More drainage issues w/ picture. Need advice.

EPERRINGTON

I have attached a drawing of my yard (almost 2 acres) showing where some of my problem areas are at. I am looking for thoughts and comments on how best to go about ridding myself of this standing water. Do I need to bring a bunch of dirt in to re-slope the lawn. I had one contractor in and said it would take about 200yds of fill. Or do I need to put in some french drains.

To add a couple other dietails my soil is mostly clay and from high spot to low spot is at most a 12 inch difference but mostly 4 to 5 inches.


Ideally I would like to get all of the water to the front of my house where the city sewer drains are. I have a ditch on either side of the property and for the most part they run to the sewer drain, except for a low spot on one. If the water gets high enough it will crest and make it to the drain. Otherwise, it sits there looking all ugly and not letting me mow anything.

Attached Thumbnails

 

taqwus

My first idea is to put an area drain in the lowest spot of the depression and run some pvc to the drainage ditch

DexterII

Different configuration, etc., but I had a similar situation, for which I had considered backfilling, and decided that may only move the problem to another area of the lawn, so we ultimately cut what for all intent and purpose is a ditch in part of the yard this spring. The low area, which we referred to as a pond every spring and after heavy rains, was abour 4-6" below the surrounding terrain, but further out it dropped off toward the swamp, similar to how yours drops toward the street. So, I dozed a swath about 8' wide with the tractor, after which we backfilled, graded, and raked the edges, to create a very gradual low area of its own, so that it blends well with our natural rolling terrain, and allows a path for the water to travel. I just seeded it last week, so it's not completely done yet, but it has already shown to be working as planned. Another option that I had considered, depending on how much fall you have in front, may be to install a catch basin, install a buried tile, and route it to daylight. With either of these though, you could have a compliance issue with your local municipality, by creating unnatural flow to the city sewer.

Allison1888

We've done similar drainage projects (on a smaller scale) and I know they get pricey. Another solution is to turn it into a pond with a waterfall and making it an interesting outdoor sitting, relaxation area. Is it too far back from the house for this? Just a thought.

HomeInsulation

I agree with taqwus and have just finished doing it in my yard. I have 2 acres as well and had to run 240 ' to reach the end of my yard.

Installing a 12" catch basin ($40 at HD) and connecting it to solid PVC 4in drainage pipe ($7.55 for 10ft) is not as hard as I thought. I could hand dig 30ft to 40ft an hour depending on the amount of rocks in the way. Or you can rent a trenching machine for $220+/day to cut a trench to the street.

You can dump the water into the culverts on the side of your yard if you want to take the easy route. But the trenches, culverts or drainage ditches in my yard never dry out in the spring. I wind up with really high grass or muddy tire tracks everywhere.

Bringing in fill and tearing apart your entire yard will not fix the problem unless you have raw land or a stream to grade the water towards.

creeper

My yard looks exactly like yours except for the land the juts out to the right of the house, My low spot is in the same place and the water just sits there at this time of year. I'm in the process of digging a trench by hand (whew) that is about 10 in wide and about 10-12 in deep. Instead of the sharp turn in your drawing my trench continues on straight down to the front (190ft away) to the St. I will lay 4in perforated piping with a sock and then 3/4 in gravel on the sides and top. The displaced sod will go right back ontop. I plan to use a normal level to make sure I've got the fall from back to front. We don't have municipal sewers so mine will just daylight at the front ditch. Both ends will be capped with a perforated cap.