Poor Yard Drainage – Common Causes and Solutions

Yard drainage issues are a common hurdle that most homeowners have to deal with at one point or another. In the article below, Summit Turf Services dives into the common causes of poor yard drainage along with solutions to achieve better drainage in your yard. Owning a home is a big responsibility, and taking care of your lawn is part of the commitment. Yard drainage issues are common, but it doesn’t mean the problem should not be fixed. Drainage could be a result of a number of issues including:

6 Causes of Poor Yard Drainage

Improper yard slope

When your yard doesn’t have an adequate slope or pitch, water run-off diverts towards your house as opposed to away from it. This becomes a bigger issue especially to homeowners who have not piped their gutter rain water and directed it away from their house. Homeowners who live in houses that are built without a proper plan for drainage are likely to face drainage challenges. For example, if your home is set too low you are more likely to face drainage issues.

Issues with downspouts

Most homeowners face a challenge with drainage in their backyards because of lack of downspouts to direct rainwater away from the house. Sometimes you may find that builders have installed the downspouts but have diverted the water into neighboring properties, thus causing the neighbors problems.

Water runoff that causes erosion

When there is excessive downspout water emerging from pipe openings in your yard, erosion is likely to occur.

Front entrance walkway

When the sidewalk is parallel to the face of the house, drainage issues are bound to be experienced. The sidewalk forms an island by retaining water that has been routed from downspouts.

Soggy trouble spots in  your yard

Some homeowners experience soggy areas that seem to never dry up in their yards. One likely cause for this is the existence of underground creeks or water springs that just fracture and appear in your yard leaving it quite soggy. An improper slope or large depression in your yard could also be a cause for the sogginess.

Impacted soil conditions

Activities such as ground excavations around the home impacts soil conditions thus leaving homeowners prone to experiencing drainage challenges.

DIY Ways of Achieving Better Yard Drainage

Soggy spots in your yard can leave you feeling disoriented and unhappy with your home compound. Additionally, it becomes a challenge to achieve proper landscaping by maintaining grass and flowers. Your house may end up being dirty as a result of mud tracks especially when you have young children and pets.

Below are some DIY hacks that can be the answer to your nagging drainage challenge:

Fix standing water in your yard. How?

To begin with, work on your downspout drainage by extending it and directing it away from the house. When downspouts are not properly installed and landscaping is done around the house, chances are that it will create a water basin. The immediate reaction to that by most homeowners is usually to dig trenches in an attempt to drain away the water. 

However, it is crucial to identify the direction from which the water is coming from. This allows you to do a proper problem diagnosis and come up with the best solution to your drainage challenge.

You may be surprised to find out that the challenge can be solved as easily as by redirecting your downspout away from the problematic spot in your yard.

Sometimes you may need to adopt a different strategy when a simple answer does not seem to fix your drainage challenge. Drawing a drainage plan may be the ideal starting step. Using a leveling method like your builder’s level will allow you to point out key low and high spots once you have sketched your property and everything in it.

When doing this, it is important to mark your sketch with arrows indicating how water flows while indicating low and high spots. Avoid directing water into your neighbors’ property as it is illegal. If you plan to drain it into the streets, it is important to consult with your municipality to find out if it is allowed or prohibited.

Grow plants that thrive with a lot of water

Plants like marsh, turtlehead and cardinal flower do well in places with a lot of water. 

Have a water barrel in place

During the rainy season, you can collect rainwater from downspouts by strategically placing a rain barrel to collect the water. The water can then be better utilized as opposed to being wasted.

Try out a rain garden

A great way of dealing with yard sogginess is filling the place with plants that grow well in wet soil thus creating a beautiful landscape. This works well for areas that experience periodic sogginess like during the rainy season.

Create a pond

A poorly drained spot can easily be turned into a pond or water garden. Although you would require some professional assistance to achieve this, it is worthwhile having a pond within your property. If you are lucky, you may be able to turn it into a wildlife or bird sanctuary!

Put up a drain tile

Although this may be the most labor intensive process, installing underground drainage tile can be the solution to draining your yard. A careful slope analysis must be conducted to determine the depth of the tile and to which side the tile outlet will be. It would be an excellent idea to create your rain garden just at the outlet.

Although this might seem like an easy procedure to carry out, involving landscaping and lawn professionals like Summit Turf Services would be ideal. This is because the process may require technical know-how which you may not possess. 

Lastly on Yard Drainage

If you are considering any of the above DIY actions, it is crucial to understand the type of soil in your yard. Putting into consideration the moisture content of the soil on and off season will help you settle for the best solution. Knowing your soil type well will not only help you improve yard drainage but also help you to maintain a healthy lawn. Speaking of maintaining a health lawn, Summit Turf Services are the lawn care experts of Lee’s Summit and the surrounding areas. Whether you’re in need of weekly lawn maintenance, fertilization services, aeration, or landscaping, give us a call today!