Yard/Crawlspace flooding

[Jarney]

Hello all, I have been a homeowner only about 8 years. I have 3 1/4 acres located off of a major highway about 6 miles outside of the city. When I bought my house the yard flooded a little out on one corner but quickly drained away. In the past year or two it has gotten worse and is now flooding in many other areas and standing for almost a week at a time. My crawl space under my house also accumulates water. I have a geothermal unit for heating and air. The water that comes into the crawl space comes from the drain for the geothermal unit - it's open. I have a sump pump which removes the water from under the house but it discharges through pvc pipes that I have to connect and lay on top of the yard - so basically it spits the water out, the ground soaks it up and it runs right back under the house (I'm guessing). What makes things worse is that the more I run the geothermal unit - for heat in the winter - the more my sump pump runs - I'm worried it will eventually give out. There is a field on one side of me and a row of houses on another road to the back and other side of me. There are also 2 small ponds/lakes nearby (within 1/2 mile) - one to the north and one to the south.

I have no idea where to start with this or how to find out where all of my drains are or where they drain the water to. Who should I contact? What would be the best way to stop the water from flooding the yard in the first place? I have no experience with drainage systems in yards - what type, etc. Is this something I could do myself - to save some money? Is there somewhere on the internet that someone could point me to, to get information on this? I know this will probably be an expensive operation and my finances are quite limited so this will be a priority in deciding what is done about this. Please help. Any advice is greatly appreciated. Thank You.

[joshua]

jarney, what i have to say and how i would have to explain it will take me some time to type. i don't mind taking the time if you're seriously interested in fixing your problem the right way. but as a warning you probably would have to have someone do all the work for you and it is very very expensive. email me @ lcp9387@aol.com if you are interested

[Catcher]

It isn't easy to offer any advice without seeing the actual lay of the land.
If you indeed just 'circulate' the water with your sump pump, I would attack that first.
Try burying your PVC pipe a few inches under ground. With over 3 acres you should be able to run it quite a ways away from the house, preferrably to a direction that has a slope away from the house. Have the end exposed so the water can drain and run off there.
I am not sure about the elevations on your property, if at all possible, you may want to rent a bobcat and 'borrow' some dirt from your property or have quite a few yards brought in to create a natural slope away from the house and the area containing your geothermal unit. This might help eliminate surface water trickling into your system and crawlspace. This would be a large undertaking, but it really isn't too bad. If you can get a good deal on soil the actual work is pretty easy and I think you should be able to handle the grading in a weekend, 3-4 days at the most.
Let us know what you came up with.

[joshua]

cather yes. exactaly what i was going to say but i was going to go into full detail with jarney. telling him you have to have drilled holes in the pipe. with the pipe at 3'-5' below ground spaced 15' -30' apart. with a 1/2'' -3/4'' gravel placed in the hole below the pipe and around the pipe. with the pipe at 1-2% decline. and that would be able to go into a catch basin, or you could make a little pond or something else.
or he could do french drains.
jarney thats basicly it but i'll email you tommorrow with all the information, how deep the trench would have to be, and all the other details.

[Jarney]

Hey guys,
Thank you very much for the responses. The more I learn about this the better I will feel when it comes to time to get someone out here to do something about it. Since my cash flow is limited, I figure I've got plenty of time to research this.

Catcher - My house already sits slightly elevated above the rest of the yard, but it still seems to be accumulating some water in the crawlspace. Most of the flooding and standing water is away from the house. Thanks again for the info, very helpful.

Joshua - I'm looking forward to your email. I have many more questions such as the pipe used - what material is used, pvc, steel? Can you buy it pre - drilled? What diameter should be used? Is there such a thing as overkill in this situation? etc., etc., etc. Thanks for the useful info.