Question
I've lived in my home for about 9 years.  It is not a good lot.  My house sits down from the road with a long slope at about a 135 degree angle, I would guess about 30 feet long.  Grass covered except for the wide wooden steps coming down from the street under which is dirt.  I've had 4 mudslides when it rains HEAVY.  I also have a storm drain sitting to the right of my steps on the street which cannot hold all the water when it rains massively, and therefore runs down my yard.  Yes, I've talked to my borough...you know how that goes-they built me a half baked curb and chipped out some asphalt around the drain.  So, the last one happened last week.  I now have about a 2 ft. deep trench under my steps where the water washes down from under.  What can I put there to help stop this.  A couple of people (not professionals) have suggested putting river rock down.  My question is, would this help and would the river rock come down in a massive rain?  When this happens the rains have come down hard enough to move some stray bricks under the steps, as well as lifting up and washing away large pavers from my sidewalk at the bottom of the steps.  Do you think this would be a good idea for a fix or would you have any other suggestions?  Thanks in advance for your input.

Answer
Hey, Kelly.

It's difficult to answer a question like yours from a description, but it sounds to me like you need more than just some river rock. I think you need a professional landscaper with vast experience in the areas of hillsides and erosion control. Without having the privilege of being there to look at things, it sounds like the storm drain might be clogged from previous mudslides, so I'd try to have that checked first. I've seen retaining walls with French drains used successfully on hillsides, but I can't make a determination based on your description as to whether or not that would work.

Probably the last thing I would do is put down anything that is not permanent because I think the next heavy rain will simply wash it away.

Is there a possibility that you can take some photos and email them to me? I might be able to help you better then.