It can be frustrating when your yard is getting flooded. Sometimes this might happen due to problems that you didn’t cause.
For example, your neighbor might have a downspout that is directing the water into your yard. This is certainly a problem and it can lead to various issues if you don’t figure things out.
You don’t want your yard to be a flooded mess, but you also don’t want to create conflict with your neighbor. What should you do in this situation?
Continue reading to learn about this situation further. You’ll be given several ideas that can help you to solve this predicament.
1 – Talk to Your Neighbor
The first thing you should do is talk to your neighbor. There’s no reason to get unreasonably mad when the problem might be solved by a reasonable conversation.
There’s a good chance that you might have a good relationship with your neighbor. Even if you don’t know your neighbor that well, you might be friendly with them.
Walk over to your neighbor’s property and knock on the door. Be calm and speak to them about what you’re experiencing.
Let them know that their downspout has started to flood your yard and ask them if there’s anything that can be done about it. Don’t get angry or speak to them in accusatory tones.
It’s much easier to get what you want when you’re calm and agreeable. If you can have a good conversation with your neighbor, you might be able to come up with an amicable solution.
For instance, you might be able to get them to divert the downspout so that it’ll direct the water elsewhere. Perhaps you can make it so the water is directed toward the road or even toward a ditch.
If there are storm drains or sewers in your area, see if they’ll try to point the downspout toward those. You might even be able to offer to help if the project involves digging and extending the downspout.
Do your best to come to an amicable solution with your neighbors. If you can’t, then at least you tried.
2 – Talk to the Homeowner’s Association
Another option is to speak directly to the homeowner’s association. Many people live in neighborhoods that are governed by the homeowner’s association.
It’s possible that your neighbors could be breaking some rules. If this is the case, the homeowner’s association might be able to solve the problem for you.
Even if everything is on the up and up, the homeowner’s association might be able to assist you. For example, they might be able to provide you with resources or advice about how to solve the flooding issue.
Sometimes these organizations will help to solve problems such as this in the community. It’s certainly worth a shot since speaking to the association won’t take up much of your time.
When talking to the association, it’s best to keep a cool head. Try your best to come across as someone who just wants to solve the problem rather than someone who is angry at their neighbors.
3 – Get Legal Advice
It might be worthwhile to talk to your lawyer about the situation. Different areas have different rules about things of this nature.
There could be laws that will help you or laws that will prevent you from taking action. It all depends on the rules where you live.
You can speak to a lawyer about what’s happening to get help. They will be able to tell you if there’s anything that can be done.
It’s possible that the lawyer might be able to help you take action against your neighbors. You could try to force the neighbors to make changes to keep water from flowing onto your property.
However, it might not be possible to do this if the laws are in their favor. You need to get professional legal advice to learn about your options.
In some cases, you might even be able to sue your neighbors if your property gets damaged and the laws are on your side. It’s a complicated situation that you’ll need to untangle with the help of a local lawyer that understands the specifics.
4 – Take Steps to Divert the Water Away From Your Property
Perhaps the most practical thing to do is to take steps to divert the water away from your property. There are many things that you can do that will alleviate the problem.
You can make some changes in your yard that will prevent flooding issues. It might take a bit of effort on your part, but it’ll be worth it in the end.
If there’s no way to solve this from your neighbor’s end, it might be best to go this route. Below, you’ll see several things that you can do to help get rid of the water.
Which option you’ll want to go with will depend on your sensibilities. Both will certainly work well enough to solve the problem of flooding.
5 – Try Building a French Drain
Building a French drain might be one of the best ways to solve the flooding issue in your yard. This type of drain involves surrounding a perforated pipe with gravel.
There will be four inches of perforated pipe surrounded by gravel. This is attached to a solid pipe that will transport the water and direct it away from your yard.
Ideally, you’ll want to direct the water toward a harmless section of the yard. You might direct it toward a ditch or you might make it go toward a storm drain if you have one.
Building the French drain will be fairly straightforward, but you do need to watch out for pipes or wires underground. You might need to contact local authorities or utility companies to make sure that you can dig safely in certain spots.
When you’re ready, you’ll be digging a trench and placing the pipe. Most people choose to line the trench with landscape fabric to make things easier.
This job will be much easier if you use a trenching machine. You can rent trenching machines from some businesses if you’d like to avoid buying one.
Digging the trench out by hand would be less expensive, but it’s also substantially more laborious. Also, you need to figure out what to do with all of the dirt that you’re digging out no matter which route you take.
Overall, this method is one of the best ways to deal with flooding in your yard. You can solve the issue with your neighbor’s downspout flooding your yard fast with a properly installed French drain system.
6 – Try Building a Dry Well
Another idea is to build a dry well on your property. The dry well is going to give the water that is flooding your yard a place to go.
The underground well does an excellent job of collecting the water in the yard. It allows the water to seep underground so that it won’t be a problem any longer.
Admittedly, this is a bit of a big job that involves a lot of digging. You’ll have to dig a trench that is ten feet from the foundation of your home.
It’s also necessary for the dry well to be at least three feet away from your property line. The hole for the dry well should be four feet wide and deep.
Line the hole with landscape fabric. You then install PVC pipe from the downspout and direct it toward the dry well.
Since the downspout that you’re worrying about belongs to your neighbor, you can ask them if you can just direct the downspout water toward this dry well that you’ve built. It’s an easy solution that solves the water problem.
Well, building the well isn’t necessarily that easy of a job. However, it’s something that you can do with a little bit of manual labor and some time.
Final Thoughts
This should give you a better idea of what you can do if you have issues with your neighbor’s downspout flooding your yard. It’s certainly a problem that can make you a little bit mad, but it’s best to keep a cool head.
Try not to overreact because the problem might be solved with a simple conversation. Discussing the matter with your neighbor might allow you to get them to divert the downspout elsewhere.
You might even be able to discuss the matter with the local homeowner’s association to get assistance. Sometimes this will be enough to solve the problem.
There have been situations where people have gotten lawyers involved with these disputes. Local laws differ wildly and it’s hard to say whether the laws in your area will favor you or your neighbor.
You can get legal advice if you’d like to go that route. Some might think it’s easier to just solve the problem by diverting the water away from the yard.
Building either a dry well or a French drain can help to solve the problem. Such projects will take a bit of work, but they’ll help you to keep your yard from flooding.
Do your best to make choices that you can be proud of. You’ll be able to solve this situation and go on living comfortably soon enough.
I have a bachelor’s degree in Computer Information Systems and over 10 years of experience working in IT. As a homeowner, I love working on projects around the house, and as a father, I love investigating various ways to keep my family safe (whether or not this involves tech). I’ve also played guitar for almost 20 years and love writing music, although it’s hard to find the time these days.