House/water/drainage advice please. (Arlington, Alexandria: landscaping, buy, contractors)

[Old Guard]

I hope this does not get moved but I have some house issues I would like to address this spring.

I have a nice cement patio but I get some pooling in areas that I should not, the drains seem a little slow and I have some cracking starting. I need help stopping the pooling and getting it to drain properly and do not even know who to look for so I am asking for recommendations.

Also I have a hill in my backyard that leads down to my patio which is attached to the back of my house. I would like to get water to flow around the patio and my house better. I think there are some problems and when it rains really heavy I get a little water in the basement. I would like to address this. So I am looking for some recommendations on a landscaper or someone else that could put some berms up around my foundation and do a french drain or possibly a swale.

I do not have a huge budget for all of this so I may have to carry over until next year but it is never too early to get started.

Thank you for your time.

[Carlingtonian]

Our backyard has a slight gradation leading more or less down to our back patio. But there is a slightly lower area just before the patio, so that the water runs down that and then toward the side gate. If your hill is not super-steep, I would just hire some guy to dig (or do it yourself) down maybe 4 inches and replant the grass there.

If your hill is really steep, I think they will have to dig deeper and maybe install some type of French drain. I would look on Yelp or Consumers' Checkbook for companies that do this.

[Old Guard]

Thank you Carlingtonian. This is good advice, I just want to make sure I do it the right way for Fairfax. IIRC tysonsengineer mentioned something about altering a properties water flow.

I would like to make sure I do this properly so I do not have to do it again and because I hope that following the water flow plan would be greener.

[Carlingtonian]

Originally Posted by Old Guard

Thank you Carlingtonian. This is good advice, I just want to make sure I do it the right way for Fairfax.

I can't imagine you would need a permit to do minor grading. You would need to call Miss Utility, though--unless you are 100% sure there are no power/gas lines where you'd be digging. (At such a shallow depth, I'd be surprised, but you never know.) It doesn't take a very deep trench to redirect the flow of water.

[SmartMoney]

I have the same issue and have been playing around with a rain barrel and diverter. Not much else you can do, except for a friend drain. And if its up hill, its imperative it's put in correctly.

Gardening & Lawn Care : Rain Barrels | Hayneedle.com

[fcyolo]

Call these guys. Checkbook did an undercover sting and got estimates from all of the big water mitigation companies in the area. They were the only honest people who didn't recommend unneeded expensive interior water mitigation systems and properly fixed it from the outside.

Newborg Drainage and Landscaping Photos ? Serving Northern Virginia, Alexandria, McLean, Great Falls, Arlington

There is a lot of scammers out there. I once had a company recommend an expensive excavation, sump pump and wall weeping system installed for a garage even though we later determined it was a roof leek.

[Old Guard]

Originally Posted by SmartMoney

I have the same issue and have been playing around with a rain barrel and diverter. Not much else you can do, except for a friend drain. And if its up hill, its imperative it's put in correctly.

Gardening & Lawn Care : Rain Barrels | Hayneedle.com

I have been wanting to implement the rain barrels since I read of an event that Falls Church runs. It looks very interesting and would help me water the lawn in summer. Thank you SmartMoney!

Originally Posted by fcyolo

Call these guys. Checkbook did an undercover sting and got estimates from all of the big water mitigation companies in the area. They were the only honest people who didn't recommend unneeded expensive interior water mitigation systems and properly fixed it from the outside.

Newborg Drainage and Landscaping Photos ? Serving Northern Virginia, Alexandria, McLean, Great Falls, Arlington

There is a lot of scammers out there. I once had a company recommend an expensive excavation, sump pump and wall weeping system installed for a garage even though we later determined it was a roof leek.

Thank you fcyolo (I really have no idea how to pronounce that!) this looks great. I appreciate it a lot!

[Yankeesfan]

This company installed a French drain for us and it functions very well. It's covered with decorative stones so isn't visible. They also attached wide tubing to the gutter downspouts, running it underground to the French drain to keep water from pooling in the yard by the patio. I don't remember the price since it was about ten years ago. They arranged for Miss Utility to come out and mark the yard.

Drainage | Yard Drainage | French Drain | Drainage Contractor | Kingstowne Lawn & Landscape

[fcyolo]

Originally Posted by Old Guard

I have been wanting to implement the rain barrels since I read of an event that Falls Church runs. It looks very interesting and would help me water the lawn in summer. Thank you SmartMoney!


Thank you fcyolo (I really have no idea how to pronounce that!) this looks great. I appreciate it a lot!

You're welcome. Nothing irritates me more than people over paying or getting ripped off buy contractors. This area is full of stupid people with too much money and not enough sense on home improvements so the contractors jack up the rates and cause everyone to over pay.