my entire lot sits 2’ lower than all my surrounding neighbors’ lots with some really shoddy gabion fences filled with dirt and ditches below to prevent water from swamping the yard (previous owner’s work). but what really ended up happening is the yard has risen substantially from dirt escaping these gabions and now slopes toward the house creating all sorts of issues.
i’m currently in the process of digging out and regrading the yard to slope away and want to do 2’ retaining walls, 2’ away from the property line and “my” fence. so basically i’ll have raised garden beds that are level with all the neighbors’ yards with my yard sloping towards the retaining walls.
my plan was to do the perforated pipe drainage behind the walls and then a channel drain in front of them for yard drainage. we get 100”+ of rain here every year and sometimes it doesn’t stop heavy raining for a week. all drains would lead to an open culvert in the front yard where my yard meets the street. the whole neighborhood has these open drainage ditches as opposed to neighborhoods with sidewalks.
my question is, in lieu of the perforated pipe behind the retaining walls, should i just do weep holes instead and let the channel drain catch the runoff? or is it necessary to have drains on both sides of the walls?
i’m torn between “we get so much rain” and “the walls are only 2’ high.” i don’t want to skimp on anything really necessary, but money is tight and i don’t want to waste it on ridiculous over-engineering.
thanks!