3 Birds, 1 Stone: A Barn, A Pool, and a Drainage Solution

Our Clients, Gene & Marcia, had big plans for their new house. Those plans included finishing the basement, building a barn with second level, installing a pool, and building a gazebo for their pool hangout spot. When they reached out to Wildwood, they had a good idea of what they wanted. They did their own research and even started the process with another builder. Unfortunately, their first builder left them hanging. They didn't know when the build was going to start or even what it was going to look like. Their patience wore thin. That's when they reached out to a few more contractors, Wildwood(then McKellar Construction) being one of those contractors.

Ultimately, Gene and Marcia narrowed down the contractors and decided to build with Wildwood Barn Builders. We were fortunate enough to get the opportunity to work with them. We provided a design and a guideline of our build process, in hopes to offer comfort in communication about their build.

During our design process Gene & Marcia came up with a brilliant idea. “Why don't we build the purpose of our gazebo into the barn?” Afterall, the barn was only going to be 10’ from the pool. Not only was this going to make their covered space larger, it also created a larger truss system, allowing for a bigger room above the garage. All while cutting the cost of building a second structure. It made too much sense. We worked together to create the perfect space. A 12 foot deep by 30 foot long covered porch. Aluminum soffit with can lights and ceiling fans. All dolled up with 3 custom wrapped columns. The perfect spot to relax in your own backyard. As long as the numbers worked, they were up for it.

It was time to crunch some numbers. We provided an estimate, had a follow up call, revised the estimate once or twice, then gave Gene & Marcia some space to make a decision. They reached back out to us and shared that they were eager to get started. We were ready to roll and all was fine and dandy, except we had one more obstacle to overcome.

During the spring, Gene & Marcia noticed water pooling up at the back of their house and in the middle of the yard. Exactly where the barn and pool were planned to be built. This was due to poor excavation when their house was built. This made it incredibly difficult to plan their barn and pool build. If we ignored this issue, then they were sure to get water pouring into their basement. If we didn't execute properly, then again, they were sure to get water pouring into their basement. This led us to multiple onsite visits with our excavator, concrete contractor, and the pool contractor. All putting our heads together to ensure we improved their drainage issue.

Okay… but why was it so tricky?

The back of Gene & Marcia’s house was the lowest point in their yard. When you consider that water flows downhill, this is a big problem. In a perfect world, we would just take out more dirt in the back of their yard and slope the yard away from the house. Only if. Their yard looked like a 3 sided bowl and the back wall of their house was the bottom of the bowl. The 1 side that didn't contribute to the bowl “appeal”, looked flat, but it wasn't. It was also a high spot. This particular high spot was on their neighbors property. We thought it would be best if we didn't rip up their yard too. So what looked like a 3 sided bowl, was actually a regular bowl.

So, that’s not good. But the issues didn't stop there.

When you build a barn, you have to consider the water run-off to the surrounding areas. The water that would accumulate on the square footage where the barn is, gets pushed elsewhere. Often, if not managed properly, it can overwhelm the ground that the water is rushed to. Think about filling a strainer with a pot of spaghetti noodles. If you pour the water slowly, it will strain properly. If you pour too fast(similar to a downpour or a storm), then the strainer fills up and water comes out of the top of the strainer. Now imagine you plug half of the holes in the strainer. The water has less holes to flow through, so your chances of overflowing are higher. When you build a barn, you are plugging holes in the strainer that is the ground. The larger the barn, the more holes plugged, which increases your chances of overflow. This creates pooling water in the yard. This is the case with any impermeable surface. An impermeable surface is any surface that water cannot flow through and seep into the ground. A driveway, patio, gazebo, house, barn, pool, etc.. All of these plug holes in the strainer that is the ground.

Okay, enough nerding out on building science. Let's get back to Gene and Marcia’s barn.

Let's recap. Issue number 1: the back of the house is the bottom of a bowl. Issue number 2: With the barn and pool in place, water is going to fill the bowl faster. Not good. Unless, time is set aside to plan with everybody involved, to make sure this gets knocked out of the park.

First, Jay with Competitive Edge Excavating had to unplug our strainer. In the back of the yard, he dug a catch basin. Essentially, a holding tank for water to seep into the ground. Jay, also ran drain tile from the downspouts on the house and the barn underground into the catch basin. Just like that, our strainer issue is fixed.

Next up was to manage the house being at the bottom of the bowl. The problem was that we couldn't raise the ground level at the house. The ground level was only 6” below the daylight windows for the basement. That was already too close. Option #1 was a no go. Instead, we had to pick the optimal height for the base of our barn. This would help set the height for the pool as well. All parties involved decided to create our own bowl. We used the height of the driveway, barn, pool, and the back of the house to create a low sloped bowl. This time the bottom of the bowl was in between the house, barn, and pool. At the bottom of this bowl, another catch basin was installed. Just like a drain in a bathtub. Issue number 2 is fixed!

Imagine sitting in your house during a storm and wondering if your basement is going to flood. The stress and anxiety limiting your ability to breathe deeply and enjoy a movie with your loved ones. Wondering “Do we still have those 5 gallon buckets in the garage?”, “Should I check again to make sure nothing important is on the ground in the basement?”, or “How much am I going to have to spend to make this problem go away?”.

All of that can be mitigated by intentional conversations, proper planning, communication, and meticulous follow-through.

We loved working through all the details of this project. From the design and drainage issue to installing the trim. Life really doesn't get better when you're building for cool people with your best buddies.