Welcome to the joys of Wake County red clay, Finn. It will break your tools and your spirit if you do not respect the slope. The drainage gospel is simple, water must flow away from your foundation, period.

I spent three weekends in my own Apex yard wheelbarrowing gravel to build a French drain because my neighbor's runoff was washing out my landscaping. You need a transition point at least ten feet out from your crawlspace. Do not hire anyone who just suggests a sump pump without fixing the exterior grading first.

The ground is completely saturated right now. I checked the creek level down near the greenway yesterday and it is running very high, which means the water table is right at the surface.

If you are seeing pooling against the foundation, you should also have a look at your flood insurance policy. Many people think they do not need it if they are outside the official zone, but with the way Raleigh is paving over everything, runoff patterns are changing fast.

Do not try to DIY a major grading issue. You need a mini excavator, not a shovel. A decent crew will charge you between three thousand and six thousand dollars depending on the run.

First, they scrape the clay. Second, they lay down heavy filter fabric. Third, they drop in perforated pipe and washed stone. Make sure they pull a permit if they are disturbing more than the local allowance, or the City of Raleigh will shut the job down.

My dad always said that ninety percent of wet crawlspaces are actually just clogged gutters or short downspouts. Before you spend thousands on heavy machinery, check your roof runoff.

If your downspouts are dumping water right at the corners of your house, no amount of yard grading is going to save you. We had a similar issue in Knightdale and just extending the downspouts six feet out made a massive difference.

Call Standard Yard Drainage. They did my yard in Garner and solved the ponding issue quickly.

Thank you all so much for the advice. Kayla, I checked the downspouts and you are totally right, one of them is completely loose and dumping right into the worst spot. Ray, thank you for those cost estimates, that gives me a realistic budget to work with if we have to bring in the big guns.

Thanks y'all. Getting someone out to look at drainage before I buy another shovel.