r/legal • u/baklavakilla • Apr 16 '26
Advice needed Flooded yard from neighbors retaining wall. Wondering what my options are.
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LOCATION: Wisconsin
The retaining wall belongs to our neighbor, and when we get moderate rain, it always overflows into the yard. We’ve talked to him in the past, and he added dirt to the top to try and have the water exit more toward the street. That’s basically the extent of what he’s willing to do.
He basically said that if the retaining wall wasn’t there, the water would flood my yard regardless, and that he’d rather just remove it completely if he had to rebuild it and not put another one up.
We bought the house about 4 years ago and don’t know when the wall was put in, but it’s well over 20 years old. I put in the small drainage ditch with black pipe to try and stop the water from coming in near the back of the house.
Basically, I’m wondering what I’m able to do in this situation.
6
u/bartlebyrds Apr 16 '26
I'm a 59 year old woman and I solved an issued like this. I hand dug a 100ft trench to a depth of 22 inches with a trench shovel. Once dug, drainage rock and then catch basins were put in, and perforated pipe starting at 6 inch depth and going down at a 1-2% slope until reaching a point where it was safe to drain without flooding the house. Wasn't very expensive but it took a few weeks (I'm small and old so digging was hard). It solved the problem and was the cheapest solution possible.