So, our old housemate was over this afternoon, when the neighbors across the street came a-knockin’. Seems water was pouring out from our gutter, across the street (downhill slightly) and flooding their garage. Well, that was indeed the case. But our drain wasn’t visibly clogged by anything. There was just so much rain that the 6″ diameter PVC pipe that acts as the “drain” under our driveway, to the rest of the gutter, wasn’t large enough to accomodate THAT MUCH WATER. It was pretty crazy, really. So we tried to see if there were little barriers we could put together to keep their house from flooding further, and we were able to use some joist wood, and what have you, to block things up at least temporarily. But it was craziness. Our old housemate ended up having the brilliant idea to try to send a 2×4 through the 6″ drain to try to make sure the pathway really was clear. The board went through without a problem, and though nothing visibly dislodged, it definitely got water flowing through it faster. We ended up having to “plunge” our neighbor next door’s gutter by basically sweeping water into it cyclically to get enough water through *it*, as well, since it was then flowing over the street, into their cross-street neighbor’s garage.
It’s weird – it’s not something I’d have thought of at *all* when originally purchasing the house, but I’m really, really glad to be on the up-side of the street. Aside from some water pushing in to the front inch and a half of the garage, our house is bone-dry, even under really heavy rain. It wasn’t last year – the front of the house leaked like a madman. But this year, looks like we’re in the clear. Good news, for sure.
Now, if only we could get that downstairs finished.