first time poster, relatively longish time lurker. just purchased a new house, yard is a disappointment but will be crashed/burned/stripped then LEW'd/ and restored (jfd.lew's twin bro. i've adopted the word into my vocab; spontaneously spurts out like tourette's when i drive by a pile of leaves)

but first...i need some help on grading/draining. here's the situation.
the house sits in a low spot surrounded by higher elevation yards on 2 sides.

directly to the west in the back yard is about an 8ft elevation to the rear neighbors yard, graded into mine.

directly to the south is the other neighbor elevated about 4 or 5 feet and graded into my yard as well. in between my house and the south neighbor is about 10 feet wide of yard and 60 feet long, this part is either a natural swale or a built one. this spot is constantly 'marshy' and its right along 2 egress windows.

the seller really neglected this yard, around the west side of the house is about 4 inches wide by 5 inches deep of eroded earth around the foundation. he didnt have gutters on the west side of the house and one on the south (near the swale) was dumping right along the foundation. seller disclosed he had water issues in the egress windows (which i have to dig up and fix) im hoping its because he was just stupid with how he managed water runoff.

are there any engineers on here that could suggest the best plan of action on either regrading the yard, digging a french drain, tiles or whatever to divert water?

I think your best bet is to have a professional landscaper come out and actually walk the site and give you recommendations and a proposal to do the work if you do not want to tackle it yourself.Even if you decide to DIY,paying for a pro to come out and actually tell you exactly what and where to alter grade/install drainage pipe/etc will be worth his consultation fee to help you achieve your objectives.

Welcome aboard, JSM !!!

I'm no expert on landscape engineering, but I did notice that your profile is just a tad generic. You might want to get a little more specific about where you're at (geographically) to encourage folks with local knowledge to chime in.

He's a slacker Andy.

jfd.lew wrote:He's a slacker Andy.

bahahahahaha; some good ol'e fashion brotherly love!

Just a thought; This might be prime time to install a water storage tank. I've never used or installed one but if your drainage needs to be re-done, you might be able to incorporate one onto the property.

During a drought or high water usage periods of time, I always wish I had one.