A homeowner near Marysville had a patio that turned into a pond every November. The fix wasn’t a bigger drain — it was dirt in the right places.
The problem
The yard sloped toward the house by about two inches over the first ten feet. Every downspout and every rain was running back at the foundation.
What we did
- Re-cut the grade to fall away from the house at 5%
- Tied all four downspouts into a buried line to daylight
- Set a shallow swale to carry surface water to the back corner
The result
One wet season later: a dry patio and a dry crawlspace. No pump, no fancy system — just earth shaped to do its job. Grading first, drains second, almost always.
Little-Known Fact
Just two inches of fall over the first ten feet away from the house prevents more wet crawlspaces than any sump pump.