Our house is on a slope of about 10 degrees and our west side is on the uphill side. Each time we get a heavy rain, the rain from the houses west of us drains down to our house and we causes water to seep into the west wall and gets the carpets wet.
What kind of professional should I call to fix this? A landscaper? general contractor? etc?
Mike
You might get away with putting in a berm that directs flow away from the house - plant raised shrub or flower beds. Just some raised landscaping timbers might do the trick. Pretty much depends on surroundings and where the water goes if you direct it away from your lot line. Drainage ditch to the curb? A landscape architect could probably handle it.
Landscapers & general contractors probalbly won't have the back ground to solve your problem. A civil engineer or landscape architect would be trained to solve these problems. However, as Norminn suggests, you may be able to solve the problem yourself.
The land surface should slope away from the house on all sides. Your house floor should be six inches or more above grade on all sides. If you can't manage that, contour the land to direct water around your house. A berm or wall should do it. Make sure the water isn't trapped. TB
In the wide world of construction related problems, yours tends to be one of the relatively simple ones with simple solutions. A landscape contractor is best to do the work. Not to be confused with a Landscaper who primarily maintains lawns. A guy with real construction equipment. You would decide whether to divert the water using berms (any of many built-up mounds or structures), swales (depressions in the land resembling stream beds), or interceptor drains (below surface drains and catch basins). What method you use depends on the contours of the land and other site-specific issues, like "where is the water going to go next?. There are some legal issues regarding redirecting of the flow of surface drainage. You can't just dump it into a neighbors yard. An experienced landscape contractor could determine what you need by just looking. Unless you have a particularly difficult situation there is normally not a need for design professionals. If you just want to solve a problem, that is. Now, if you need an artistic solution, or have unique site issues or legal concerns, then you would want a design professional involved.
A trench, some perforated corrugated 4" black pipe, landscape fabric, gravel, grass seed, straw. Where the water collects you want perforated tube, the areas where it is carrying water downhill use solid tube. You can do this yourself but a landscaper should be able to handle the job. Note carefully where the water is collecting during a downpour and let the installer know. A general contractor or landscaper can slope the ground using a bobcat, but that may cause extensive lawn damage that the landscaper can fix.
This sounds like the right coarse to take but I will add without seeing the area. You should try to slope the ground away from the house. If you can seal the foundation or some kind of flashing/ vapor barrier. If water is getting in the house you have a definite grade issue you may also may have damage in the wall from water possible Dry rot if you have wood siding it could also be damaged. Take a good look at the ceiling for water damage ( stains) Also look at the roof lines you could have a situation of water coming down the wall. The reason I say this I just put a drain in planter area for water coming in the ( new hard wood floor) after that still had water. inspecting the Roof the cut a flashing in leaving hole in the siding, water down the wall. There were no stains on the ceiling. So take a look at all possibilities
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