We have been having trouble with flooding the last five years more than usual. We've been in our house 26 years now, there is a creek about 600 feet behind our property. There has always been spring thaw flooding in past years, but that was limited to the rear of the property. Since 2004 the flooding has come up to the house 5 times, and once put 4 feet in my basement when it overtook my sump pump. The house was the second one built on the road in 1910 (the first was there in 1850), when the area built up in the 1950's the houses on this side of the road filled in 3 to 5 feet where they put their houses. The land behind the houses is still at original height. Once the flooding got bad in 2004 I was going to raise a small berm which was where the other houses were filled in to. The town said I couldn't without hiring an engineer, which I can't afford. Since I'm not allowed to move the soil around on my own property without spending big bucks, would cinder blocks doubled or tripled up with a steel rod in each hole to keep each pile from twisting lined across do any good? It is temporary, can't be called permanent, doesn't alter the soil. Would the blocks put tight together sideways work? Appreciate any comments.
Timingchain
:Welcome1:
since this is an on going flood issue, check with FEMA. around here they have been offering money to raise houses up or build flood walls.
the problem is that FEMA, Congress and the banks require you to build new construction above the flood plain. that is fine for a couple instances, but once you get a lot of low spots filled in the flood spreads to areas it never has. this means you are now stuck having to fix a problem that your neighbors created!
since this is an on going flood issue, check with FEMA. around here they have been offering money to raise houses up or build flood walls.
the problem is that FEMA, Congress and the banks require you to build new construction above the flood plain. that is fine for a couple instances, but once you get a lot of low spots filled in the flood spreads to areas it never has. this means you are now stuck having to fix a problem that your neighbors created!
I'd say that you need to become intimately familiar with any and all regulations that do or could pertain to this issue, start locally with the Inland Wetland and Watercourses Agency/Commission, Zoning/Planning & Zoning Agency/Commission, and lastly at the State level through the Department of Environmental Protection. You may also have other regulatory agencies at the Local, County, or state level.
You can also visit the state of N. Y. website and look for Title and Codes for the specifics to each agency as far as State Statutes are concerned.
May not want to here this but when and if you get to a point where you attempt to address this issue with the powers that be, you may be required to show (prove) that:
#1. A base line water flow/Table does exist and is supported by a certified soil scientist and or engineer.
#2. Said baseline never met the specification for drainage to be compliant with the 100 year storm calculations.
#3. Improvements/development of upstream properties did not take into consideration the increased water runoff and did, or did not increase the volume of discharge and or redirected said discharge onto downstream properties without proper controls in place.
This is not an all inclusive list, its just a few things that may be regulated in your state and examples of the types of things to look for.
You may also want to look at the Mission Statements, Bylaws, Constitution, Standing rules, and Summary Rulings for any and all agencies that you need to deal with.
Most times there is no easy way to ensure that your treated fairly, therefore you have to be the subject matter expert or give up and comply with someone else's demands.
Is the battle or the war the most important to win?
You can also visit the state of N. Y. website and look for Title and Codes for the specifics to each agency as far as State Statutes are concerned.
May not want to here this but when and if you get to a point where you attempt to address this issue with the powers that be, you may be required to show (prove) that:
#1. A base line water flow/Table does exist and is supported by a certified soil scientist and or engineer.
#2. Said baseline never met the specification for drainage to be compliant with the 100 year storm calculations.
#3. Improvements/development of upstream properties did not take into consideration the increased water runoff and did, or did not increase the volume of discharge and or redirected said discharge onto downstream properties without proper controls in place.
This is not an all inclusive list, its just a few things that may be regulated in your state and examples of the types of things to look for.
You may also want to look at the Mission Statements, Bylaws, Constitution, Standing rules, and Summary Rulings for any and all agencies that you need to deal with.
Most times there is no easy way to ensure that your treated fairly, therefore you have to be the subject matter expert or give up and comply with someone else's demands.
Is the battle or the war the most important to win?
Thanks for the replies. I'm thinking of going with the cinder blocks because they are cheap, fairly mobile, not permanent and can be used elsewhere if the town comes and tells me to remove it. I've been through the talking about, discussing, reasoning and demanding stages with the town engineer. The Army Corps. of Engineers were OK but the town clown is another story. They have fined people upstream for filling in but that doesn't help me any. I usually have some warning when the creek is cresting and there is heavy rain forecast, so it isn't like the blocks will be up very much. It just will be a pain you know where. Better than sand bags which are more cumbersome and rot. And as I mentioned before I can not afford an engineer.
you can't afford an engineer but you can afford several hundred bucks worth of cinderblocks? unless it is a REAL SMALL opening the water is coming thru you will have to have a long line of block. they would have to be jammed tight because any little gap would allow water to flow thru it. onc eit starts, it will find a way to force itself thru in force.
sorry if i sound harsh about it, but you will spend just as much or more on a solution that won't work well as you would to do it right.
have you checked to see if FEMA will help with the costs like i said?
sorry if i sound harsh about it, but you will spend just as much or more on a solution that won't work well as you would to do it right.
have you checked to see if FEMA will help with the costs like i said?
As I wrote in my post, my house was the second one built on this side of the road almost 100 years ago. It was over 40 years before other houses were built here, and they all filled in the fronts of their lots near the road, leaving the rear of the lots at the original level. The lots on either side of me are built up on a gradual slope. Leaving me slightly higher than the rear of my property and the other back lots, but lower than the other houses. The whole road was in a flood plain but it is just lately they are touchy about filling in and moving around soil that is already there. Since my house and the house that has been here since 1850 are the only ones suffering (that house is two doors down from me, in same situation) in the whole town, we are mostly on our own. The town worries more that what we do might cause some one else grief. In 2004 I had 4 feet of water in my basement and tried to get assistance from FEMA and was turned down. I guess I could try them in regard to this problem but I won't hold my breath. As far as the cost; the blocks are $1.25 each, 3 high for 150 feet. Each block is 16 inches. Total very roughly $450? Yeah, not chicken feed but I can imagine what an engineer costs, and then there is the cost of having the work done. Did I mention I'm retired?
how often are you going to have to put it up and take it down? that is a lot of work. and unless you get interlocking blocks 2-3' of water will push it over. especially if it is flowing water versus just standing water.
also, the water that comes in your basement, how much of it comes in thru the wall versus around windows/doors? if it aint much then maybe you can bag the openings easier than stackign a 150'x3' wall!
i understand your frustration, i just think the way you want to fix it won't really work. keep in mind too that IF the wall fails after the water gets deep, you will have a sudden in rush of water that will likely damage the home worse than if it had seeped in slowly over a day or two.
also, the water that comes in your basement, how much of it comes in thru the wall versus around windows/doors? if it aint much then maybe you can bag the openings easier than stackign a 150'x3' wall!
i understand your frustration, i just think the way you want to fix it won't really work. keep in mind too that IF the wall fails after the water gets deep, you will have a sudden in rush of water that will likely damage the home worse than if it had seeped in slowly over a day or two.
The water only got into the basement that one year because the sump pump got overwhelmed. Lucky me, we must have a high water table also and that day we had 5 inches of rain, saturated ground and the creek, so the tiles were full and the pump couldn't keep up. We don't get water through the windows, there is some seepage through the block walls and percolation through the floor. Old house blues. Down spouts go far from house, soil around house is graded properly. It is frustrating. The last six years we're getting two, sometimes three floods a year instead of the one spring thaw flood. They come in spring, summer, fall, winter, anytime now and they come right up to the house each time. The water used to stop about 150 feet away at the small berm we have, but that isn't enough anymore. It needs another 2 feet for sure and 3 feet would be a nice cushion. The water leaves a layer of mud which stinks and you know its not healthy. The wall will not be taking the full force of the water, it will be parallel to the creek's flow. The level of the lots raises where my berm is, so there isn't the full force at that point, the water slows over the berm and comes into my back yard with less force. Also won't having a pipe driven into each hole of every block stabilize them both vertically and side to side? BTW, I live just outside Buffalo, N.Y.
not sure if you knew this or not but water will seep through cinder blocks. your best defense against this problem will be to buy something like ugl drylock and coat the walls and floor of your basement with it and also fill in any bigger cracks with a hydraulic cement it expands when it cures to provide a tight seal i did all this to my basement and now i dont get any seepage at all. and as a extra bit of precaution i would invest in an emergency backup sump pump.
:ditto: Also if the wall fails you may have a 3 foot wall of water crash into your house, possibly knocking it off it's foundation. Better to err on the side of safty rather than cost.
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