HOW TO FIX A NEGATIVE SLOPE | Basement Drainage Tips!

Here's some tips on how to drive drainage water away from your house and keep it protected!
There's a hammer drill, an impact drill, a back hoe... and Rod.
#Drainage #PrepWork #BasementFix #NegativeSlope #Backhoe #doitright

[@Observercom]

I just love when people have to the point clear tutorial videos. 6mins and I walk away wiser. Not like the 29min videos of excessive information and you don’t walk away any wiser.

[@ipitrader]

Agreed !

[@joeyree22]

Yes!! Dito!

[@kyleheiser3989]

sing it!

[@chaserzx383]

Ya people trying to stretch videos to make those ad revenue points.

[@vendettaink7567]

Amen

[@mr.mikepu]

This video is very simple, easy to understand, and straight to the point! None of that 5 minute intro/marketing before the video starts. Thank you!

[@spunkyvic77]

My sentiments exactly! He's a great teacher!

[@ipitrader]

@@spunkyvic77 Yes! he is great!

[@golden2534gmailcom]

👍🏽an old guy taught me this when I bought my first home. He said, before you go paying $$$$ to water proof, clean your gutters, down spouts and check your slope. 💯%

[@ipitrader]

@Brandon Pleasant > Thank you for passing on that great advise ! Much appreciated.

[@Mixdplate]

Thank you for pointing out ground water vs surface as well as the crawl space tid bit. Informative video overall!

[@Thinknappythoughts]

Really appreciate the clear and concise tutorial…the comedic value and whimsical production gives it a cherry on top! Bravo folks!!!!

[@vaibhavsharma9370]

Buying a house and had foundation concerns. This was actually super useful.

[@Smokey4462]

On each side of the house, you could also cut a swale so that water drains towards the swale and away from the foundation of the house. The swale would then carry water to the back of the property.

[@suzannebinsley5940]

I did that but it gradually filled back in. I have been working on fixing my house in sections over years. The slope had softened and changed and had to be fixed.

[@82accs]

I did this for a neighbor's house. After we built up the slope and tamped in in place we covered it in several sheets of black plastic and added a layer of decorative white stone. Looks great and two years later still no leaks into the basement!

[@veronicaschuder5332]

Thanks, Uncle Larry! I have a terrible water flow/erosion issue in my crawl space ever since a neighbor dumped a foot of hot pack in the alley, and I’ve been scratching my head ever since. I think I’ve got it figured now. 🎉

[@markbenn1907]

What a great video. The people in your work area are lucky to have you!

[@anthonydahl5454]

I have this exact problem ! Took me like 3 years of investigation and struggle (water comin in the house) to figure out my slopes and window well were the root cause. I really whish I had seen this video sooner. Perfectly explained ! Thanks a lot !!

[@earthgraduate726]

5:14 The most logical statement i hear so far about the water issue around the house ! Thanks

[@vipahman]

Awesome information. Surface water = slope repair. Ground water = Sump pump.

[@carysa227]

How do you tell the difference between?

[@normstangl3499]

I've always understood this procedure as the best first go to."Get the water away!!!" We purchased a new home some years ago. The water was getting through the poured concrete foundation. Under warranty the builder came into to inject some plugs. Still a problem. I observed that the soil on the outside of the foundation had a negative slope. I pushed the issue for them to come in and regrade the area and sod over. Problem SOLVED! Kris' methodology is bang on.

[@dedoderecho5344]

So the Issues is solve redirecting the water obviously towards your neighbors?

[@ipitrader]

@@dedoderecho5344 Presumably your neighbors are not 5 feet away....

[@ezze-does-it]

@@ipitrader well they dont really sell homes with land like they used to so thats a real possibility.

[@justindanatos9159]

Buying a house right now, shit a brick when I saw water in the basement until the inspector pointed out the negative slope and pooling on the outside the soil has deteriorated 4” but the wall in the basement hasn’t bowed yet... this video put my mind at ease lol very good video. Reassured myself that I can do the grading myself

[@ipitrader]

@Justin Donatos > You shit a brick? lmao ha ha ha...

[@DougieL]

Loved this and I was about to ask about groundwater and you answered that question. Fantastic!

[@jimjohnston7688]

Years ago we had an inground pool installed. When the crew came out to lay out the pool dimensions he asked us how high up do you want the pool. We had no idea what he was talking about (it's an inground pool after all). My wife and I looked at each other not knowing what to say and asked them for their recommendations. Six inches was their recommendation. Well that six inches was enough to create a negative slope towards the house. I had one heck of a time getting water away from the house. I had to cut out sections of the sidewalk to install drains, I had to dig trenches to lay pipe to carry away the water. I actually had to bury a 25 gallon holding tank and install a sump pump to pump out the rainwater (our ground has a lot of clay so it drains slowly). To this very day, if a heavy storm knocks out the power during a heavy rain I'll get flooding.

[@lizcoleman5229]

Wow!

[@TheAlpine49]

Short, informative, correct! Good video.

[@neilp192]

I did this exact thing on the most deeply buried wall of my basement. I installed tall window wells and clear covers. I used Flex Shot to create a seal against the walls, but put it on the outside edge to keep water away from the screws. I then built a grade that drops at least six inches and extends eight feet from the foundation. At the bottom of the slope I dug a 6" x 6" trench the whole length of the grade. I put a plastic landscaping barrier against the side of the trench closest to the foundation and filled the trench with gravel. I then surrounded the grade with 4x4s, put down 6 mil plastic sheeting from the wall to the gravel and covered it 3-4" deep with river rock. Added similar installations around the corners of of the house.

[@vic_con_carne5137]

PHENOMENAL! This is a huge problem here in Nashville. Love seeing this and this market is wide open!!!!

[@rickjames6948]

You need a commercial tamping machine guys.That soil will settle just shoveling it in there. You will be back to what you had. I would of put a lot more soil in there. Nice video guys.

[@Tom-qx5nl]

Yup, absolutely should have compacted it.

[@mroberts566]

LOL @ "If this is my level, which it is..."

[@truthseekerKJV]

I would have done two things different. Instead of calking the wells, which will only last a short time, I would have used a rubber seal for far more durability and better sealing. Also, I would have brought in enough sod to give the area the required amount of grass to protect the soil from being washed away in the next torrential rain. I would also put covers over the wells to keep rainfall from flooding the window wells.

[@JSLEnterprises]

By Code, you must add a drainage line down to the foundation drain in each window well that is added.

[@toscanoplaster5603]

Exactly what i was going to say. Without a drainage well to the foundation weeping tile this is all a WASTED EFFORT

[@Given2Fly7173]

this really helped me and I don't even have a basement. lol - BUT I do have a drainage issue in my new backyard because sections of the ground around my concrete patio just outside my backdoor is around 5 or 6 inches lower than the rest of the yard. They joys of buying a "new" home!

[@webby8005]

as a first time home buyer, i've been looking into stuff I was told during my house inspection to work on. Degrading the house was one of the topics. This video is super helpful!! I'll be using this once I get a chance to work on my house!

[@a.h.6404]

Hi. I bought my house 3 years ago. After a few months in the new house, my basement got flooded. Then again it got flooded in May 2019, May 2020, July 2020, and today. I don’t know who you are, but please make sure your new house doesn’t look pretty but has hidden issues.

[@ezze-does-it]

@@a.h.6404 Did you do something to address it the first year? It will flood every year if you don't

[@a.h.6404]

@@ezze-does-it I just had a very expensive dewatering system put in in April. It's been really dry in Illinois this year so I haven't gad a chance to see if the new dewatering system ia good.

[@l.a.l.a4949]

Thank you. I just learned something that you were just taking care of surface water and if it is ground water then we have to locate our water table which is tough and then you said the perforated and solid pipes would take care of that.

[@jinpenghu105]

Do you recommend putting outdoor tiles on the positively graded soil to create extra waterproofing?

[@andresmedina1279]

time = 4:44 = hilarious graphics...great video, thanks!

[@chriswebb6153]

Hey good video don't forget the vapor barrier talking about putting that in your crawl space.

[@humblerawat]

Love the clear language in the video thanks for sharing

[@mirandeful]

Very good explanations. Thank you very much Uncle Larry

[@DakGeorge]

Fellow Kansan here preparing to fix this common Kansas issue lol

[@jordanseirer6947]

I was just looking for a how-to and ended up finding this video, I’m pretty sure lived across the street back in college.

[@northeastoperations]

The soil looks beautiful! We have gravel and dense red clay. It's punishing to dig even a little bit

[@Kris5344]

Wish I knew this 5 years ego. I ended up spending $5k for guys to dig around and seal my basemen... that stopped 80% of water getting in. After that I spend $300 on truck load of dirt and my basement been bone dry since then.

[@kneebarx]

Should I get a professional? Or just put a lot of dirt around the house

[@Kris5344]

H P I would say depends how much are you ready to spend. $500 - get a dirt $5k - get a dirt and save $4500 $15-25k - get a professional that will dig down to bottom of foundation, seal it,put in sunk pump and maybe even put bunch of dirt on top.

[@kneebarx]

Kris k seriously? all i need is to remove the bushes and add dirt to create a slope omg 😂

[@edriv3722]

you did the right thing. if you install a drainage pipe system and collects all the water from the gutters, and add some drains around the house, assuming you have a concrete slab in good condition, then you will have zero water coming inside the basement. making a trench and sealing the basement foundation walls is the ultimate work to fix that and is expensive.

[@YXEFlatl1ne]

Hey can you please shoot me a email asap!! I just mortgaged the house with the exact same problem and I have nobody to talk to that knows what they're talking about. [e-mail] Thanks so much

[@mr.edmunds]

Great easy explanation and fun interaction. Thanks for the quick and easiest explanation.

[@realuxx]

Extremely informative video. Thanks a lot for sharing your knowledge 🙌.

[@sherrizeckser2074]

Good information. We are currently dealing with this problem. Thank you.

[@johnbedell2376]

Very informative video - thank you. I have a fenced yard and the right 1/3 turns to a swamp when it rains. I need to find someone in my area to do this for me. Not sure if I need to search for a "landscaper" or "yard grading".

[@daniellehunt3449]

This was really informative!! I have water issues in my basement but I think it’s a combo of the slope and water seeping up through the floor 😭

[@POWERHALTON]

thanks! just what I was looking for for slope calculation!

[@prabhudeivam1]

I've negative slope around foundation of the house and don't have enough soil to correct the slope..what type of soil should I use to correct the negative slope? Any suggestions please

[@wonderfullymade8690]

This is what I need done. Very informative. Thank you

[@vincegray7206]

Thanks, I’m doing this, this week!✊🏽

[@超强卡司]

This is a very useful video, thanks. Make water flow away than seal the cracks.

[@PappyNet01]

Thanks for sharing your experience. We have to improve the drainage around our house, but it is very hard because we get a lot of rain and a few feet above sea level. We only have to dig 18 inches before we hit ground water. Our house sits on a slab foundation and I cannot find the line where the slab stops and the brick begins.

[@gimpygardner3377]

I knew a painter's helper. He said his job was to put his caulk in cracks.

[@mark6309]

Thanks for this helpful video, this will help me keep water away from the basement.

[@recobb56]

Well done explaining the issues and solutions

[@wildhogs2849]

I have this same issue in Hungary. Garden slops towards the house, so walls are taking water in. Thanks for the video

[@drearoach]

Super clear information. Thank you!

[@ccm25]

I'm trying to learn about how to regrade and stumbled upon this video. From all the articles I read, shouldn't the top of the soil be no higher than 6" from the bottom of the siding? To deter pests and to allow the siding to dry faster after a rain storm?

[@obi1988]

This is exactly my situation. But its the whole house.. Great video. New sub. Great content.

[@kw1nz33]

Give him a hug

[@dstewart7470]

Good info. I understand that it varies throughout the country, but what would be a fair price to have soil delivered? And what kind should I look for?

[@agervais8383]

Very helpful! Thank you, and God bless!

[@edriv3722]

Why all of your neighbors agree and build a buried 6" PVC pipe system drainage and that way all the water goes straight to the main sewer? you fixed part of the problem for the moment...

[@saschaweyman7690]

lol not only is this informative, the editing and animation is on point!

[@onnietalone3181]

your lucku, its so green, and the space left beside homes is for the sun to dry it out, the ones who built your area were real good at environment, I think that because they left space for the sun to pick up the water>3

[@thatjlyn]

Big difference between ground water and surface water. Thanks.

[@LucasOliveira-fl7tt]

Excellent tips! Thanks!

[@nates2243]

Great video!! Grading is so often overlooked as an easy improvement to water in the basement. Where did you get those window wells? I can only find the half circle ones.

[@MalleusDei275]

For added protection install drain tiles...

[@jamestun1104]

Thank you so much for the idea. I have the same problem

[@keithowen4698]

Awesome video man, thank you!

[@lindamccarthy5550]

Thank you - this was very helpful

[@jamesw3551]

Hi I need to do this for my house. Perhaps a silly question, but when I'm building up the foundation. What do I need to use. I read conflicting things about Topsoil / Sand mixes and Clay so I'm a bit confused !!

[@cjvx7208]

Im gonna wait for this answer, unless you got an answer elsewhere already?

[@glennphelps9300]

Did you have to coat the exterior wall with something where the new dirt comes in contact?

[@caring-assoul_]

The settlement of soil around homes typically happens when the soil is not properly compacted around the perimeter of the home during the backfilling process.

[@gingeraleman7723]

I'm just so glad it's his level 😂 @4:55

[@johnfr2389]

Is it still possible to have the windows replaced without digging an access hole and remove those wells?

[@oby-1607]

You need 8-10 inches of fill for your slope. That fill will compact. Ever look at a fresh grave and then one thats been there a few years. You will see. You have the right idea.

[@donaldlee6760]

I'm curious if you have returned to this home after a few years to check the status of the crawlspace wetness (or dryness) after a large and prolonged rain event.

[@thetwogardens6048]

Yeah , I will call in some dirt to fix my problem. Thanks for the Vid. Problem solved !

[@markahad6583]

Great tutorial. Thanks.

[@chojay13]

✍️dry ✍️basement ✍️no ✍️spiders

[@megg7558]

This is quick fix. I would not want those ugly covers on my windows, I would like you to fix the slope by leveling off the other side of the lawn, scrape off some soil and grass seed it.

[@mb271]

This is a very informative video, but I have a question. What was the purpose of the window wells?

[@uguana11]

I'm going to guess it allows the window to still let light into the basement instead of being covered up by the dirt used to shunt water away.

[@tbarbuto2345]

So they can raise the grade without covering and burying the windows in dirt

[@mikebuccola672]

Great video. Clear & right to the point. Very helpful. thanks

[@Jasonrcsd]

Great video! But what would you do if you only had 3” from the ground to the siding? Still add dirt around it or French drains?

[@treelynn1533]

Thanks for the tips!

[@morganleigh9569]

I have ground water issues. But I also have slope issues. So I have a double task ahead of me.

[@YeahBuddy]

Solid video! I have my work cut out for me :)

[@deejosey6867]

If I needed this done to my house, what kind of contractor do I want to hire? Is this a landscaping job or do I hire a basement waterproofer…or someone else all together?

[@samston]

The part of my basement that have water inside. I went outside and put my finger under the dirt and felt little holes leading into the basement. I mix cement and stop up the holes.

[@raulwitdatool5039]

Great explanation 🦅

[@mberge1]

Great video. I have a valley in my backyard and when it storms, it forms a small lake. My neighbor suggested filling in the low parts with fill dirt so the lake will stop forming every time we get rain storms.

[@FR-tb7xh]

Rethink doing that. A similar valley runs behind all of our houses on one side. The neighbors who filled in their backyard valleys all wound up having very expensive and chronic basement flooding issues. Point being, the same water will happen but will be distributed in a wider area, including your basement.

[@JimVincitore]

GREAT VIDEO. VERY COOL. THANK YOU!

[@adamaye7665]

You are awesome. Thank you for this information.

[@jonfreeze]

My favorite part is at 4:44! LMAO But thanks, this was super helpful!!

[@douglasrawe]

Fantastic video, easy to see what you did being im not necessarily handy around the house. Should you install some sort of drain to channel that water away or something ? I have seen a couple of videos about french drains? Not questioning, simply inquiring. i got problems here.

[@comoelitamelendez8467]

Yep, I AM NEWLY SUBSCRIBED! ;) Great stuff!

[@michaelrodriguez1909]

How do you create that on a pier and piem foundation. Don't want any dirt up against the structure

[@2mikeherzog]

thanks for explaining reasons during your great video. Question, is it necessary to compact the new grade created? would the water just go under the new dirt added onto the topsoil? thanks, Chicago Mike

[@kingjames9564]

Is there a specific kind of dirt to use or can you use just about anything?

[@menachemfischer5957]

Amazing video thanks bro!!

[@anthonyrobinson973]

Can the ground get so saturated with subsurface rain water that it spread on top the ground throughout your backyard and begin to look like surface water, and if that be the case, how do you know if you have a surface water problem or a subsurface water problem. THX

[@emusaurus]

Would building a verandah against that wall solve the problem?

[@HB-yq8gy]

Thank you great explanation!