Vent: Tried watering my foundation and ended up flooding the neighbor's yard

So I heard you gotta water your foundation in this dry Albuquerque clay to keep it from cracking. Figured I'd toss a soaker hose around the house and let it run for like an hour. Woke up the next morning to find a 20 foot muddy river heading straight into the neighbor's side yard. Their dog was not impressed and neither were they. Turns out my yard slopes just enough that all that water skips the foundation and goes rogue. Now I'm out 40 bucks on a timer and gotta figure out a better setup. Anyone else dealt with foundation watering going totally sideways in this town?

2 comments

2 Comments

wadea531mo ago

Good intentions backfiring" is right, but a soaker hose around the house is actually a common method here that works if you grade it flat first.

anna_hill1mo ago

Honestly this is such a classic case of good intentions backfiring because of one small detail you didn't think about. Tbh I've seen folks around here do the same thing and end up with a mud pit instead of a protected foundation. The bigger pattern I notice is how people assume simple solutions will work without checking the actual terrain or drainage first. Ngl it's like everyone is trying to hack their way through life but forgets that houses and yards are all different and need custom approaches. Hope you get it sorted before the next monsoon.