Effective Water drainage in Yard is crucial to keeping not only your yard dry but also your home in excellent repair. DIY yard drainage options are typically affordable and straightforward to use. The objective is to drain flooded parts of your yard and to prevent water from flowing near the house’s foundation. Read more here.
Table of Contents
What Causes Backyard Drainage Issues?
Many reasons may create backyard drainage difficulties, and the first step in correcting your drainage issues is figuring out what is causing it. Some typical reasons of backyard drainage difficulties are:
- Compacted soil (particularly if your soil has loads of clay)
- Incorrect backyard grading and sloping
- Poorly maintained eavestrough and downspouts
- Inappropriate installation of landscaping components like a fence or deck
READ MORE: 5 QUICK WAYS TO HAVE AN INSECT-FREE BACKYARD PARTY
Once you’ve discovered the reasons of your backyard drainage difficulties, there are a few various options you may select to apply to remedy these concerns. Some are very easy and you can easily do them yourself, while others may need expert assistance. Problems that need yard grading and sloping should be done by a professional. Still, some external concerns like excess water owing to poorly maintained eavestrough and downspouts should be straightforward enough to handle yourself.
Yard Drainage Solutions You Can Do Yourself
Once you’ve identified the problem and its most probable source, it’s time to devise a strategy to enhance your yard’s drainage. There are various possibilities available to you; but, before committing to one, you should do thorough study on each and have the essential resources.
1. Increase the Length of your Downspout
If you discover that your gutter system is the source of the runoff creating drainage issues in your yard, the solution may be as simple as extending the downspout away from the house so that it does not create a basin in your manicured areas. However, if you are diverting runoff away from your home, you must ensure that it is directed into a storm drain or other safe drainage source and not onto a neighboring property.
You may also want to ensure that the gutters themselves are functioning correctly. If your gutters are clogged or broken, water might overflow onto your yard. If your roof becomes a waterfall whenever it rains, it may be time to fix your gutters.
2. Reduce Your Watering Frequency
Consider the potential that you may be overwatering your yard and/or garden before embarking on an expensive and large DIY drainage project. Reduce your watering and observe the problem areas to see whether they drain. If this is the case, the soil may be draining adequately but cannot keep up with the watering schedule. If not, you should probably get your hands filthy.
3. Dig a Creek Bed or Swale
If a downspout extension cannot remedy a wet area in your yard, you may need an artificial stream or drainage swale to divert water away from low areas. Typically, these tasks require excavating a long, shallow trench and filling it with gravel and beautiful pebbles. Assuming your yard has the appropriate slope, this arrangement will function as a slide for water to exit.
4.Install a French Drain and/or Dry Well
When a soil’s drainage problems cannot be resolved with surface-level modifications, it may be necessary to dig deeper. French drains and dry wells are both built under the topsoil to distribute and channel surplus water, but their use and construction are distinct.
A dry well is only a huge hole filled with gravel or another material that captures surplus water and stores it until it is absorbed by the soil. By burying dry well barrels, the capacity of a dry well may be increased. These plastic containers catch and store water, which then drains through the sides and bottom holes. To facilitate drainage, the containers must be surrounded by gravel or similar porous material. These plastic dry wells may be stacked or placed side by side.
READ MORE: WHY SHOULD I INSTALL ARTIFICIAL GRASS ON MY BALCONY?
A French drain linked to a downspout flowing away from the house and terminating in a dry well is a common and practical method for heavy-duty yard drainage improvement. Check the soil conditions at the location where you wish to put the dry well. If the land is impermeable and does not drain properly, a dry well will be of little use there. This may be accomplished by using a post-digger to dig a tiny hole, putting water inside, and monitoring how long it takes for the water to drain.
5. Make a Rain Garden
If there is a low area on your land that gathers water and there is the insufficient slope to drain it with a creek bed, you may want to explore converting it into a rain garden. Rain gardens are meant to collect precipitation and are often planted with water-loving plants such as hostas, ferns, and decorative mosses that may dry up flooded regions. They may not necessarily address the yard drainage problem, but they are certainly more aesthetically pleasing than a muddy pit filled with wet grass.
Ideally, a finished rain garden will drain water within 24 hours. This measure, together with the porosity of the soil in which you are constructing, may assist you to calculate how deep to dig the garden. Your rain garden may also serve as a downspout or creek bed termination point
