Neighbors Water on Your Property! What can you do?

[@stevent5571]

Just wanted to say thank you for all your free advice. I installed my own French drain at beginning of the year. One shovel load at a time. Could not of done it without your help.

[@Angie-ny6ln]

Builders in the US create these problems on a large scale. Entire communities deal with the garbage they build these days. My entire neighborhood has water issues. Local regulation and enforcement are a joke. We need huge improvements in consumer protection laws in the US. Spending a fortune on property and appliances that are built to fail.

[@ronicaleffall637]

Couldn’t agree more. I went to my local office who passed the inspection in my home and the told me that there was no drainage issue. If I had more options I would have passed on buying this house.

[@milehigh34200]

You are totally correct, I'm dutch and never heard of these issues, until I bought a house in the US. There is a whole sub industry out doing nothing but correcting builder problems. I always have people knocking on my door for roof replacement, siding etc. It's insane. By the time the house is 20 years old you will have replaced everything.

[@azyurentertainment1496]

FACTS!!!!

[@couponlover93]

I love your honesty and your encouragement for people to do it themselves. I pray, you are blessed, and your business prospers

[@lynnh7694]

The builder should step up and fix the problem. It is an obvious problem from the get go.

[@georgemcginnis4395]

Completely agree

[@keenand5416]

Good luck with that lol

[@blackpine6693]

Builder step up how about the town……they give out the permits …..look over the planning……..or do they…?…who may be in their wallets…….

[@garrettpatten6312]

Yeah it's just all bad haha

[@katet3562]

I also want to thank you for the instructions on how to install a French drain, it almost killed me to get the gravel in, but I did it. We are now getting unusually heavy rain for the next few days -local officials are preparing for flooding and my French drain is working! My house is safe! Couldn’t have done it without your help. Thank you again

[@JimCar71]

Really liked the “what option should you pick”…… then seeing what the pros would do.

[@emilioortiz8553]

I would have gone with a swale at the property boundary with the appropiate slope, that way you minimize digging and none of the neighbors runoff would get in your property, later you can upgrade with concrete

[@kevinfox609]

I thought on one of your videos you said never attach gutter downspouts to a French drain? I have almost the same issue with my house, the incline isn't as severe as this example, I was going to do solid pipe with t's every 36 inches with risers and catch basins feeding ti a sump pitt/pump, then do ez-flow pipe next to the solid pipe feeding to the same Pitt.

[@zachary4225]

I have the same exact problem

[@zeroturn7091]

That is an awesome price, if you guys were in MS I would enter a contract today. I’m in a similar situation, my house was built in 2015 into a fishbowl. I’m negative on the house’s left side (utility lines), and my driveway. The odd part is that my backyard sits on aggressive positive slope which floods the lady’s home behind me. Her house was built three years after mine. My only options are to discharge to the street (HOA won’t allow it), or tunnel under the fence connecting a French Drain/Catch Basin System to her yard to discharge. It’s a real mess.

[@delawareteacher1182]

Chuck, this is a huge problem. Great work!

[@oldarkie3880]

The builder did not grade the lot properly. There should be a RETAINING WALL that would crate positive drainage away from the lower house. My lot IS graded with a retaining wall.

[@beautypatels]

Does the retaining wall helped at all? Or do you still get some water?

[@-Oittz-]

@@beautypatels I had a swimming pool under my house after every rain. Built a retaining wall and put a channel drain along it. No more swimming pool.

[@LW12345]

I have the same flooding problem and thought about building a retaining wall. Does the wall actually keep out the neighbors water from spilling into your property???????

[@andreasdesigns]

My first thought was, why was the more prominent house built on a hill that would cause water to run off to the next property? The builder could have created the hill, which bears the question, why? But if it was natural, why couldn't it be razed so it was a gentle slope? And why, when building the prominent home, was a system not put in to contend with the runoff of rainwater?

[@ronicaleffall637]

Simple answer… The builders are allowed to.

[@blakeerdmann]

Im currently doing an estimate for a lady with this exact problem. Doing 4 catch basins, a small timber wall, and planting bed withcgravel is exactly what im quoting for. I just hope in a heavy heavy rain the drain can keep up.

[@naturalhealing9970]

When do you use a 4" versus a 6" drain?

[@LW12345]

I have the same flooding problem and thought about building a retaining wall. Would the wall actually keep out the neighbors water from spilling into your property???????

[@captaindigi82]

In Australia the higher property is responsible fot water running off their property to a neighbour's. 90 percent of the time they will know this before they build otherwise they will be up for drainage and a retaining wall after

[@mech0p]

what can you do is never buy that house. We got a house next door that floods all the time and i make sure to tell everyone i see come and look at it because id be pissed if i bought a house that floods during a big rain.

[@rexxxxxxxxx]

In another video, you mentioned don’t connect downspout to French drains when it’s close to the house, what’s the difference this time?

[@fmattrwd]

such a very honest guys Thanks

[@jimvautour595]

Excellent video & advice, thanks (Victoria, BC, Canada). One question, did you need to get any 'permit' to do this type of work?

[@captaindigi82]

Ideally a retaining wall with an agg drain is the best option but expensive. That way both gain more usable land. It should be regulation

[@indiestripper5374]

I'm currently brainstorming ways to combat a negative slope at my own place and I'm wondering if their problem could be helped by a native grass/sedge garden paired with the drain. The deep roots collect a lot of water and would probably take some stress off the drain in the event of a heavy rain.

[@cindymack8670]

whoever installed those downspouts didn't know what they were doing. That is negligent not to take those drains out toward the front of the yard down to the street.

[@letsdanceonhere]

Thanks Chuck! Question: Would a retainer wall work best but was not considered because of cost?

[@sallypascoe5487]

Thank you so much. Your videos are so very helpful.

[@JG-vo3mh]

Thank you Chuck

[@jimbohnenkamp5082]

My house is very much like the problem house of this video but the higher house next to us is not nearly has high. I asked my very friendly neighbors if they would bury their side downspout so it would drain more to the front of their yard, and they obliged me. (Their landscaper was a friend and not too smart, but that's another story). Their drainage runs across my driveway, but my driveway has no significant cracks after 27 years. Three years ago I had my downspout extensions buried and sloped to my back yard. Two years ago, I had a french drain added in that location between the two houses. I used to have rain water coming into my sump pump during frequent periods of rain, but I now have not had my sump pump running for more than two years. We have had a drought in the past year, but I think we're in better shape than before. I might consider adding some catch basins. My sod is not in the same dire condition as the house in the video.

[@Pinkybum]

If you have enough slope to the back the channel drain could go alongside the driveway to catch the water before it gets to the drive. Alternatively put a french drain along the edge with gravel to grade.

[@MichaelHplus]

I like this guy :)

[@royordway9157]

The property owner of the house on the hill should foot the bill. It's his or her water. Where I live codes enforcement would be all over them with time limits and fines. I CAN'T put my water on your property or in the city streets because it freezes in the winter. I'm in Maine.

[@zeroturn7091]

They might have had right of way. That would be odd if the house on the negative slope was built afterwards, but I have seen it done.

[@captaindigi82]

​@@zeroturn7091 In alot of places it dosent matter who builds first. Should have been done when built

[@starshapedrefrigeratormagn3851]

This is my house. The exact land shape and driveway issue. But theyndont have 15 houses back yards draining into their back yard too

[@TheHouser21]

Would that channel drain go where the crack is to remove the crack?

[@donmulder8061]

What do you recommend if two adjacent houses sit up high on terrain and have buried downspouts that exit in a low ground between them and one of the property owners discovers one of the adjacent neighbor's extensions daylights in a stream on their property by about 25 feet? How can that be rectified without doing an easement etc... ? Can a buried corrugated plastic drain pipe be cut just before the property line and daylighted back on the homeowner's own property? There are legal considerations with leaving something from someone else's house on another person's property that can lead to prescriptive easements and adverse possession, etc.....

[@johnhouli3450]

Hello my friend I’m in the North East New York westchester county can you recommend a company that take care Of rain water coming into my yard from neighboring home.

[@MagnumVideos]

I wish you were located in KC.

[@BreakingWavesNews]

I just wanted to say I love your videos. I watch them often. I have serious issues with a neighboring property. It’s not a house. It’s a group of apartment buildings and they are dumping water onto my property and it has cause foundation issues. I have complained to management. Nothing has been done they don’t have gutters and one rain (flash floods I call them) dumped 20,000 gallons in half an hour. I know because I have a rain catch with 1/3 of the roof size on my barn and that is how I know. So mainly. I’m trying to figure out how I can divert their water and stop the damage of my home. It’s exhausting. 😞

[@vickizyznik5781]

We are having the same problem and is looking for a solution. Came across your video. We are just wondering will the catch basin catch any water since it is on a slope and the surface water will just flow through unless there is a swale there. Please help.

[@ErcanALTINEL]

Why don't you attach neighbors downspouts to the system?

[@standepain]

Whomever the developer and inspectors were should have any licenses to build revoked. Who puts and approves homes that close with a drop-off like that???

[@tammyvennitti2659]

I have a question? I own a house that's a 4 lane high way. There is a broken line either from state or county and neither one of them wait to fix the problem so all the water sits in the yard like a big pond . They has flooded the basement several times. So I had a sub pump installed. Put if the power goes out am screwed. Is there another way I could keep the water from backing up in the basement?

[@thegladiator5559]

Greetings !!! I'm about to do a job exactly like this one, the difference is I'm about to use catch basins with 4" perforated pipes, is this sound reasonable for you ? Btw, I'm in first steps about this kind of work. I have to mention that I learned so much looking at your channel: THANKS A LOT FOR YOUR TIME TO HELP US. Sincerely appreciate. From Springfield VA.

[@sheilamurry9875]

Behind my house there's a school,field and a small hill into my yard. About a foot from the bottom of the small hill there's a hole that has gotten bigger and I look down it and seen a clay pipe about 7 by 7 or more in diameter.I made an appointment with the city engineer to come over to check on the drain system from the school,that hole in my yard and gave him pictures I took of backyards from my backyard to the school/field drain system the water that accumulates in our backyards(7 houses down). The engineer seen the clay pipe in my yard and told me to fill it with stone and he would call me Monday. I haven't heard from him nor do I feel comfortable filling the hole with stone. Would you happen to know how i could find out about the ownership of the pipe? Is it the school's or mine? It's doing damage in the backyard with sitting water

[@MayweatherjrWONandsoTrump]

City councils are controlled by builders, and code offices are struggling to keep people at work

[@SeanBaker]

Doesn't matter if the higher neighbor runs their downspouts to the street. There will still be plenty of water rolling down the hill to the neighbor. In the end, they need a solution like Chuck suggested.

[@rachelwashington1774]

So true

[@lawrencewheeler8868]

Did the uphill neighbor chip in their fair share?

[@luckykaren4]

Shouldn’t both neighbours be responsible for putting the drain in?

[@TheMaestrodavidb]

Who is financially responsible? Both neighbors, the neighbor in the hill, the neighbor sitting below the hill?

[@Rick-tb4so]

Those down spouts could be ran to the street very easily, could they be held responsible ?? If they were good neighbors they would help out.

[@lynnh7694]

I agree with you totally. That's something the builder should have done and expected to do when going over the plot plan.

[@worldpeace8187]

City should NOT of allowed this.

[@garytango]

👍

[@m4rvinmartian]

I have a better solution. It is illegal for someone to trespass on your property. That includes, water from their property. Have a cordial conversation with them, and tell them to cut it out. If they don't, sue them.

[@mcg1119]

It can cost a minimum of $10,000 to file a suit in some states. Cases can take a long time, judges don't always rule in your favor, you have to hire expert witnesses, etc.

[@dteh4501]

This guy needs to train builders and be their go to

[@winstonian88]

Let me guess. The neighbor causing the problem doesn’t give a sh*t, right?

[@clarkkent4991]

The neighbor that has the higher elevated property should pay for the entire fix or at least offer to split the cost with the other homeowner. I had that exact situation and did my French drain system last wk by hand. When she got back from vacation she saw all of the gravel and was confused. Lol.

[@emme197990]

Buddy, I don't think every regular home owner will take 7 hours or even 10 hrs. You are giving the home owner too much credit. A crew of 3 professionals will take 7 hours thats not counting picking up materials etc. A regular home owner can take from 1 day and a half to 3 days. I've been doing this for quite sometime and the experience I have with customers that have tried to do it have told me they've tried and end up taking more than 2 days and just ruin the lawn. Its best to leave it to the professionals and do it right the 1st time! Besides that your video is👍🏼

[@derrick9635]

My opinion is the homeowner causing the problem should fix or atleast 50%

[@martinmarsola6477]

👍😊🇺🇸

[@Rick-tb4so]

Builders really suck..

[@Kanadaauswandern]

I have lazy neighbors

[@SJ-gd6bo]

Easy, tell the neighbor they are responsible for controlling the runoff from their property. However, the answer will be a dry basin with a swale.

[@jeffquinn5653]

Dry basin does not handle the amount of water runoff for an entire season. Also what if the neighbor drags his feet and tells you to bug off. You could spend the cost of the repairs in about 3 hours at an attorneys office and still get no relief. The method proposed seems like the ideal and most cost effective.

[@SJ-gd6bo]

@@jeffquinn5653 well typically in this situation you could talk to your local zoning and building. This is a requirement for all job sites. But just depends on how you want to deal with it.

[@mcg1119]

Zoning and building departments in most areas do nothing and tell you it's a civil matter. Which means suing your neighbor at a cost of several thousand dollars, and then maybe losing your case or your neighbor not paying.

[@ianmoone2359]

We live in a desert, constant water restrictions, no lawns, illegal to wash your car etc. If we could get water off a neighbours property, we would give thanks to God. Just look at the West of USA in a drought. Water off a neighbours property is only a first world problem. Some people don’t know when they have it good.

[@sluggonotnancy6178]

@Ian....better a dirty car than a boat in the basement.

[@darksidepatrollin]

You pay for the neighbors to get downspouts discarded out