Plugging a 3" PVC pipe.

Hi all,

I found a pipe the other day that is under my neighbors retaining wall draining directly into my yard. I know I have the ability to complain to my town about this but wanted to get an idea from someone here on how I could go about getting this resolved. I believe the pipe is perforated and was placed under the wall to drain excess water from their property (right into mine) This has been in place for about 30 years now and I want it resolved ASAP. Any ideas guys?

You sound like my neighbor. You're not are you?

Neighbors and water problems are one of those eternal things in life that must date back to the Stone Age. They will be with us for always.

I had the same problem but it was 50 year old clay French drain which used to drain both mine and my neighbor's yards to the street but started dumping into his yard because the pipe that ran via his property (underground) to the street got blocked! Phew.

If I were you I would just live with it. That drainage is actually in your interest unless you want his retaining wall to start crumbling into your yard over the years. I have never seen drainage from a retaining wall gush. It's just there to stop hydrostatic pressure breaking the wall over time. The retaining wall in my yard has no drainage and is coming apart.

But if you're going to ignore that advice, then my second-best tip would be to ask him politely to either:

a) dig it up.
b) reroute it via his property to the street
c) terminate the pipe further back on his property.

My neighbor asked me quite rudely to fix it, so I just dug it up.

It ruined our relationship ever since and even though there is no longer any pipe he still thinks my run-off dumps in his yard.

And remember to keep your own house in order before making your drainage problems something you want other people to worry about.

That means working gutters that discharge a long way from the house, and proper grading around your property that prevents water from sitting near the foundation.

Ian Gills said:

You sound like my neighbor. You're not are you?

Neighbors and water problems are one of those eternal things in life that must date back to the Stone Age. They will be with us for always.

I had the same problem but it was 50 year old clay French drain which used to drain both mine and my neighbor's yards to the street but started dumping into his yard because the pipe that ran via his property (underground) to the street got blocked! Phew.

If I were you I would just live with it. That drainage is actually in your interest unless you want his retaining wall to start crumbling into your yard over the years. I have never seen drainage from a retaining wall gush. It's just there to stop hydrostatic pressure breaking the wall over time. The retaining wall in my yard has no drainage and is coming apart.

But other than that my advice would be to ask him politely to either:

a) dig it up.
b) reroute it via his property to the street
c) terminate the pipe further back on his property.

My neighbor asked me quite rudely to fix it, so I just dug it up.

It ruined our relationship ever since and even though there is no longer any pipe he still thinks my run-off dumps in his yard.

I bet you live on a hill don't you and he just happens to live slightly above you?

Click to expand...

Hi actually my neighbors property is about 3 feet higher then mine. He installed a retaining wall so he could put in an in-ground pool about 30 years. Little did we know the contractor put a pipe on the bottom of the wall running directly into our yard.

If the natural contour of the properties BM ( before man) was such that your neighbors yard drained flowing across your property, that is OK. But it sounds like the natural arrangement was disturbed by that retaining wall, so he should have redirected the draining through his property. At this point, you should make a stink because it might turb out the wall was built without permit. The permit would have made him drain correctlyl

No Town, even my Town which is crazy strict, is going to get out of bed about a drain pipe for a 30 year old retaining wall, permit or no permit.

They'll be too busy dealing with the occassional sink hole that happens in towns like mine (ours) and trying to persuade the County to build a storm drain to deal with it. Or stopping people finishing their basements without permits.

If it had been built yesterday, then it would be very different. But if it's been there 30 years, everyone will need to compromise. As a good neighbor he should do something about it, and as an equally good neighbor you shouldn't get upset if he decides not to.

Plugging a 3" PVC pipe

I respectfully disagree. If you could see what is happening to my yard in the area that this pipe is draining then you would understand my dilemma. I installed a PVC privacy fence and a 24' above ground pool recently, totally changing my original landscape. This is when it became evident that something was amiss. My pool is surrounded with water at the base that is being directed towards it from this pipe. This and the fact my yard is always like a quagmire may be eliminated with the removal of this pipe. I am looking for a way to plug it permanently so it never drains into my yard again.

Since it's a perforated pipe, if you plug it at the property line, it'll just seep through the wall and continue soak your yard, potentially degrading the integrity of the retaining wall in the process.

The finger-in-the-dike trick only works in cartoons & legends. Gotta be careful what you ask for...

Were it me, I'd try to engineer a pass-through drain to keep my yard dry and try to convince the owner of the offending drain to fund the project.

Water always runs downhill- it's the fact that his drain collects & redirects toward a particular spot you'd prefer to keep dry that's the issue. Simply plugging it will never solve your problem. Extending it (whether on his land or yours) is far more likely to actually resolve the quagmire issue, whether the neighbor pays for it or you do.

And even if you get stuck with the entire bill, it'll still be a lot cheaper than getting into a legal pissin' match.