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Roachy

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Discussion starter · #1 ·
One of my customers is having drainage issues in his backyard. I am looking for advice on the best way to alleviate this problem. I have drawn a pretty rough looking picture of his backyard. The bottom of the picture is where his deck is, the olive green is his fence, the ring in the middle is patio pavers, and the brown is all mulch. His backyard is sloped on a slight angle towards the fence, and during a heavy rainfall, all that rain washes the mulch against the fence making a big mess. One storm pushed part of the fence apart. THe arrows show the direction of water flow, and the red circle I made shows where most of the rain and mulch drain to.

Any advice on allowing for better drainage. The mulch and dirt is about 6in thick along the back side of the fence.

45ftx45ft



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#3 ·
What is the soil type? How long does the water remain in the area? What is the slope towards the fence and beyond the fence?

I am guessing the dirt and much are creating a dam along the fence. If cleaning up that area of the dirt and much to remediate the pooling.

If that doesn't work there are two options would be a dry well. The second is making sure the grade slopes all the way away from the area where is pools.
 
Discussion starter · #4 ·
The backyard only has a slight slope, maybe 5 degrees. And the water just runs off the patio area and just flows toward the fence and then the mulch starts to pile up which pushes out the bottom of the fence. The backyard slopes so I cant change the grade, and I have shoveled everything away and it just dams up again a few storms later. Not sure what a dry well is.
 
#5 ·
i would just put a french drain in front of the mulch and on the side it mostly goes to make a french drain under the mulch and fence to were it will not wash the mulch away it will be under ground when it gets to the mulch . with the drain you can put mulch back over the drain and never be able to see it there . just put a thin layer of creek rock over the french drain in front of the mulch and it will look like a boarder you could even do it up to the fence and some more somewhere else to make it look like some designing in the mulch with creek rock to make it match not just be in the one place .
 
Discussion starter · #6 ·
Thanks procut, hope that might work. How big are the holes you typically make in a drainage pipe for something like this, and should I wrap it in landscape fabric before I cover it with gravel?
 
#7 ·
Roachy said:
The backyard only has a slight slope, maybe 5 degrees. And the water just runs off the patio area and just flows toward the fence and then the mulch starts to pile up which pushes out the bottom of the fence. The backyard slopes so I cant change the grade, and I have shoveled everything away and it just dams up again a few storms later. Not sure what a dry well is.
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Sigh... I'd say it could be a learning experience. However drainage is nothing you want to *mess* around with if you have no clue.
Procut lawn expert said:
i would just put a french drain in front of the mulch and on the side it mostly goes to make a french drain under the mulch and fence to were it will not wash the mulch away it will be under ground when it gets to the mulch . with the drain you can put mulch back over the drain and never be able to see it there . just put a thin layer of creek rock over the french drain in front of the mulch and it will look like a boarder you could even do it up to the fence and some more somewhere else to make it look like some designing in the mulch with creek rock to make it match not just be in the one place .
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A french drain would also work.

Details like soil type. Slope is usally measure rise (or fall) over run. For every 10 feet the grade drops 4 inches. If there is slope away from the house it sounds like mulch and dirt are causing a dam. So the mulch seems to be the problem. So either remove the much and create a dry stream bed or something along those lines. River rock would work. Or a better ground cover that doesn't wash away any time there is a rain.

A better ground cover would be best IMO. French drains and dry wells have a purpose, they can plug or fail from time to time.
 
#8 ·
The rain needs to be stopped before it reaches the fence... right off the pavers would be the place to modify drainage...

Is that a 'ring of pavers' or 'solid circle' of pavers??
 
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#9 ·
Smallaxe said:
The rain needs to be stopped before it reaches the fence... right off the pavers would be the place to modify drainage...

Is that a 'ring of pavers' or 'solid circle' of pavers??
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I was thinking the same thing.

Put a small rock bed or bed of some sort at the edge of the patio to slow the water down and try to direct it to the sub-soil.

Problem with a french drain is where to make an exit point. if there is one, I'd put in a small drainage system and two dry wells buried in there somewhere.

Here is a link to a down-spout drainage project on a back-yard, It has a catch basin it in to slow the water down as much as possible before exiting.

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150202909217643.313599.185135107642&type=3

Here is also a link to a french drain system I installed. I call the HO from time to time and he says he's pretty much eliminated water getting into the basement. No catch basin as I was able to exit the drain on the backside of the house.

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.212043232642.134331.185135107642&type=3

Roachy, can you post any photos of the property?

.....
 
#11 ·
They have that new pipe that has that foam around it .thats what i use in my drains .i dig them about 18 inches deep put the pipe in then put drain rock in then put creek rock if you want it to look natural or you can put mulch back over it to hide it . Really should just put them big enough to handle the amount of water you're dealing with .18 inches will take a lot of water you could run it down the edge of the patio or the edge of the mulch the just run some off of it under the fence
 
Discussion starter · #13 ·
Thanks for the ideas guys. My sketch drawing wasnt the most accurate. The pavers form a track in the backyard for their dogs to run on, and inside of the track is mulch and river stone. In the first picture, you are looking away from the deck and toward the lower part of the backyard. In the second picture, the fence on the right side of the picture is the low part of the backyard, and that patio swing is where most of the water drains to. There is drainage system installed in the ground right outside the fence near the patio swing. After a heavy rain, the water washes all the mulch against the fence making a big muddy mess. I am leaning toward putting a french drain right past the pavers at the bottom of the backyard so the water can drain through the fence easier and toward that underground drainage system.



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#14 ·
Kiril said:
Doesn't anyone here actually calculate drainage requirements, or do we just engage in guesswork and hope it works?
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Evidently not. I am not that impressed at the pictures and it is not surprising they have issues in the back yard. :rolleyes:

So they resort to the SWAG (silly wild assed guess) method of drainage management.
 
#15 ·
All great suggestions/solutions, guys. May I suggest creating a dry riverbed in the area where the water is draining to? Since the water is already going there, why fight it? Just put in a riverbed, and when it rains, the water will just flow over the rocks and on to wherever it is already heading. Good luck with your project!
 
#16 ·
why would you have to waste you time to calculate drainage for something that small ??? put what you know would more than enough water out . i mean he is not doing the sub grade one a commercial project or sub division . then maybe you wouldn't want to just guess it .
 
#18 ·
well if you know anything about it you should be able to do something that small off the top of your head . i am no flaming to be a professional excavator but in a french drain all you have to know is permeability foot per sec, area normal to flow per sec ,flow line slop,
area foot of drain trench . i'm not sure but if you don't even know that much you should't be doing the drain job call in the back up .
 
Discussion starter · #19 ·
Thanks for the responses. Im pretty sure no one here is going to calulate water flow mathematically here. Technically I could attempt to calculate the inflow of water over the backyard in a minute, and make sure my drainage could support that rate in outflow per minute but that does not need to be done for this scale. And yes I will make sure my pipe is large enough to support enough outflow of water.

My questions are what professional advice and suggestions would you guys give to help in this situation. How would you guys go about doing this. Yes I am a professional, but I deal mostly in maintenance and do not have the most experience in drainage or excavating.

My plans so far are to install a french drainage sytem along the back fence. Probably dig 12-18in down. Use gravel, fabric, piping etc. Route the water underneath the fence so it is not dammed up thus allowing it to flow outside to the underground drainage. Sound good?
 
#20 ·
3rdDayBrad said:
All great suggestions/solutions, guys. May I suggest creating a dry riverbed in the area where the water is draining to? Since the water is already going there, why fight it? Just put in a riverbed, and when it rains, the water will just flow over the rocks and on to wherever it is already heading. Good luck with your project!
Click to expand...
That would make sense. And you wouldn't tear up the yard digging a french drain or having any of the other expeses. And you will know it will always work and never plug up or have other headaches.
 
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