Need help with drainage problem
 

So, I'm a new home owner and I have a problem in my back yard. It has a little bit of a hill going towards my house and with heavy rain it gets into my basement right where the house attaches to the foundation. I need to build something in the back yard to deflect the water away from the house. What would that be, just a wall?
Thanks in advance.

What is "little" with regards to the hill? The ideal solution would be grading the dirt so the water runs away from the house.

20 degree hill that flatens out when you get closer to the house, it also slopes towards the side of the.

Could be your prostate?

drain tile

Put the house on stilts.

French drain

Yep, bring in some dirt to fix the negative drain.

You got to change it so the slope is away, whether you do something creative landscaping wise to create a focal point, or you just cut and fill and reseed to create a path for the water to go where you want it. It's normally easier to keep the water away than to get rid of it after it gets where you don't want it in my experience.

Yes

...and Yes

You may want to explain this a little. Otherwise he might look in the yellow pages for a French company.

Oh and make sure he adds perforated tile to the project. Some like to build French drain with just washed agregate.

Foundation cracks? My parents had a sump pump in the basement.

Don't buy that house. That would be a deal killer for me.

You can put in a French drain but it can collapse or plug. You also have to have a place to send the water.

My parents had a house with a very similar setup and problem. I don't recall if it was a french drain or not, but I remember them digging a trench with piping to catch and divert the water. It was probably a french drain (which is essentially just a pipe with holes in it that's underground, and the water goes into the pipe as it tries to pass over it, which then allows you to divert the water).

I don't know how long french drains last before they get filled with debris. We have one at our house now to divert water from a basement stairway, but we've only had it for a 2 or 3 years. It seems like at some point it'll get clogged or filled with dirt.

You can also excavate around the foundation, seal it with a mastic then backfill with large gravel with a French drain at the bottom.