Can I build a swale along my foundation to catch and channel water away?

Hi everyone,

First some background: my wife and I have been in our house for a year now. We tend to get minor flooding in our basement whenever it rains, but it peaks in the spring. We're in the Northeast.

I know that gutters and grading are always the first things to check. Our gutters are fine. Grading could be a bit better I'm sure, but I can't even be sure that's really causing the flooding, and it'd be a big project that we don't want to do (more on that later). I also know that exterior waterproofing of a foundation down to the footer is the best solution, but that's just financially impossible for us.

Last summer, we got a quote for a interior perimeter drain to redirect water into the sump pump. We'd do this if we had to, but it's still expensive and doesn't stop water from entering the basement in the first place.

Now for my idea. Would love to know what others think. First, some pics to make it easier to explain:

1. https://imgur.com/a/MlfpKV4 in this pic, I've circled the spots where water comes into the basement. To be clear, it doesn't actually enter the room this high up; it seeps in at floor level. Also, note that the ground slopes downhill from right to left.
2. https://imgur.com/a/QicdKmJ here's a closeup of that side of the house. The former owner laid mulch on top of landscape fabric.
3. https://imgur.com/a/NuwasRO here it is from the back of the house. The ground slopes downhill toward where I'm standing. Also, the downspout you see at the far end of the house is buried and drains where I'm standing.

I essentially want to create a gutter at the ground level that redirects any water that ends up between the sidewalk and the house. I realize this may or may not help the flooding, but we kinda wanna give it a shot anyway. The plan:

• Rip out the landscape fabric and mulch.
• Dig a shallow swale that follows the existing grade, slightly downhill toward the back of the house. Line the swale with heavy-duty, non-biodegradable plastic sheeting.
• Fill with either mulch or rock. My wife and I are leaning toward rock because it doesn't retain moisture and doesn't need to be topped off.
• Let the water that gets caught in the swale drain at the back of the house (where I'm standing in the 3rd pic).

I know that plastic is most often advised against versus landscape fabric, but fabric is permeable, which would defeat the purpose of what we're trying to do (I think).

Lastly, I mentioned earlier how grading could be better. It's hard to tell from the pics, but the ground slopes away from the house after you cross the sidewalk. Without the sidewalk there, I think we'd be set up nicely to adjust the grading, but we really don't want to have to do that. I can't even be sure that it'd fix the issue even if we did.