Another flood...

Last week he had a torrential downpour which resulted in yet another slew of water and mud washing down across the carport.  Two wheel barrow loads to be exact.  I new this needed to be addressed but it's never more important than when it rains.

Downhill side of the street.

Several factors come into play that have encouraged this to happen. 

1. The ground soil in area is predominately sand which is very mobile under hard rains.
2. The previous homeowners appears to have done nothing in the 15 years to mitigate the problem thus allowing what was at one time drainage ditches to slowly fill up with sand to the tops of the culvert pipe that runs across the driveway effectively making it useless.  
3. The previous occupants of the house across the street in years past (renters) failed to maintain their ditches allowing the drain pipe under their driveway to become blocked
4. The metal roof on the house allows water to run off at a faster rate than the previous composite shingle roofing.

Water is terribly insipid.  It wants and will go where it wants and it will do it in it's own time.

Roof and general runoff
Catch 22.....You need rain to determine how to fix it, but you don't need rain because of all the water.  Anyway, after this last rain it became apparent what needs to be done and done ASAP;  install french drains across the front and down the sides of the carport continuing around the house all the way out to the channel.  I'd say probably 250' of piping will be needed.  Not cheap but left unresolved, could have severe consequences on the stability of the house itself.  I've installed french drains before so it's no biggie.  Just rent a ditch digger, install 4-6" preforated drain pipe, surround it with landscape material, cover it with rock and let it do it's job.  One question that remains unresolved....do I want to do the work myself or have someone else do it??

Street runoff
A lot of this events water came from street runoff and to deal with that involves dealing with the city and/or county about what you are allowed or not allowed to do.

Runoff from the driveway across the street
and their overflowing blocked culvert

The flow spits, part down their culvert,
and part right down into my carport.

Almost before the rain stopped falling I decided to visit city hall so I made the 2mile trip and talked with the city secretary.  When she figured out I wasn't there to blame them, but rather to ascertain how I could go about resolved the water control issue she became quite helpful.  Turns out she lives over on the next street and had water issues of her own at one time and thus, being a neighbor, was very sympathetic.

She explained what I could and couldn't do and promised to have someone give me a call or stop by to discuss.  Surprisingly, I didn't have long to wait.  Less than 2 hours and someone was knocking at my door.  I recognized the guys truck also from the next street over and started to put two and two together....I didn't ask directly and he didn't offer up but I suspect he was the secretary's husband.  

Anyway, he recommended digging a ditch across the lot to the left of me, across the front of my driveway, dropping a new 40' culvert pipe there, and then continue down the slope of the lot I purchased on the right side of the house over to the big drainage pipe which is actually on the neighbors lot and goes under the side lot to drain in the channel behind the house. 

There's a drain to the lake in
that little copse of trees by the road

Fortunately it's all in the easement so I don't have to worry about permission from the neighbor who likely would balk at the prospect of losing even one of those trees. 

The city has a small budget and thus could not afford to do much but he volunteered that if I would purchase the new drainage pipe (apparently normal) for my driveway and for the gas on his equipment (I'm thinking not normal...), he'd volunteer to dig the ditches with his personal back hoe that doubles as city equipment.

Picture of a USELESS drain culvert

Years of sediment right to the top of the culvert

I was talking to some friends last night that had the same problem and the agreed that I would have to pay for the culvert pipes but balked at the suggestion that I would pay they guy for his gas.  They suggested he was probably a sub for the county and was likely going to bill the county for his time and expenses including the gas that he would collect from me.  They gave me a name of the local county commissioner to call and request the same services.  Just my luck it would turn out to be the same guy.