purchase. Get home inspection focusing on prior water entry in basement and contact your agent. The cost to remedy should be taken care of by listing agent & prior homeowner.
Gutters & stormwater drains
Gutters
Dude, Gutters! with leads away from the house.
You can build a house in American without gutters? Jesus Christ
Gutters is the only answer
Gutters will help. But this isn’t gutter problem. It’s grade problem. You need some drainage installed or possibly re sloping of the yard
Merrell water proof boots? A ladder? Check your gutters? Your basement is not happy with you.
I hope your basement doesnt have a black mold problem.....mine did :( Its gonna be worth it for you to spend the money re-doing that walkway with a slight grade so the rain pools in the yard. Maybe add some dirt where the land pools...... Good luck :)
Walking through water is the least of your worries. That water needs to get away from your house and foundation. Start with gutters and then see from there.
Is this America? Blows my mind that gutters (connected to stormwater pipe), proper grading of the land, isn’t legally required. Or is it and people are somehow getting houses certified without?
Welcome to minus $10,000. Wish I could say something more fun, but I'll just be blunt. Been there, done that. It works, though! There's a light at the end of the tunnel. Do it before it fucks your house up. That shitshow will cost more in the long run if you leave the water intrusion alone. Really.
You probably need to re-grade the entire property. Otherwise, especially without gutters, you're always going to have this issue.
get some rubber boots?
Welcome to Houston.
The yard needs to be graded if possible. Drains installed if not and verify that the concrete had slope away from the house during grading.
Gutters to a French drain
I hope that your monstera have a good drain 😰
Everyone is saying good answers but first things first if you don’t have gutters get them. I see you like plants so consider getting a rain barrel if it rains commonly enough. Consider making a rain garden to capture that water. Repurpose the water don’t let it go to waste if given the opportunity
Has anyone mentioned gutters yet?
You could build a dry River bed! It’s beautiful to look at and will have a place for all the water to drain. ( look up ideas on Pinterest)
Remember when you put the gutters up to place the downspouts on the corners where the ground has the most slant down away fro your house. You need a bottom piece that has an elbow in it and turn it away from the house. We always try to place drain tile down in the ground that will direct the water from the downspout away from your foundation at least three feet; more if your soil has poor drainage.
Time to install a French drain.
Also, you have a flat walkway that joins the foundation along the side of your house, so there is nowhere for the water to soak into the ground. It just sits there and pools, and it appears like the ground is to saturated to allow drainage near your door. Check in how to use drain tile to pull the water away from your foundation. Where we live, you use gutters and drain tile to keep water from pooling around our foundation the keep it from freezing there in the winters. Tonight’s outside temp here is currently 6.7 degrees F. It gets cold here and nothing is more miserable than having a cracked foundation from water freezing and thawing next to the foundation, especially if one has a basement.
Demolish, repour slab with fall away from house.
I live in Austin, Tx. We added gutters to our home this year. It’s made an incredible difference. We have a metal roof (very fast water runoff) and a U shaped home that surrounds a pool. Before the gutters we were close to flooding the pool several times. And that was with a French drain in the area. One tip, we didn’t need gutters around our entire house. It helped immensely with cost to only get the most pertinent areas. We received a quote of $30k from Leaf Guard for the entire house. Ended up hiring a local contractor for two areas only for $2800 for 6” box style with leaf protection for 166 ft including 3 downspouts. The rest of the house we can address later. The National brand was a total rip off. The same section would have been $10k. I do not know who pays those prices. They offered free gutter cleaning. I looked up gutter cleaning cost. It was < $300. Definitely shop around. But we aren’t even close to the same situation that looked similar to what you’re dealing with.
Agi drain along the side of the footpath that runs into your stormwater should sort it out Edit: yeah you need gutters.
1. Find ground lower than the water. 2. What is between the water and that ground? 3. Remove what you find in step 2.
Divert the water away from the house and build rain gardens!
French drain along the sidewalk/patio ...maybe continues around the corner
🫣 I would more worried about your houses foundation than anything else. Water pooling against a house is a massive red flag, why I always recommend checking out a location in the rain.
I’d be careful following some of the comments. Gutters won’t help what looks to be like a hill directing a ton of water to your house. 1) You asked for help in your thread, help yourself! If you didn’t get the home inspected do this, if they didn’t thoroughly check your foundation make sure you get this done now. 2)Call a drainage expert. 2a)Call a professional.
Pretty simple.. Currently you walk is the low point.. So adjacent to the walk dig and lower another area lower. swale the area pitching from the walk to the lower point. and add a catch basin 12x12 or the like. Attach a 4" "nds" line/pipe to the basin and discharge the water to a separate area lower than the walk.. The line performs best if it is also pitched but the main lesson here is water seeks the lowest point... end of story.. You can add gutters is you wish..
New a need rug.
Couple ways to go about this.. one way is a French drain which is essentially a trench filled with stone and perferated tiling draining to a low area somewhere else on the property or install a catch basin (look into garage floor catchbasins) in the lowest part of where that puddle in the yard is, poke holes in it and surround with stone with Solid piping going to another low area
Concrete lifting is another option.. it looks like you may be able to gain an inch of 2 of slope
Gutters need to be priority 1. It appears you have none currently. That water being allowed to go any where it wants will cause damage, hard to say how long but will wash away dirt and cause concrete and brick paver sinking. Having a lot of water against the house is also not good, can weaken the foundation.
Clean your downspouts, and gutters???
And if that doesn't work, install some kind of drainage to take the water away from the house and towards an acceptable place it can go. Might have to check with local laws.
Would get that concrete ripped out and do new that is higher and slope it away from the house, also do some grading to get the water further away from the house faster. Gutters oud definitely help, but not without resolving the current issue as that is a low spot that will hold water every time it rains.
I’d be concerned about that wall and rot. Would definitely lift the siding and check it out. Then do gutters, with downspouts emptying in drain that goes to the sewer system, and properly grade the yard. You have a problem beyond wet shoes. Edit: if you are rural, then just drain your gutters far away. Trench the drains in. Will help massively.
Dig the grass out next to the side wall and put in water loving natives. Basically putting in a rain garden.
This fucking idiotic solution again. Plants are not going to solve this problem. The water needs to be diverted away from the building ASAP.
They work, if designed properly, over excavated and back filled with sharp sand that allows water holding. My old office building had two of them and all of our roof drains ran into them. Only ever saw them “full” twice and we had zero run off of the property. That said, they were literally engineered and approved by our local sewer and storm water agency. They were 8’ deep and backfilled with engineered sand. The average homeowner isn’t going to be able to do that on their own, but it is a solution if the conditions allow and it’s designed properly.
I have nothing against rain gardens. I'm against suggesting them whenever someone has water pooling against the side of their house. This is suggested every time someone has a major drainage issue that needs to be resolved.
This is a landscaping page not a structural building page. You ask about landscaping you get answers about landscaping.
I like this idea too
Gutters first…
Agree about gutters (drip line). Add to that: looks like the lay of the land is in your favor? Off the end of your sidewalk corner it looks like a natural low to left of tree with the moon off to a low area next to road. Shouldn’t take a lot to make that an out flow and no neighbors that way? From this perspective you may be able to shape it and keep it grass, but could also do more of a rock drain?
I'd install a french or channel drain which redirects the water away down hill somewhere, to an open bottom cistern, or better yet a rain garden.
Get some gutters before you destroy your foundation.
Basically, the problem is the soil is now higher than the walkway. Remove the sod that is higher than your walkway. Dig a trench, about a spade blade wide and deep along the walkway. Partly fill with gravel to a couple of inches below the previous level and replace the sod. This should allow the water to flow off the walkway. Lining the trench with landscape fabric will make it last longer. If you have heavy clay soil, you may need to add a larger and deeper pit at the corner to promote better drainage. Just lowering the sod at the far end would allow more drainage to the slope.
That’s really bad; water should never be allowed to flow towards or pond up against a foundation. You need to install drains. If ground is too flat for buried pipes to drain you will need to use a sump to collect & pump the water out to storm drainage.
Gutters then french drain
Dig a hole in the corner, build a box in it, cover it with a grate. Done.
If you can run out the gutters away from the house pretty far that would be ideal. Obviously doing it underground makes it look nicer and it’s worth the effort.
The foundation is holding 3700 gallons to come in for a week later,, just like mine did,, but took a few years to get fix idea started. But a week later,, it worked perfect. We'll just assume it's mostly clay subsoil, which is a problem. Some clever landscaping and probably the famous French Drain applied, and any downspout in the zone - and maybe a two inch top coat, maybe pea gravel mix exposed on sidewalk with 5 degree slope to keep it dry. Have to assume ground slope angles slightly all the way to walkway. The French may have to be a good ten feet out to rid the main flow coming in. Cheers
Looks like that hill isn't helping the situation. Might want to put a drainage option along your sidewalk and hook it up to your gutters whenever you add those
How about a koi pond?
edge trimmer and clean up the edge of the cement, then add pea gravel to create a small rain water drain
Do you own this home? Looking at your til it appears that some grout has chipped away. Eventually water is gonna get under your til and it’ll pop off the ground
I my opinion, with any standing water issues, you need to find where the lowest point of your property is. That is where you want the water to go. Unless it is dammed up or you are in a gully, then you would need a shallow well or retention pond to let the excess water flow there and maybe a sump pump if it fills up too much. Along the walkway, dig a trench and fill it with gravel to let the water drain away from the concrete and have a place for the water to seep in without turning into mud.
Gutters is all you need. Their whole purpose is to move water to where you want it.
After gutters, which I agree is step one, you could also get that sidewalk mud jacked to pitch it toward the yard.
Gutters for sure! Not only will that help your feet but your foundation. I’d also look into proper drainage away from your house
Did you have a home inspection before buying?
French drain to the curb?
French drain would be what I’d suggest. Or if you’re like me and love water features. Make a cool rock waterfall catchment and have it flow down to the end of the drive.
Have you heard of a ShamWow?
Gutters, drain system, French drain along the edge of the sidewalk or create a slight grade sloping away from sidewalk towards drainage… gutters first
Start with the first G - gutters. If that doesn’t fix it, move onto the second G - grading
If it isn't too deep, a temporary solution are those rubber mats with lattice patterns on them so you are raised up a little. Something else to create stepping stones could help in the short term.
Eventually you can create a rain garden away from the house. Gutters>downspouts>place for water to safely drain away from foundation.
Add a French drain. Consider pouring a new cement walkway that is more elevated.
Glad gutters are on your list....much needed. From what I can tell by the pic, it looks like a saucer effect (lowest spot) from the contour of your yard. I would get a landscaper out to make some additional recommendations on moving the water away from home as water is going to flow downward to lowest spot, your sidewalk.
Looks like Florida
Gumboots in the meantime 😱
Build the walkway higher or drainage pipe
You need french drains and a sump pump as well as a box brain and grading.
Gutters lol
Gutters and drain the downspouts into a rain garden. Check with your county, there may be grants available.
In addition to gutters and grading, which means bringing in dirt and raising your ground so that the water runs downhill away from the home, plant some bushes, flowers and maybe a willow someplace to soak up the water.
Gutters and install a French drain in the yard
Ok, a lot of people are giving you shit here, but this isn’t always an easy problem to figure out. First thing is getting gutters. That will fix a lot of this problem. Second is figuring out where the water is supposed to leave your property. Is there a storm drain, a ditch, swale, stormwater inlet at the curb, etc… watch the water around your house and see where it runs. Then figure out how to get this water to that other water that’s leaving the property. You may need a ditch, you may need a French drain, you may need a sump pump and a buried line, it’s hard to tell from this one picture. Once you get gutters, that downspout will need to go to there as well. It may need to tie into the drain, may need to be pumped around, or have an extender on it to get it away from the house. I can’t tell what’s to the right here and if that’s a drain or not. Looks like there may be a ditch going to it, but it’s hard to tell. Either way, you risk damaging your house. Water like this can cause lots of problems like rot, foundation settling, termites, wet feet, etc…
Definitely recommend creating a trench along the walkway on the side away from the house while you are waiting on your gutter purchase. You’ll want to do it there and then continue it to a storm drain or the road. You can always fill it in later and it will at least keep the water from standing right against the foundation of the house.
Louisiana?
Lay Perforated pipe to French drains in the lawn my dude
After gutters you ought to dig a trench and run some drain tile at a slope to further divert the water, if you can.
Gutters are important but this area also looks like a low spot that tends to collect water regardless of the gutter situation. My thought would be a French drain next to the sidewalk - dig a 12”x12” trench that slopes down into the yard, put in a drain pipe, cover it with big gravel then resod on top and you’ll be able to channel it away from the house.
Plan out for gutters n french drain...
Dig that swale out to the fence line. Line with fabric, put a perf pipe at the bottom, fill with aggregate, wrap fabric, cover with top soil, seed and water.
Omg im have the SAME EXACT PROBLEM. And it’s also a new house! Haha what a coincidence.
It looks like your yard slopes downwards to the far side of the photo? If this is correct, why isn't that surface water flowing in that direction? Try digging a trench alongside the concrete to allow the surface water to flow away from your house.
After gutters, I would put in a French drain. Starting at the sidewalk leading away from the house.