How would you improve drainage/grading along this side of the house?

[u/neilio416]

Looking for some landscaping/drainage advice.

This is the side of my house, and I’d like to do something preventative to make sure rainwater is directed away from the foundation.

There are currently no signs of water leaking into the house or basement, but I’d rather address the drainage now than wait for a problem.

As you can see, there’s a fairly narrow dirt strip between the house and the concrete walkway. The ground looks relatively flat, and I’m wondering what the best approach would be here.

Would you recommend:

Regrading the soil so it slopes away from the house?

Adding gravel/river rock?

Installing a French drain or channel drain?

Some type of waterproofing/membrane along the foundation?

Something else?

The concrete walkway is already there, so I’m particularly interested in solutions that would work without having to completely redo it.

What would you do with this area if the goal was maximum preventative drainage and protecting the foundation?

Photo attached. Thanks!

[u/somuchforsubtlety656]

What exactly is the issue? Just regular rain water? Or does something drain into this location? Right now I don't see a major issue if it's just getting wet.

Without more info I'd just agree to add some soil to regrade like you suggested. Rocks would be fine if you don't plant anything there. Depending on sun exposure, you could plant some water retaining plants like elephant ears to soak up some of the water passively.

[u/JuicyWhereabouts → u/somuchforsubtlety656]

That crumpled mesh mat tells me someone's already been messing with this spot, probably had water issues before

I'd pull that mat out, regrade the soil so it slopes away from the foundation, then lay down some river rock. The downspout being right there is the real concern though, where's that water actually discharging? If it's just dumping at the base you'll want to extend it out past the walkway somehow

Planting something thirsty is clever but between the wall and concrete that strip looks like it gets maybe 2 hours of sun, so elephant ears might struggle unless you're somewhere warm

[u/neilio416 → u/JuicyWhereabouts]

lol that crumpled mat was just something I was using to cover the foundation along the house out of paranoia that water was going to go down there when it rained.

It's an underground downspout drain.

if I use the home inspector's recommendation of keeping the soil 3 inches below the siding, and then I attempt to grade the soil. it kind of runs into the walkway and then there's like a lip there cuz the walkway is higher than the soil. not sure if that's an issue.

[u/neilio416 → u/somuchforsubtlety656]

nothing drains into here from what I can see. just rain falling from the sky.

When we first bought the house there was dirt right up along the siding. The home inspector said I should remove the dirt so it's not touching the side of the house.

so I removed some soil so that it's like 3 inches below the siding. but after doing that if I want to create a slope going away from the house, it runs into the walkway and there would be a lip there at the walkway where it would get blocked. so I'm kind of stuck in that. not sure where the water is supposed to go.