concrete side walk net to house.

[carmen]

Hello. I have had a problem with my neighbor for quit sometime now. I had a licensed cement guy pour concrete all around my home and extended my drive way. I am talking about 3 cement trucks worth. 2 years later my side walk next to one of my neighbors has cracked. I would like to mention that her sprinkler main and 1 of her sprinklers keeps on dripping water constantly so much so it is like a swimming pool on her side. the problem started to affect me when the water start to drain into my side through the wooden fence. Now i have constant mud with standing water all across my wooden fence and my new cement. She says that her water has nothing to do with my concrete braking. Her lawn guy said that i need to plant grass next to my cement so it can absorb the moisture and solve the problem. I would like to know if her over watering is the issue of my cement by the way this is the only side of my cement that has large cracks in it and buckling. I do not know what else to do. I have called the city and the city left her a warning for over water since we are in a water conservation zone. The officer looked and stated that it is extreme over watering and damaging the city sidewalk. The city can't do anything about my side walk since it is in my property but she is damaging city property as well. Any solutions are well come. Thank you

[ItsJoanNotJoann]

One word - lawyer.

[Iggy]

replying to carmen, Iggy wrote: Still try to make the neighbor see how much water is being wasted and even her wasted money on constant grass mowing, which is probably twice (or more) as often as everyone else. The cheapest and most permanent route is to replace the affected sidewalk square(s) at, around me, $200 a square. However, now that you and the Mason know of a water-runoff problem, it can be addressed.

If it's just 1 to 3 squares, the Mason can put in a store-bought French Drain, Drainage Piping or self-made concrete collection trough that's covered by gravel and wrapped in landscape fabric, to keep dirt from clogging the system. After that, the Mason would install a drain pipe under the sidewalk and out to the street through the street curb.

If you don't have a curb (pipes can go under sidewalk and drain onto grass apron, if applicable) or any drain into the street is illegal. Then, you'll have to ignore the plan above and have the Mason install an in-yard deep curb or few inch deep gutter (depends on water saturation depth noticed) under the fence to keep the water on her side or let it run into the street, as much as possible. No guarantee, but hopefully it ensures only 1 square will ever be affected and much more slowly.

The very final step or possible option is to pay a Landscaper to put a swale (or the gutter) in her yard only, with her written and signed consent. So, the water only affects her sidewalk. There are options and you may have to ultimately resort to digging under the fence a couple of feet and continuing the yard curb, gutter or dumping in heavy clay soil along the entire adjoining property line.

[Muddy Waters]

What kind of idiot surrounds their house with concrete making no allowance for water to soak into the ground?

[Ed Pawlowski]

If she ignores the city warning she is going to ignore you too. Sounds like lawyer time if you expect any reimbursement.

[trader_4]

Or to get her to stop it. I would first go have a further talk with the city code guy and see if it's possible to get him to do more, actually cite her for creating water runoff. It sounds like all he's done so far is issue a warning for excessive use of water. Whatever she does, she should keep the city guy on her side, he could be called as a witness.

Small claims court is an option, depending on the limits in the state versus what the damages are. That would save the cost of a lawyer. Some states it's 3,000 others I've seen as high as 10,000. Like Ed says, getting a lawyer to write a threatening letter would be a start.

This neighbor must be nuts. It sounds like it's city water, which she must be paying for. Usually where there are water restrictions in place, the cost of water is metered and the rate escalates as you go to higher amounts. You would think she would be getting very high water bills. Neighbors can be a real pain in the ass.

[FrozenNorth]

Around here the city will usually follow up and a couple weeks to make sure any problems have been rectified, if not they will fix it at the owners expense.