Water leak that wasn't MY water leak

[DaveyB]

I came home from shopping on Saturday and parked the car, popped the trunk, opened the back door and started carrying the stuff in. On the second trip, I happened to look towards the East end of the home and saw water - a LOT of water - on the ground.

I bought this home a few months ago, and am still getting things the way I want them. At the end of the roofed concrete driveway alongside the South side of the home is an area 12x16 where a shed used to be. The shed was removed (long story) before I bought the home, so I pulled up some of the blocks that were laid in the ground to support the wood I was painting for the lattice I've been putting up. This left a shallow trench, about 4' long and 3" deep and it was FULL of water!

Before going shopping, I'd loaded the dishwasher (I had some friends over, normally I just hand wash the plates) and this was the first time I'd run it since I moved in! My immediate thought was that the dishwasher had caused the flooding! The following morning, I tore open the skirting on both sides, then ran the dishwasher again and kept a careful watch underneath - no leaks! (whew!)

A few hours later, I was talking to my neighbor and it seems that her son had been up to visit from Florida. He had watered all her plants for her, including the trees on the East end, the previous afternoon. We figured that he had over-watered the trees, and the water had seeped under my home through the soil under the gravel landscaping, causing the flooding.

My question is how to defend against this happening in the future? I'm about to lay a concrete pad on that shed space, and build a new shed over it (wood floors are not meant to take the weight of 750lb motorcycles) and I don't want the soil erosion under the pad from either fanatical gardeners or the occasional rain.

I was considering a french drain system, but I have nowhere to channel it to drainage. Any suggestions? The board attachment quota has been reached, so i can't upload any images, sorry!

DaveyB

[Greg]

The first idea I have is french drains into a dry well. That would give a limited amount of runoff capacity but better than nothing.

Greg

[DaveyB]

That might work - I'll ask the park if they would be ok with that. Not like we get a lot of rain here anyway, it's mainly for the overly-enthusiastic gardeners! thanks!