Lawn Care Forum banner

Soggy Lawn with Drainage Issues Help Needed.

8K views 25 replies 4 participants last post by  mdvaden 
#1 ·
Hey everyone, me and my wife purchased our first home in late August. We love everything about the house, except the backyard. A few weeks into living there I noticed the backyard was very soggy, even when it hadn't rained all week. As the rains came, i noticed the problems in more depth. Yesterday we got a 10 min downpour so I went out and took some pictures. We really want a healthy DRY lawn.

I have been reading online (this site is great BTW) and am thinking the following; I believe we have clay soil. You can see in the pics, the water just doesn't drain, it just sits on the surface. When its dry, its hard and brittle in some places.

How do I tackle this problem. Do I need to regrade so the water runs in one direction and not sit still? Will regrading fix this in lieu of installing french drains? Do I need french drains? Do I need to scalp and retill the entire lawn adding compost and soil to get a proper soil for nice lawn and soil that can actually drain? Do I need a combo of both solutions (regrade + retill) or (french drains + retill).

I dont think i can do this myself and will probably be hiring a professional. But I dont want to keep throwing money at the problem. I'd like the best solution. So I ask all the pros out there. What do you think I should do? And who do I call? Landscape company? Drainage company? How do I know I am not hiring a fool who doesn't know what he's doing and is just looking for a pay check? All help and advice would be appreciated, as me and my wife would really like to enjoy our backyard this summer. All the standing water has made the mosquitos unbearable. Please help. Thanks in advance.

See link to album with comprehensive pics and descriptions.

http://s1265.photobucket.com/albums/jj503/new_homeowner/
 
See less See more
#3 ·
Drainage can fix that IF there is a place for the water to go. If you have drainage regrading is unnecessary. I don't think tilling will help at all. Your picture's don't show the surrounding land. That would help a lot.
Did you see all 23 pics I posted? I am thinking to direct the water to the drain in my neighbors yard no? Isnt that why there is a swale of rocks between the fences? There are shots of all the neighbors on each side. Let me know what else you need to see, I will take more. I really want to fix this the right way. Thanks for the reply.
 
#4 ·
Yes i looked at all your pictures. Most were too general. The wider scale you can show, the better i can help you. Show me what you are thinking of drainage-wise. Let's see some picture's of the neighbor's drain - that could be a problem. How you move water, off your land and on to someone else's can be complicated legally. I am not trying to be negative. You just need to do this right.
 
#11 ·
This is assuming you can run the water this way. This can be done with a small trencher. The hardest part is getting rid of the excess soil. That pine tree need's to go. It look's like it's in the way of the drain. You can lose all that river rock on the ground. They were put there to cover up bare soil. The catch basin's are not optional. This site will get you started with drainage component's. http://www.ndspro.com/ Good luck.
 

Attachments

#12 ·
Fix the soil
Kiril, by fix the soil, I am guessing you mean kill the existing lawn, and rototill with some organic matter (compost) essentially ammending the soil to a loamy healthy type that will actually drain properly as opposed to the clay i have now?

I admire my neighbor to the rears lawn. They have a landscape crew come every wednesday to maintain it. That being said, when I went out to take pics in the rain the other day, I was surprised to see all the standing water as seen in this pic behind the fence. I mean, their lawn looks healthy, and still holds the water.



Thoughts???

This is assuming you can run the water this way. This can be done with a small trencher. The hardest part is getting rid of the excess soil. That pine tree need's to go. It look's like it's in the way of the drain. You can lose all that river rock on the ground. They were put there to cover up bare soil. The catch basin's are not optional. This site will get you started with drainage component's. http://www.ndspro.com/ Good luck.
So you are proposing a french drain system. I appreciate you taking the time out to look over my pics and put the drawing together. One question, what about the standing water in the rear corner?? You have the french drain running to the low spot and then exiting my property to the rear to the river rock on the other side of the fence? You propose exiting my property to the rear as opposed to the left side?

Also, when laying the perforated pipe, the slots in the pipe should face down correct?

Can i put topsoil (and grass) over the peagravel and conceal all of this (except for the catch basin of course)?

Thanks again for the help guys. Just looking for ideas and what you pros suggest before I call a couple of local guys and see what they have to say. I am an engineer, and mild OCD, I like to be informed before I drop major coin lol.
 
#13 ·
Kiril, by fix the soil, I am guessing you mean kill the existing lawn, and rototill with some organic matter (compost) essentially ammending the soil to a loamy healthy type that will actually drain properly as opposed to the clay i have now?
It will help reduce your surface water accumulation and alleviate any compaction problems that may exist. You need to establish what type of soil you are dealing with and the physical & chemical status of that soil. Anything short of that beginning step will most likely result in a waste of money. Once you have established that, you can make a more informed decision on how to proceed. Based on your pics, I have my doubts if a french drain will work very well at all.
 
#16 ·
A minor point - "I" call a drain without pipe in it a "french" drain. Anything with pipe in it is a drain line. It doesn't matter for this conversation but it might in another situation.

That drawing isn't set in stone. It can be changed to fit any scenario. That is just a rough first draft.

You can put soil on top of a drain but, it (especially clay) will seriously impair the drainage.

I think you are thinking of this kind of pipe. - picture on the left.

This is the kind of pipe i am talking about. - picture on the right.
The perforations go all the way around the pipe on that. But if you were using rigid perforated pipe then yes you would put the hole's facing down.

Input device Peripheral Circle Font Ceiling
 

Attachments

#17 ·
A minor point - "I" call a drain without pipe in it a "french" drain. Anything with pipe in it is a drain line. It doesn't matter for this conversation but it might in another situation.

That drawing isn't set in stone. It can be changed to fit any scenario. That is just a rough first draft.

You can put soil on top of a drain but, it (especially clay) will seriously impair the drainage.

I think you are thinking of this kind of pipe. - picture on the left.

This is the kind of pipe i am talking about. - picture on the right.
The perforations go all the way around the pipe on that. But if you were using rigid perforated pipe then yes you would put the hole's facing down.
No, Im with you, the pipe on the right was what I had in mind as well. I was under the impression thought that it was only slotted on one side.

And you say no soil on top? I have seen a bunch of videos on youtube with folks putting the soil/sod back on top to conceal the drain. Hmmm not sure my wife is going to be happy about peagravel trenches all over the yard.
 
#18 ·
That will not get you far. You should do a proper soil audit or hire someone to do it for you.
I stopped by both big box retailers for a soil test kit, but its winter time and the garden centers werent stocked. So the soil tests will have to wait until I can find one.

That being said, here is a shot of my soil in a jar test. This is about 30 hours.

Thoughts??

 
#19 ·
Unless your back yard has a lot of shade in the summer you can grow a proper stand of grass and hide those drain line's.

That's a nice jar of red water you got there. Your state university will do real soil test for 5-10 dollar's, it may take a little while to get the result's back but it is worth it.
 
#20 ·
Unless your back yard has a lot of shade in the summer you can grow a proper stand of grass and hide those drain line's.

That's a nice jar of red water you got there. Your state university will do real soil test for 5-10 dollar's, it may take a little while to get the result's back but it is worth it.
I could literally throw a rock to my closest university. I'll have to make a few calls and see about getting it tested.

That being said, your "red water" comment, is that good? Bad? WHat do you make of the sample? From what you can tell anyway
 
#22 ·
A minor point - "I" call a drain without pipe in it a "french" drain. Anything with pipe in it is a drain line. It doesn't matter for this conversation but it might in another situation.

That drawing isn't set in stone. It can be changed to fit any scenario. That is just a rough first draft.

You can put soil on top of a drain but, it (especially clay) will seriously impair the drainage.

I think you are thinking of this kind of pipe. - picture on the left.

This is the kind of pipe i am talking about. - picture on the right.
The perforations go all the way around the pipe on that. But if you were using rigid perforated pipe then yes you would put the hole's facing down.
Can anyone explain to me the difference. I have seen some videos online with a perforated pipe all around, and have seen some with holes only on one side like this



Whats the difference? Pros? Cons?
 
#23 ·
I think that main difference in the pipe with the holes on the bottom and pipe with perf's all the way around is that the pipe in that video is intended for foundation drainage. But you don't want to use that for your foundation because the weight of the rock can crush the pipe. That's when you want rigid pipe. That kind of pipe isn't intended for landscape drainage. In fact the job in that video is amateurish. You can do a lot better than that for the same amount of money.
 
#24 ·
I think that main difference in the pipe with the holes on the bottom and pipe with perf's all the way around is that the pipe in that video is intended for foundation drainage. But you don't want to use that for your foundation because the weight of the rock can crush the pipe. That's when you want rigid pipe. That kind of pipe isn't intended for landscape drainage. In fact the job in that video is amateurish. You can do a lot better than that for the same amount of money.
So your saying for landscape drainage, the perforated corrugated is no good, because the rocks will crush it and I would be better off using some perforated schedule 40 PVC type stuff?
 
#25 ·
No, i am saying that the kind of pipe in the video is intended for FOUNDATION drainage. Do you even know what that is ? I am talking about house's wall's. I am also saying rigid pipe is a better choice for foundation drainage because of the potential for the rock used in foundation drain's to cause damage to flexible pipe.

You want 4 inch, flexible, perforated drain tile. It usually come's in 100' roll's. Use those word's exactly. Don't even say Schedule 40 PVC . That is wrong and will cause confusion.
 
#26 ·
Did you see all 23 pics I posted? I am thinking to direct the water to the drain in my neighbors yard no? Isnt that why there is a swale of rocks between the fences? There are shots of all the neighbors on each side. Let me know what else you need to see, I will take more. I really want to fix this the right way. Thanks for the reply.
Pictures are basically useless.

Drainage is now the one area I won't even do a free estimate for. Almost any one of the calls, is an on-site visit to determine if that's even the need, or related.

It's also the type of work where I think 90% of landscapers are over their heads to consistently deal with approaching effective solutions.

******************


Here is my advice in a nutshell ...

Read >>> Drainage Advice Mega Page

******************


When it comes to drainage, let's put the photos back in the file, and call an expert out there to take a look, or provide a plan on-site. It's hard enough to deal with on-site, let alone images.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top