Water Always Flows Downhill

Last winter we had a lot of snow followed by a quick melt. This combination lead a to a lot of water flowing down the side of the house and forming a lake in the back patio. I needed to get a pump to clear it.

The problem seemed to be the path, which was sunk a few inches into the ground and caused all the water to flow towards the house.

The existing lumber did not reach to the end of the patio, so this seemed a good opportunity to put a longer piece in. This picture also shows how the land slopes towards the house.

The old piece of lumber became the middle piece of three and I was able to reuse the same metal anchors. You can see I’ve already started to build up the land so it now slopes away from the house.

There was a gap between the pillar of the extension and the back bed that I filled with a concrete form and placed an offset of lumber on top.

The old path didn’t reach to the end of the patio so we bought some new pavers. I laid them so they tilted slightly away from the house.

Too much soil?

With the pavers all laid then the soil went on top.

Much raking ensued. This picture shows the new slope down the middle. Hopefully!

A month or two later the grass hides a multitude of sins.

This post was written a year after the work (been a bit slow) and a winter has passed already. So far, it seemed to work, no pond in the patio so far.