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My friend is buying a house; it's her favorite house but it has standing water next to the house (it's in Florida and they did have heavy rains after hurricane Faye). But, will this present a threat to her potential house? Her house is built on a slab base and the water is about ten feet from the house. I thought she shouldn't buy the house becuase of this or, at least, maybe she should put in a rain garden; her brother said it was not a problem as the water would simply drain through the sandy soil in due time. Plants would make the rain drain more slowly and would add to the "problem"
I'd have a professional inspection and rely on what they say--since there was just a large storm it is possible to have some standing water and as long as it's not right up against the foundation it may be fine and nothing to worry about unless that's the spot she was dying to put her cactus garden. But I'd definitely have the house checked to see if there are any signs that water has ever gotten into the house, maybe this storm got water 10 ft away but a worse storm a year or two ago maybe there was water in the house and that's definitely something to worry about. But assuming there's no water damage to the house, she could put in a rain garden as you suggested, or else if she's got some extra $$ she could always have extra drainage installed.
An outside unbiased professionals opinion is a wise choice. Buried drainage pipe is neither expensive nor difficult to install for a healthy intelligent person. My question is why a drainage system is not there already ... I can't imagine cost of the drain system being a factor. Everyone has to live their own life and live at the level of comfort or discomfort and RISK they deem acceptable. Money (or lack of enough money) could be a huge factor in the choice of the house ... it is more often a factor than not.
Educated people understand that the MOST corrosive and destructive elements that confronts a home owner is WATER. For example; ... in our county ... it is not legal (for new construction) to be within 150 ft of stream. I think natural ponds or lakes the zoning allows 50 ft distance. Wisdom, experience and reasoning have resulted in these kinds of zoning codes. Standing water is against property code and all land has to be naturally drained or made able to drain quickly.
Personally I wouldn't want standing water within 75 ft of my home unless I caused it to be there. The opportunity of having to be forced to deal with calamitous water issues is the obvious reason. This is about a choice a friend is making. The old adage ... "you can lead a horse to water ... but you can't make it drink" ... is too often applicable to many individuals one encounters throughout a lifetime.
It is someone's problem (not yours) ... letting her handle the dilemma without your input might be the best path to take. Free advise is usually worth what one pays and is seldom appreciated ... so ... FWIW do as you please and good luck.
