Foundation Water and Decomposed Granite Path

by Karen
(Melbourne, Vic)

A question about foundation water, grading and using a decomposed granite path.

My husband and I want to create a path down the side of our house using crushed granite. The problem we have is that our block gradually slopes towards the house and we are unsure how to solve the foundation water drainage issue so that water will be kept away from the foundations.

Any advice would be appreciated!
Thanks in advance.

ANSWER

Hi Karen,

The best thing to do would be to grade the land away from your house at 1/4" per foot. For an example, if you place your walkway two feet away from the house, the level at the edge of the walk should be 1/2" lower than that of the grade meeting the house.
Landscape Grading

This of course will make the level of the walk lower than that area is now. You can't really do much about that if you want to avoid foundation water. If you created a wall at the edge of the walk, the walk could remain at the higher elevation. However, the land is than sloping right into the wall, which can be a problem in itself.

You can create a small wall on the far side of the decomposed granite path which at least will help with changing the grade in this area too.

It depends on how steep all of your slopes are. If it's not too bad, perhaps the re-grading alone will be enough. If it's very steep going towards the house, the wall on the other side of the walk will help.

I hope this was helpful.
Susan