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Regrading a Katy yard
When water runs toward the house, or toward the neighbor, the ground is steering it. Regrading means cutting and filling soil so the lot falls the right way. On flat prairie, a few inches decide the direction.
Six Inches in Ten Feet
The City of Katy has adopted the 2021 International Residential Code, which asks for the ground next to a foundation to fall at least 6 inches within the first 10 feet. That is the minimum a regrade usually aims to restore next to the house.
Past those first 10 feet the lot needs some fall toward wherever it can drain: the street, a rear swale or a side-yard swale. On a lot where the whole backyard only has a few inches of total fall, the regrade is a careful redistribution of soil, not a dramatic reshaping.
It Was Right When the House Was New
Beds that grew
Years of mulch and bagged soil lift the beds above the lawn and push water back toward the slab.
Sod on sod
New turf laid over old raises the whole yard, often unevenly.
Additions
A patio, a pergola pad or a shed floor can cut off the swale the builder shaped.
Settled trenches
Soil sinks over old utility or irrigation trenches and forms a channel pointed the wrong way.
When Moving Dirt Needs Paperwork
Unincorporated Fort Bend County requires a permit for fill or excavation over 500 cubic yards per acre, or for any change in elevation of six inches or more, and its engineering office is the number to call if a neighbor’s fill is changing your drainage. Harris County requires a permit for grading or filling inside the mapped floodplain. Inside the City of Katy, check with the permit office. The details and phone numbers are on the permits page.
Adding fill at a lot line can also send water onto the next property. Texas Water Code §11.086 bars diverting surface water in a way that damages a neighbor’s property, which is one more reason a regrade should aim at the street or the swale.
Not a foundation fix
A regrade restores the fall away from the slab. It does not level a house, close a crack or correct a slab that has moved. Those go to a foundation repair company.
Have the Fall Measured
Ask for the grade to be checked with a level from the slab outward. Call or send the details.
Call (346) 239-7247 Send the Details