I had a situation where I did not want plantings, and had to mow next to the foundation. My solution was to place a row of bricks up against the foundation. this gave a place for the wheel of the lawn mower to run. It occasionally had to be trimmed with a weed eater. It I had it to do over instead of standard bricks, I would use the flat cement blocks. They are 2.0-in H x 12.0-in L x 8.0-in and I have seen them referred to as cap blocks which can be found at stores like Lowes, etc.

They look better that spraying to kill the grass, and hold up better that gravel, as grass will not grow though the block as it does grave. Once installed, they are not obvious when you look at your home.

I’m confused. Your neighbor still has to mow up next to theirs. Why wouldn’t you mow close and then use a weedeater? Not all houses will have the same amount of foundation showing. I am no expert but I don’t think digging down 6-8 inches to show more foundation is a good idea.

I’m confused, too, as you said ”I have to dig down about 6-8” of lawn that is encroaching my foundation.”

Why? Lawn won’t hurt your foundation. And changing the level of dirt next to your foundation can have negative effects to drainage away from the house.

My home inspector indicated the home’s wall surfaces / siding are close or on grade. This may allow surface or ground moisture to affect the siding and or substrate. It was recommended to maintain a 3-8” siding-to-ground clearance for proper protection of siding, substrate, and wood-frame members. That would mean I would have to dig lower than the lawn. Maybe create a mow strip.

If you dig down 3-8 inches would you not have a gully where water will sit? Why is the siding so low?

6" of concrete foundation should be above grade, per U.S. code. This is to prevent moisture rot and pest intrusion on wood framed houses.

After digging, the grade still needs to slope down and away at 5% (6" over 10'). So, if the grade of the general yard beyond that will be still be higher, then you have to form a swale (a shallow "vee" shape) that leads surface water to a lower spot somewhere in the yard.

Someone always inevitably says "french drain," "drywell," or "rain garden" for anything outside. Those are for specific situations and needs, here, you just need to lower grade.

Note if you have an impervious surface against the house, you need 2" clear foundation showing. So, depending on what you are looking for, there is opportunity there if you have a higher general yard grade.

Should I go 3” down next to the siding and grade it to 4” next to the lawn, add a row of 4” high blocks to edge the lawn to run my mower wheel over and fill the graded trench with rock?

It looks like, similar to what 3onthe tree said, that you may need to disrupt your current lawn over several feet of distance from the house in order to create a sloping- away situation. I’m not prepared to do the math in that, plus it depends on what your lawn level is doing as you move outward from the foundation. Maybe it slopes away startng pretty close to the house but somehow the area very close to the house wasn’t done properly, so you can somehow dig / roll up sod & re-grade the areas as one continuous slight slope. Or maybe there
is a drainage issue that over time built up silt near the foundation & lawn level rose.

But if you don’t address needing a slight slope away over a goodly area, you will create the ditch or gully effect mentioned.

Need some expert here ( or on YouTube!) to explain how to measure existing slope. I have used board- on- - the- ground + a level for very simple things but that can be thrown off by bumpy sod or rocks.

Then your mowing “ strip” or whatever comes after.

If you choose to dig and yard is higher