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Hello,

We recently moved into a new home on the bottom of a hill in NJ. We are going to rip out all of the gravel, wood, bluestone, etc., and relocate the patio to the left side of the house (if you're facing the house in the pics).

As you can see, we have drainage issues, and our sump pump seems to run a little too frequently.
If you look at the pic with the blue/red, here's what I'm planning.

I'm going to slope the dirt away from the house (red arrows pointing down) and continue to slope the dirt towards the center (red arrows pointing up). I will have the grade going downward from left to right, so water flows across the path of the blue line.

I will have to add a considerable amount of fill dirt. Does this strategy seem to make sense?
I'm also wondering if it would be wise to put in a french drain as well, before I fill in all the dirt.

Note that I do not have any drainage on the side yard (3rd pic), so water will likely accumulate there and be damp, but I can live with that for now so we can have full use of the rest of our yard. I'm also considering a dry well in the side yard to be able to handle the water.

Thoughts?

Thanks!

I built houses for years and what I can tell you is to slope the ground away from your house for at least 15 to 20 feet. Never back to the house. Your water under the house is coming from the downspout. It needs to be ran away from the house. French drain would be fine but it needs to go down the side yard to the front of the house. Do not make the mistake of fixing the backyard to only have the side yard stop the water and back up back into the backyard. You need to rent a tractor with a box blade and slop away from the house to a ditch like that runs from the left side of the house all the way around the house and through side yard to the street.

Put in has many soakaway's you can away from the house.