no f-body content--Anybody know anything about french drains or rain water drai

My back patio and pool keep getting flooded every time it rains. We have an area behind the house that, during the rain, is about a foot deep. Then when it gets full back there it runs onto our patio and into our pool making a huge mud puddle out of the pool. Mike can attest to that.

So what I am looking for is somebody that knows about drains and all that can figure out what to do and help do it. It has to be done, so if you have a company that can help please let me know. I am not expecting a freebie here. This is pretty serious because it happens every time it rains.

I am in Deland Florida.
I can be reached here, PM, email or phone 321-217-4903

Thanks in advance.
John Peacock

I had the same problem with my last house. Whenever it rained heavy water would rise up above the deck and come flooding into the pool carrying all the crap from the yard with it.

I tried a French drain and it did little to resolve the problem. The water came over it too fast for it to handle the volume. I think you'd have to make it huge for it to work. Plus, making a place for the drain to spill out was a major hassle.

To solve the problem, I ended up making a planter that acted as a dam of sorts. I used the decorative stones from Lowes or Home Depot, but you can use anything you want.

I hope this helps and the dam solution will work in your situation.

Marty

Thanks, I do have some ideas, but the sheer volume of water scares me. I dont want to spend a bunch of money and time on something that ends up not working. I would like to get someone that does this type of thing for a living that can gaurantee what we spend our money on will work.

Thanks for the suggestions.
John

I'd call some local landscaping companies and have them come out and give you a "free estimate" if they will. If nothing else might give you some more ideas and will know the local codes, like if you can bury the pipe and let it drain into the city storm drain system, etc.

Hey John, I just had a guy do some work to my back deck. Pulled a bunch of it up, put a ton of sand down (literally) to backfill against the house slab, layer plastic over it to prevent it from running off again, fill in my dogs huge pit he dug, and put a new gate in as well as solid up the fence post by the gate. $750, did it in 2 days, and was great.

Mike Morris 407-496-5731 Give him a call and see what he says!

And yes, John's pool is nicer without 500 pounds of dirt.

I'd call some local landscaping companies and have them come out and give you a "free estimate" if they will. If nothing else might give you some more ideas and will know the local codes, like if you can bury the pipe and let it drain into the city storm drain system, etc.

hmmm, this is what I do for a living. I'll look up that code info for ya. Give me a second. Your in City of Deland? or Volusia county?

I know Civil Engineers that would be willing to help, but they would probably cost ya an arm and a leg. I can probably get an Engineering buddy of mine to help with the volume calcs, and I'll give you my advice for free.

City of Deland
Sec. 30-44. Building sewers and connections.
(a) No unauthorized person shall uncover, make any connections with or opening into, use, alter or disturb any public sewer or appurtenance thereof without first obtaining a written permit from the city engineer.
(h) No person shall make connection of roof downspouts, foundation drains, areaway drains, or other sources of surface runoff or groundwater to a building sewer or building drain which in turn is connected directly or indirectly to a public sanitary sewer unless such connection is approved for purposes of disposal of polluted surface drainage.



blah blah blah, so basically, no you can't have a french drain or any other kind of connection to the city storm drain system.

I know f ways around this. I'm gonna run by your house one of these days soon and inspect it closer to see if I can come up with a "quiet" solution.

Jason, I thought of you, and figured you would reply. I am on call this week, so if you can get by here let me know what day is good so I can be here.

I have some ideas, but still need someone to confirm it will work and then we need some handymen types to do the work.

Thanks again