Water coming over property line

by wet
(ca)

My neighbor's rain runoff goes down the side of the house and under the fence and onto my property. I was wondering if there is something I can put along the bottom of the fence separating the property to keep their water on their side of the fence. This would be about 100 feet of fencing that would be affected, so I can't afford anything too fancy.

ANSWER

It all depends on the grade of your land, since water must travel somewhere so that it is not stagnant.

I have written more about this on other pages on this site:
Landscape Grading
Lawn Drainage
Perforated Pipe

You would want to catch the water to prevent it from travelling further onto your property. 100 feet is a long distance. The least expensive option would be to create a drainage swale on your side of the fence. This is similar to a ditch but is lawn. The swale would go alongside your fence, parallel to it. How far inside depends on the width of your property in that area. The main thing is that it has to slope in a certain direction, either towards the front yard or towards the rear, and then there must be a logical place for the water to collect. So the land must slope towards the drainage swale on both sides, but also the swale must be pitched at a minimum of 1/4" per foot.

The swale might lead to a wooded area, just a lower elevation on your property, etc. You could also create a dry well. A dry well is a drainage pit created from stone. They can also be concrete drums, but those are much more expensive. The swale leads directly to the top of the dry well where the water can seep into it. The water seeps down and then percolates back out into the surrounding ground.

Perforated pipe along the fence is another option. The water would collect in the pipe via holes on the top (and sometimes on the bottom). The pipe would be sloped at about 1/4" per foot and lead to a particular area.

You would have to price it out both ways. The swale is likely cheaper.