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- Vacation Cut Short To Get Home And Fight Flood
Vacation Cut Short To Get Home And Fight Flood
When we left we had a patio, now we have a pool.
[ ⛔️ Alert: as we prepared to send this story, NYC was issued a “scattered severe thunderstorm warning” from 7pm - 2am June 26. Approx 1 inch rain. Related Sponge stories: Storm Coming: 4 Quick Steps and What 1 Inch of Rain Can Do ]
For the third time in the last five years, a Brooklyn couple was out of town when their vacation plans abruptly ended: they had to rush home and fight flooding.
When they got there, they saw their back patio had become a pool.
Water was coming from the rain, the roof, and the drain….which was gushing due to the pressure from the overwhelmed city sewers. It was getting closer to cresting over the back door transom.
The “pool” in the backyard, almost up to the chair.
Source: homeowners
Then they checked the basement. A steady stream was moving inside from one side of the building to the other.
Basement stream. Source: homeowners
Minor flooding had happened before. They had one sump pump already and even a few submersible pumps for emergencies that could be put in water and push it through a hose out to the front. In fact, getting these pumps in place and ensuring they were activated was the reason they had rushed home many times before. So once again, they sprang into flood-action-mode.
“Flooding has become the #1 talked-about issue on our block…even more than parking”
But this time the pumps couldn’t keep up. So they started bailing.
“We’re too old to be bailing out the basement. What would happen if we were not there? We needed to do something different or we would never feel comfortable being away from home.”
They were over it. So here is what they did.
Create mental space and give yourself time
After cleanup, the first stage was to clear some mental space, energy and time for many questions and research.
Where did this much water come from and why did it accumulate so fast? Answering this was tricky.
They knew first hand that severe cloudbursts were more common and were likely to increase (NYC is now classified as a sub-tropical zone by NOAA).
But they also had to consider other potential factors for both water sources AND/OR water blockers:
the way their backyard was built
back up from the city sewers
the neighbors property cement/slope/walls /downspouts
potential groundwater tables that are higher than they used to be
even the soil: clay doesn’t absorb like dirt
They also acknowledged that that solving the backyard would not solve 100% of their flooding needs as water can come from the back, the front, and maybe from below. But could they at least solve for one part…?
It was a lot to juggle mentally. Different approaches led to more questions. A few of their initial thoughts…🤔
“We thought about putting a sump pump outside, but our plumbers said don’t do that.”
“What do we do with the water? Could we hold it outside somehow, but would that breed mosquitos?”
“Could we add more dirt and plantings to hold water? How much?”
“Should we just get a bigger sump pump for the basement?”
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There were also more technical things to try and wrap their head around: engineering types of questions, plumbing questions, city regulation questions, landscape questions….and of course the related financial tradeoffs of all of those.
Knowing how to maintain a sump pump is one thing, but this was a different level: “We had no concept of what infrastructure could look like…we didn’t know what to do.”
It can easily feel overwhelming, even for these experienced and savvy homeowners who had done a lot of home repair and construction. They knew they needed help.
Talk to some experts, then pick a lead
Flooding is like a puzzle of many pieces, and there are many companies that can address specific pieces.
In this situation, the homeowners were hoping to find someone who could look at all the pieces holistically.
With the focus on the backyard, landscaping would be part of it, but only part. This situation required something more technical - more like a landscape design & build firm who also had expertise specifically in flooding, water mitigation and drainage options.
The project lead would need to consult with a team of other experts (plumbers, engineers, masons, soil testers, drainage tech). Then stitch it all together and create a plan that wasn’t just a backyard plan but really a home flooding mitigation plan.
They ended up selecting a local landscape design & build firm: Field Form.
www.fieldform.nyc
Before anything was suggested or built, there was a planning and design stage which took place during the winter months (a good time to do before spring and outside work begins).
A few of the key items gathered:
Wishes of the homeowner redesign ideas and budget
Property dimensions and estimated water runoff amounts
Downspout approach and connections (where it goes now, change?)
Survey potential porous surfaces and distance from foundation
Identify potential groundwater /local hydrology
Soil testing (percolation test: how absorbent)
Presence of sewer/electrical lines
Property lines (legal limits of what you can do near neighbors)
Survey area around foundation
This along with other things is put into a proposal of options.
“If you're willing to explore a bit deeper, it is within reason to rely upon your garden's hidden depths as a means of redirecting stormwater and reducing flooding" says Field Form owner Samuel Robinson.
Pick an approach that gives you peace of mind
So what did they decide to do?
They opted to go for a “dry well system” that could be buried in the backyard and hold an estimated 1,000 gallons of water. Using three 50 gallon dry wells that were interconnected and surrounded by gravel and membrane, they created a large but out-of-sight water storage area that could maximize the space and capacity.
Top view. Source: Field Form
Side view. Source: Field Form
They liked this approach because:
It could handle and hold a lot of water quickly, from many sources.
They could fit this inside the lot lines they needed to work within.
It wasn’t too complicated and was “passive” (didn’t rely on electric or machines working, just gravity).
Reduced/eliminated water in the back (water from the front would be handled another way).
They could optimize space in the backyard (this was buried).
Create peace of mind, even with bigger storms in the future.
Doing it
After starting the discussion in the fall, selecting a partner and getting the plan agreed in the winter, it was now spring and time to do it.
Here are some “postcards” from the dry well installation process along with some notes.
Dig a dry-well hole away from foundation and within lot line rules
Add membrane layer and create gravel layer which will help hold excess water and increase capacity
Place three dry wells and inter-connect, topped with gravel, larger space around wells also holds water
Near house (but not above dry wells) add barrier material so water moves away from foundation
Levels measured to ensure stone pavers slope away from house
Stone pavers laid out on top, water enters through buried downspout connection and through spaces between stones
Voila: new backyard ready for more water
Feel good after effort and money
They are feeling good about this after the 8 month journey.
It was a sizable investment; but they were already paying with time, energy, money and worry given how often they were dealing with flooding in their Brooklyn neighborhood.
And they are not alone: “Flooding has become the #1 talked-about issue on our block, even more than parking” they reported.
Their costs went well beyond the dry well. Since the yard was getting taken apart anyway, they took the opportunity to do other things: replace the fence they built 20 years ago, a new brick wall, electric lighting, ways to increase air flow into basement, and stone they liked.
Psychologically, it’s important to feel good about your bigger investments, even if that means spending more than you initially thought. But he also cautioned: “whatever you think it will cost, I recommend adding 20%” for the contingencies that come up.
Lastly, as an owner who also has a tenant apartment, they can feel more confident about what they can say when renting - or if they ever sell - given the new “Right To Know”laws around flooding disclosure. They have increased their flooding resiliency and their property value, and actually helped protect their neighbors property too.
A project like this is an investment that not everyone can do. And we plan to explore other options at different price points in future newsletters.
When trying to evaluate if projects like this are worth the cost? Is it just a big expense? Or does it save or even make money in the medium/long-term?
…be sure to include answers to these questions too:
Is more water coming?
What is peace of mind is worth to you?
🙏🏼 Many thanks to these homeowners for sharing their story with The City Sponge so others could learn. 😅
If you have a NYC flooding story you think could help others, please email us [email protected]
Helpful sites:
How Do Dry Wells Work: https://www.thisoldhouse.com/yards/21308166/how-dry-wells-work
Field Form: https://www.fieldform.nyc/
NDS Dry Well Manufacturer (brand used here): https://www.ndspro.com/flo-well-kit.html
NYC Green Infrastructure Plan and Citizen Guides: https://www.nyc.gov/site/dep/water/green-infrastructure.page
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