Make a Model

If you take some scrap cardboard and trace the different patterns of a topo map onto the cardboard and then cut out each pattern, you can make a 3D model of a building lot or piece of land. You take the cut out patterns and stack them on top of one another. One of the things that becomes very apparent when you do this is the fact that topographic lines that are spaced closely together indicate a steep hill or a cliff in reality. When you build a model, you will find this out in a hurry! If you have kids and are looking for a neat science project, see if their teacher will let you create a 3D model from a topographic map.

Coastal Lots

If you live or are relocating to a low lying coastal area, you know that the land is usually very flat. Try to see if you can raise up your house 12 or 18 inches from the normal level that everyone else builds. Have some extra dirt brought in and use this to taper the soil away from your foundation out towards your lot lines. The end result will be a very gentle slope that offers you lots of protection if a heavy rain floods all of your neighbors' houses.

Drainage solution- trench drain.

Soggy Lots

If you have a swampy or soggy lot now and need relief, then you need to look at this drawing.It is a plan or side view drawing of a linear French drain. These simple drainage devices can dry out wet soil in a big hurry.

Keep in mind that water likes to take the path of least resistance. It will flow through gravel much more quickly than through soil. As water migrates from the soil into these trench drains, the water is wicked from adjacent soil towards the drains. The net effect is that your lot dries up.

The backyard of my lot was a swamp each spring. I installed a single linear French drain on the high side of my lot to intercept all of the water that was coming from the land above me. It worked instantly and continues to keep my lot dry as a bone while my neighbor's lot above me is soggy and wet! I keep telling them to install a linear french drain, but they don't seem interested. What was that saying about leading a horse to water?

Drainage issues are critical and they can cost you huge dollars after you move in. It takes some detective work and some thought to figure out what will happen after you move in. Study the land and look at existing subdivisions to see how land forms and shapes affect drainage.