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While we have driveways like that here, it no longer will pass inspection for new work. So if you are taking out the old and putting in new or a new house, it won't work here. We must provide at least 5 feet of driveway that slopes away from the house at a 5% grade, then the drive cannot exceed a 15% grade to the height of the curb which is the same as the top of the approach. In this situation, there would be a 5 foot section coming away from the house, then the drain, then the driveway back up to the street. The height of the slab or floor of the foundation governs the percent of fall on the driveway. If this were my lot and I was building this from dirt, I'd bench the lot and raise the house up to eliminate any water coming down the drive to the garage. We either have zero rain or we get 10-12"s in a couple of hours. THis would be a wreck waiting to happen here.
Look for signs of previous water damage. Its easy to see if you know what you are looking for. If they have never had any problems, not likely you will. Im pretty sure a real builder would have taken that in to consideration when they built the house. As another poster mentioned (Pittchick), up north thats a regular thing, no big deal.
If the electricity goes out then the sump pump will not work , so it is best to pull the car out of the garage at that time so flood water will not wreak your car ...... It is either that or install a liberty sump pump back up as this liberty pump can run with the electricity go out as a back up plan , as it runs if you have water pressure when the electricity goes out
It would be a deal breaker for me. Consider - HEAVY rain, all of the surface area of the driveway (can't tell for sure if there is sufficient gutter on the roof, but gutters can overflow), and then... the power goes out. A sump pump would possibly get overwhelmed anyway, especially in downpours like we have here, where three or four inches can fall overnight.
It would be a deal breaker for me, too. So, in addition to potential problems you will possibly have, consider that many future buyers may rule your house out completely as a potential purchase.
When I think of inward sloping, I think of the Soviet ships which had a sloped ramp from the helo pad down into the hanger.....and were notorious for leaks!
I suppose the design works on houses somewhere as other people have noted. When I was working with my architect, however, we put the garage door on the slide of the house and not the front because it was on a slope and there was a big concern of where the rain runoff would go.
If water comes into the garage during a hard heavy rain it most likely will also enter into the basement area as well; it’s just not going to remain in the garage only. The new sump pump seems like a good idea but only if it has electricity to operate and only if there isn’t a failure of one thing or another. What happens during the winter freeze at night and the melting during the day, how much water will not be removed and cause damage to items in the basement?
Personally I wouldn’t buy the house as nice as it might look on both the inside and outside. It’s a future headache; avoid it if you still can. IMHO
There are a lot in the Atlanta area. only a few in my neighborhood. Most are built on a hill but with the road at the bottom. The few that are inward sloping have a small patch of asphalt at the edge of the driveway which I guess helps ensure no runoff from the roadway makes it onto the driveway. The only way I would have a driveway slope towards the house is if the garage opens to the side. I've seen a few like that. Water drains right off the edge of the driveway then.
I would think that it would be a real pain to shovel snow off a driveway like that; you'd have to lift and throw the snow upwards to get it over the inclines and away from the driveway. No thanks.
How do you fix a problem like that? Friends of mine just leveled their driveway after 30 years of parking at a 30 degree angle (sloping upward toward the house). But they don't have a garage. If you have a garage, the only thing you can do is bring the street down to the garage level, and I doubt the town will let you do that
I'd be scared to pull in the driveway if there is snow or ice on it and go skidding into the garage door or the house.
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