Is this garden slope of any concern?

Goldiegirl

It looks very similar to our house.


You say that there's another house behind the fence.


I'd suggest you have a look at the road that the house behind stands on, and also (if you can) see if you can have a look in the back garden of the house.


We had a worst case scenario about 18 months ago when there was a big localised storm, which caused some houses in the nearby roads to flash flood. However, due to the way the road behind us is set out, all the water was channelled away from us, so there was no possibility of any water being channelled towards our sloping garden and down towards our house.


Also, as a further precaution, when we built our patio, we made sure there were two deep soakaways built in, to ensure good drainage.


Hope this helps

AlexMac

What you describe and draw is exactly like hundreds (if not tens of thousands ) of Victorian properties in London where the semi- basement lower floor is about 1 meter below ground level, but where a 'lightwell' is excavated at the front of the house, usually only with a six- inch square gulley or drain in its cement base. These are OK as long as the gulley connects to a street drain or sewer or to a really big land drain, AND, as long as the gulley is kept clear of silt . I've had no problems in a couple such properties all considerably older than this one (although we had a bit of damp at the side where the external soil was higher that the floor inside) .

It also depends on how big the area above is, what this area's surface is; nice loose porous, sandy soil and grass- or hard packed clay or even worse, paving, as this will affect how rainwater runs off into the lower 'well'?

Our neighbours once had such an arrangement but it was 'fed' by run-off from a hard parking area of about 100 sq M, so hundreds of litres of of rainwater run-off! the silly sods then laid shingle, which got muddy, blocked the gully, and, unsurprisingly, after a cloudburst, the whole lightwell began to fill with water. They were out, so muggins here had to plunge in to remove the drain-cover and de-sludge the U-bend in the gulley, moments before the water lapped over their window-sills and into the house- By hand! Yuk.

But assuing you keep the drains clean and/or run-off is minimal, no problem .

TBagpuss

God drainage is important, others have said- also visit the house at different times of day and see whether it makes any of the rooms dark.

marmitepotato

Run OP! Run away from the hills!

artbaron

Looks like you'd be at risk from the world's most inconsequential landslip.

shegirl

It will be fine.

My back garden is higher than the bottom of my house by a couple of feet.Has a small wall at the bottom,a steep slope then the rest of the garden above it is fairly level.

There are no issues.In fact,many people have gardens like that!

Hermoine

I moved to a turn of the century terrace in a hilly area of Bristol a few years ago. There was a flight of stairs to the front door, and there was another steep flight of stairs outside the back door going up to the slightly sloping garden - which was more or less level with the first floor bathroom window. The garden of the house behind mine was also on a slope, with that house being at the top of the hill. There was quite a solid wall which supported the garden and was about 3 ft away from the back wall of the utility room at the back of the house. The survey when I bought the property showed up no problems, and the survey when I sold the property also showed no real problems. I never had any problems with water coming off the garden, but a slight crack appeared in an upstairs room at one point, due to some sideways movement as my house was one away from the end of the terrace and they were affected by trees being cut down in the garden to their side. I loved the house and its surroundings and never worried about flooding or slippage. It might be worth investing in a small retaining wall where your steps are, just in case

camptownraces

Worth getting a surveyor to inspect?

That's what they're trained for, they will examine retaining walls and drains. Is surface water going into main drains or into soakaways in this area?

Lots of houses are like this, some are well maintained, some are not.

Old_Git

depends on the slope but not great for kid playing .

Davesnave

Drainage is adequately discussed here, but what you don't show is orientation.


If the slope goes southerly, and especially if it keeps going to other houses, trees, etc, then kiss goodbye to sunshine at the darkest time of year.


Somebody buys houses at the bottom of north facing slopes, but it would never be me!