In the wet Pacific Northwest, it is important to keep water out of the crawl space and/or the basement. There are many ways to keep runoff out of the substructure areas. For example, gutters and downspouts routed to adequate drains will help. A much more basic means of shielding the home is purely common sense. Perimeter concrete -- patios, sidewalks and driveways -- should slope AWAY from the home. Taking this to the most basic level, the grade of the soil should also be sloped away from the house. This can often be done in the course of gardening. The lot below has soil sloped toward the house, my grubby paw is emphasizing the slope issue. Thanks for stopping by, Steven L. Smith
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Steve, kinda sorta looks like that place will need a lot of grading... No pun intended...
Micheal,
We see that a whole lot around here. Funny too, as wet as it is.
Indeed, and forget about writing it in a home inspection addendum. If a seller hasn't corrected the grading before listing, the likelihood of them doing it pursuant to a home inspection report is practically nil.
If you are working on your tai chi, that is an excellent position.
This is really a common issue that most home sellers ignore. Over time the soil settles and even at my own house every year or so I add a few more bags of top soil near the foundation to help it slant away correctly.