As I write this the city is, after more than a year of complaints, regrading the alley that borders two sides of my home. The last time they regraded they graded the alley into my yard, causing whatever water flowed down the alley to flow into my yard.
When they’re finished, I’ll go out and survey the damage.
One of these days I’ll contact the City Engineer’s office (or whatever equivalent we have here) to learn how they think alleys should be graded. I think they should be slightly trenched, at a level lower than the adjoining yards. Not greatly, just a little. At the least they shouldn’t be graded to drain water from one yard into another.
Update
They’ve completed the grading and I must say they’ve done a better job than the last time. I hope they plan on putting some limestone chat down or what they’ve done will last until the next rainstorm.
The alley in the back still looks as though it’s graded towards our yard. Does anyone know if there’s a place you can rent Ziplevels? (automatic digital elevation reader)
