Calling All Farmers & Landscapers

This is the 2nd year where I have standing water in my back yard. I think I need to lay some drain tile. Do any of you know how to do this?

Need some info on how to do this so I can dry out my yard. I'm worried about loosing a big oak and a maple due to rotting roots and soft ground.

Any suggestions would help. - Thanks!!!

French drain my friend. 9 out of 10 homes in my clay laden neighborhood have one.

It's pretty simple actually but laborious.

You dig a 6 inch to 12 inch deep by ~12 inch wide trench through the low spot (or yard pond) all the way around to an area wher you can dump the water. This usually means all the way around your house to the curb but the main priciple is routing the trench along a naturally lowering grade.

If your land is flat and you just have a depression you may do better to have the yard filled and re-graded.

In the trench you lay perforated pipe and cover with loose gravel. Over top the gravel you place the soil you excavated and seed. By the end of the summer or by the next season the grass shopuld have grown back and your ponding issue resolved. You could also use a basic corrugated drain pipe and area drains but they are point specific and you have to grade toward the drains. Plus, they tend to clog thus aren't maintenance free.

Depending on your area a curb cut permit may be a legal requirement to allow you to cut in the end of the drain.

I need to do this myself to hasten water runoff but the though of the digging alone turns me to drinking.

First why is the water sitting in your back yard and how long does it sit there on average and how often?

If it is just a couple times a year for a few days then the trees will have no problem with that. If its more often or for weeks at a time then you need to plan how to tackle the problem.

Best solution is to redirect the water so it doesn't collect in the yard, for that you need to know where it is coming from. If from down spouts then try to use a drain or other means to redirect them else where. If its from an adjacent property a well placed planting bed can redirect it out of your yard. Or a misplaced bed may be blocking the natural flow.

If all else fails a perforated drain tube can be placed in the ground. It does require significant digging as you have to ensure the tube slopes to the outlet. As mentioned you will need to cover the tube in gravel to allow the water to reach it, then you can cover that with soil and replant the lawn.

Some pictures may help the suggestions as well as a description of the layout.

Craig

GilaMinumBeer said:

French drain my friend. 9 out of 10 homes in my clay laden neighborhood have one.

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My understanding was that a French drain was just a hole filled with gravel allowing the water to more easily drain into the ground. However my parents installed about a thousand feet of the tile you describe in their farm to help drain some of the wetter fields. In those days, the clay tile drain was laid down by had behind the trencher. Now the machine can lay the plastic tube much more easily and cheaply. However those machines are a bit much for most lawns.

Craig

Put in a bog garden.

schlenk, i'm surprised you have this problem in DM. where exactly do you live?

how old are the trees? my guess is they will be fine if they've been on the property this long... as you know, the last few springs have been rather wet, so it doesn't surprise me that water is collecting. what kind of spot is this in your yard?

as mentioned before, a french drain will help, and you don't have to put in perforated tile, just gravel in the trench will be fine... you might want to call a county extension agent to come take a look at it.

if you need more help, let me know, i'm in ames (obviously) and i'd be happy to come down and help you out with it...

I've had water in my yard for 8-9 years now since I owned the property but the area that was really marshy was about 20'x20'. Two houses have been built nearby both have raised the property on their side slightly (~ 6 acres of area) so I'm thinking its worse now probably 60'x60'. We have also gotten a good amount of rain and this area is not drying on its own.

I will take pictures tomorrow.

android said:

schlenk, i'm surprised you have this problem in DM. where exactly do you live?

how old are the trees? my guess is they will be fine if they've been on the property this long... as you know, the last few springs have been rather wet, so it doesn't surprise me that water is collecting. what kind of spot is this in your yard?

as mentioned before, a french drain will help, and you don't have to put in perforated tile, just gravel in the trench will be fine... you might want to call a county extension agent to come take a look at it.

if you need more help, let me know, i'm in ames (obviously) and i'd be happy to come down and help you out with it...

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I live in an unincorporated part of Pleasant Hill. Just east between Pleasant Hill and Runnels. Close to 6th & 64th.

The trees are about 50 years old, one is leaning pretty good. The area is in an obvious low spot. I've been told by the seller that its an underground spring. I don't buy that.

Its near a street sewer run-off which is essentially a down hill trench. The water used to drain into my yard before they completed digging the trench line. Originally, they had a spillway and no trench. I had the trench dug as part of the purchase agreement.

The trench is not breached during heavy rainfall but its at a higher elevation so I think any absorption from the trench is being deposited in this area. The aquifer or water table might be high and I have a 3-4 acre fishing pond further back in the yard. Its still at a lower elevation than the wet area. I could drain water to the pond.

Putting in a drain tile is something I contemplated for some time. My yard is virtually all timber so it doesn't get alot of sunlight hitting the soil. Right now my yard is pretty wet so the lawn tractor either tears up the yard is getting stuck in spots. Quite aggravating. I mowed all evening and I am beat. The grass was 18-24" tall!!! This only because it was really damn wet. Its so bad in some areas its got puddles of algae growing.

android - What do you do for a living?

+1 to the french drain. My last house had a swamping problem in the backyard due to it being at the bottom of a hill, and clay soil. By March the yard was unusable.


GilaMinumBeer's idea is pretty spot on, but with this added as well. Line the trench with landscaping cloth (even over the top of the gravel) to keep the fine silt out of the gravel, otherwise in a few years all the space between the larger stones will be filled in and it will be useless. I know, when I dug up the earth for my french drain, I found the old one, completely packed with dirt!

Google "soakaway" for plenty of ideas. This method is most commonly used for run off from a roof, but can be used for your problem too. It's like a french drain, but with a covered pit at the end.

after college, i worked in the turf industry for 7 years and decided to go back to grad school. i'm currently working on my Ph.D. in Horticulture at ISU, i am also a research associate in the dept.

i would definitely recommend contacting an extension agent about the tree at least. they won't charge anything and will come take a look at it and let you know how dire the situation is. when you mentioned it leaning, that worries me a little. especially if there are kids around, those sort of things can be disastrous.

Here is a series of pictures off the back of my deck; (Yes its high up there!)

Due North


Due East


Due South


3/4ths of the way down the lot in one wet spot. (facing south west)

EvilTOJ said:

+1 to the french drain. My last house had a swamping problem in the backyard due to it being at the bottom of a hill, and clay soil. By March the yard was unusable.


GilaMinumBeer's idea is pretty spot on, but with this added as well. Line the trench with landscaping cloth (even over the top of the gravel) to keep the fine silt out of the gravel, otherwise in a few years all the space between the larger stones will be filled in and it will be useless. I know, when I dug up the earth for my french drain, I found the old one, completely packed with dirt!

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I meant to have that in there. Big oversight, my apologies.

Side topic: Like I said before, 9 out of 10 homes in my hood have one. Well, I am that #10 and need one too. I just discovered that my employer (permits department) does not approved perforated systems. WTF? They do approve area drain systems but dang, they aren't maintenmance free (as far as that goes).

This is 150' further south, looking due east, the very back of this area is wet.


I'm standing in the worst spot thats mowed. I am standing on spongy-a$$ ground.


This is facing due south in the same position.


This is faceing due north in the same position.

Wow! I'd not expect you to have any bogging with the slope that you have. Maybe the photo's trick the eye but it look like you have positive drainage.

Maybe it is a water table.

I know that in my yard depending on where you dig, bedrock is within 3 foot of grade.

From about here to as far as it is mowed (straight back) is wet.


Facing south from same spot.


This gives you an idea of the steepness of the back if the house.

GilaMinumBeer said:

Wow! I'd not expect you to have any bogging with the slope that you have. Maybe the photo's trick the eye but it look like you have positive drainage.

Maybe it is a water table.

I know that in my yard depending on where you dig, bedrock is within 3 foot of grade.

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No trick photos its a good 40' drop from where I was standing at the walk-out to base of the lot.

Its possible but having the street run-off and two adjacent lots with higher elevations is adding to this.

My neighbor to the northwest built a walk-out basement on flat ground, with all the run-off going to the street. My other neighbor to the south of me built a walk out and added ~60 truckloads of dirt to his lot to slope water away from his home. Not to mention he has enough concrete around his house to park 8-10 vehicles. Its kind of wraps around the side and back.

What they have done is caused water to drain down the easement but the easement is at a higher elevation than my area. I think the blame lies quite a bit with my neighbors, but I'm not eager to file any suites against them.

I think I will need a "Y" shaped tile set-up. The inflow from the top of the "Y" and out the bottom heading to the pond which is lower.

My neighbor to the south has landscaping business. I bet he has trenching equipment do this.

In fact thinking about this he might be able to help me. He tends to be a workaholic *******. Last year we had a large tree branch fall on the easement about it was big and 20' up bridging several other trees. He said he would saw it down and I shouldn't call anybody. About 3 months later it fell ripping up smaller branches and I wound up sawing it into firewood along with the others.

Not to hijack the thread, but I have drainage issues in my yard as well. I have a partially covered, concrete patio that will become covered by a couple of inches of water whenever it rains. The water will recede completely within 24 hours of the rain. I was thinking about a french drain around the patio, but my issue is I don't have much of any where to redirect the water. The curb is much lower in elevation, but the drain pipe would have to some how pass through 2 mature oak trees to get there.

tac0meat said:

Not to hijack the thread, but I have drainage issues in my yard as well. I have a partially covered, concrete patio that will become covered by a couple of inches of water whenever it rains. The water will recede completely within 24 hours of the rain. I was thinking about a french drain around the patio, but my issue is I don't have much of any where to redirect the water. The curb is much lower in elevation, but the drain pipe would have to some how pass through 2 mature oak trees to get there.

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Sometime the drain pipe doesn;t have to be that deep. 1/4 Inch per foot of fall (drop in elevation) is all that is need for positive drainage. But, that can block easily too.

This is the leaning tree (on the right) I'm most concerned with on the lot.

Actually, I'd buy into the idea of a spring. A slope like that should drain fine if it was simply runoff. Around here it is fun (I think) to drive around in winter on the highways through the big rock cuts and see huge frozen icicles from springs that pop out sporadically from the rock wall. Either way it still needs to be addressed. I'd say you are a great candidate for some conventional drain tiling. Maybe contact someone locally who does septic systems. Barring that, I'd be tempted to did a large trench (1-2 ft wide by 1-2 ft deep) through the affected area and fill it with gravel to within 6" of the top and then with soil.

pjj2ba said:

Actually, I'd buy into the idea of a spring. A slope like that should drain fine if it was simply runoff. Around here it is fun (I think) to drive around in winter on the highways through the big rock cuts and see huge frozen icicles from springs that pop out sporadically from the rock wall. Either way it still needs to be addressed. I'd say you are a great candidate for some conventional drain tiling. Maybe contact someone locally who does septic systems. Barring that, I'd be tempted to did a large trench (1-2 ft wide by 1-2 ft deep) through the affected area and fill it with gravel to within 6" of the top and then with soil.

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I have a natural spring or an artificially induced one. The ground absorption from the easement could be letting go of it at the low spot. The soil at the easement reaches a saturation point as the low spot oozes water due to gravity.

Either way I do need some tile. The wet spot that I remember seeing when I bought the property was quite small but the it had source-evidence due to erosion from the easement. One could see the tall grass knocked down by gushing water flow.

The new property changes are forcing me to do this, it kind of pisses me off if you know what mean. Its not like I didn't know there was an issue, I just didn't think it was going to get this bad with developement.

My neighbors could do something to minimize the flow with french drains and solid tile to direct the water to the other low spots.

I have as $hit load of sticks and old logs I could burn. If I burned a ton of stuff there (on the wet spots) do you think that would be a short term fix?

At least have a drying effect? Worst case I get rid of a bunch of yard waste.

When I mean a ton, I'm talking about 28-30 small trees worth of old fire wood.

I should have a bonfire party with all my buddies here to pull firewood.