drilling weep holes thru beligain block?

[David Rothman]

i have a 10x10 area in the front of my house with plantings. the back side is the house. the two sides are also against my house but only the first 7 feet or so. the last 3 feet are ringed with belgian block, the front abuts a bluestone walk.

the area floods when it rains. the water does no damage to the house as it mainly flows over the belgian block or the walkway on to grass or an asphalt driveway, but i'd like to not have the water pool at the front and sides of the area. it tends to wash away the soil and mulch.

a simple cure i believe would be to drill some weep holes in several of the belgian blocks. i believe the block is 4" tall. any problems (structurally) with drilling thru the block say in the middle or is it likely to crumble apart or be so hard that it will be a bear to get thru? obviously i'd experiment, but i have no extra blocks handy....thanks

[Tom Baker]

y The granite block and stone slabs in the walk must be fully grouted if they hold water. I see no problem whatsoever in choosing the low point and drilling some holes in the grout at that point. I have a similar situation in a brick drive and it works o.k. The issue of the soil and its capacity to soak up the water is worth looking in to. You can expect weed seeds to wash into the holes and sprout.

Tom Baker