Drainage problem preventing us from landscaping

[momslife]

This is my first time at this sight and I am so HAPPY that I found it! I have attached some photo's of the situation I am in for you to view. You can't see it from the pictures but our AC is next to the house against the side. We have an extremely small strip of grass where our property line ends and our neighbors grass begins. We have put in a water sprinkler years ago (ourselves) but we never put the sprinkler in this small area because we were not sure what we were going to do with it. We pondered the idea of removing the tree and extending the driveway so we could utilize the double gates on our fence. OR, putting in a natural area around the tree and along the beginning of the driveway and re sodding the grass between the two which would only leave us with a small amount of grass to have to deal with. Our PROBLEM arises because the house next to ours was built higher on cement blocks so when it rains we get all the rain run off out of their yard. We put in a drain which starts where you see the lid laying on the grass. This drain is wonderful and got the rain off of the driveway. However, the rain water still pools deeply around the tree. So, heavily sometimes the dirt from the ground covers the fence about a fourth of the way up when it finally drains. So, either extending the driveway or the natural area around the tree is out because of the pooling water. Is there a way to even our lands? Can we pull out the tree and maybe put in a some river rocks? Would a retaining wall look nice between the two houses? Or is that not nice to do to the neighbors asking them to keep their own rain water. As you can see by the picture our land ends when the nice green grass begins. I feel like we need to do something soon because the wild Bermuda grass is crawling onto their nice lawn and they are forever working outside in their yards. Anyone else I could postpone until I figure something out but they are very nice neighbors. Any help I would be forever grateful because I AM STUMPED!

Thanks!

Anita

[chrisexv6]

My yard is the same situation as yours.....Im lower than my neighbor (on the other hand, he's lower than his neighbor, etc....works like that all the way to the end of our street).

We end up getting his rain water running up against our foundation and into our basement.

My solution was to add drainage.....dug a 4' deep x 24" wide trench the length of our properties (about 100'), lined with landscape fabric, gravel, 1 4" drainage pipe (white PVC with 2 sets of holes in it), more gravel then 1 more 4" pipe for our gutters to drain out into. Now that fall planting is here, I plan on grading away from our foundation so that the low spot is right where I put the drainage pipes.

Since you dont have a more dire situation (water in my finished basement was NOT cool :) ), you might be able to try some alternatives:

1. a "berm".....just make a "bump" looking line along where your properties meet. Run this bump from the back to the front.......if the water runs off their yard, it should hit the bump and follow it out to wherever it ends (presumably to the street).

2. a "swale"....basically a berm but in a half moon shape so it provides some way for the water to move from one end to the other.

3. You can put river rocks or 3/4" gravel between your properties, but that might look too obvious and/or ugly. I think berm or swale might be your best bet, short of digging a trench like I did.

Good luck.

-Chris