My home is at lower elevation from the street. Water runs down the asphalt driveway and there is a french drain in front of the garage. On one side of the driveway there is a gravel patch that is not graded away from the house. The water catches between the asphalt driveway and this gravel area and flows for the corner of the drain. Water pools at the blue circle while it enters the corner of the drain (indicated in red). See picture below.
I was wondering if I was crazy to want to try to regrade the gravel area myself. The section probably measures 10ft wide by 30ft long and there is a naturally lower elevation location right next to this gravel (forgive the debris in pic, just after a storm):
It seems like with some perseverance this would be a relatively easy task to accomplish? I am thinking I can pick and shovel the area to the appropriate grade, get some new gravel delivered and spread evenly.
- What else am I missing?
- I was reading online and lots of people were recommending some professional machines. But this area seems small enough to be manageable by hand?
- I was also reading online that I might need specific soil or gravel mixtures?
- What other advice would you give me?
Thank you!