We live on a slightly sloped lot, and the water from the uphill lot flows down toward my house. This wasn't a problem until recently, we put in a new pool and the re-grading on the side of the house has caused the water to pool against the house now during moderate to heavy rains.
First, I assume this will be a problem long term, because of termites? When it rains moderately, a pool forms against the house at a max depth of 6". This pool drains in an hour or so after it stops raining.
We have a concrete/stucco house but the second floor is mostly wood and of course the interior walls and studs are wood/drywall. No basement (it is a concrete slab house). Will the cyclic pooling during rains dilute the termite treatments? I get a "booster" under-the-slab-injections every 5 years along with regular spraying once a year and inspections.
The two ideas I have so far are:
- Lay a drain pipe (would have to be about 50' long and downward sloping) to drain the water from against the house to the back of the lot, to a spot where it can freely flow downhill and off the lot.
- Build a "french drain" maybe 10' from the house (between my house and the uphill house). I was going to bury a
55 gal drum, filled with rocks, with a solid top and a perforated bottom (using steel fencing). Then, run a two or three drain pipes from against the house, into the top of the drum, allowing water to drain immediately from against the house (and the surrounding pool that it is currently forming during heavy rain), into the rock-filled drum, and out the bottom into the earth.
#1 sounds like not so much digging, but a pain to get a 50' run of pipe to slope down enough. How much does it have to slope? and will it maintain that slope over time (I live in central florida, no frost line here).
#2 sounds like a lot of digging, but no long lines of drain pipe (10' at most). But also sounds more expensive to get 55 gallons of rocks.
Should I do anything? If so, should I do the long-pipe option or the buried-drum option?
Thanks!
cj