Question
We recently bought a house. I noticed a little water in an area near the back of the house during the inspection. The inspector said it was not affecting the house, there was nothing he could do. Come to find out, it is not affecting the structure; however, there is water there all the time. It is about 10 feet or so from the house. It looks like the backyard, which is small, slopes ever so slightly into this area. Also the driveway slopes down toward the backyard, which eventually ends up in this generall area. How do I get rid of this area? How do I get things to drain away from the house. It also looks like other peoples backyards might drain into ours backyard in some sort of way. I love the house. But I could see where walking out of the walkout basement would be a mess if we got tons of rain. It must flood right there at the door also. I see no signs of it up against the house. No rot was picked up.
Joanne

Answer
joanne, this is tough without being able to look at it, but i think i've seen the same problem many times. there is probably no easy solution, but here are some options. a sump pump, for this you need electric and a well to catch the water and also you need somewhere to pump it to. a gravel sump, this means digging a big hole in the problem area and filling it with large gravel that will hold more water than soil. a drain tile system, this requires gravity downhill to run the water away. (it doesn't sound like you have that choice here. or perhaps a big berm, just a pile of dirt, maybe covered with sheet plastic to dam up the water before it gets to your foundation. one thing you could do is just wait for a heavy rain and watch the water to see where it is coming from and maybe where it can go to.
          let me know if any of this does you any good
                    thanks
           james