Grading a lawn area...

[Greenvalleymatt]

Hello all, looking to fix my mother's yard that's been a mess of a swamp since her house was built. The builder didn't grade the 1 acre lot before building, and my mother didn't know there would be any issues cause it looked fairly flat. All these years later we've found many low spots in the yard that hold water for weeks at a time. How do I start the process of figuring out how to grade the areas? I can raise the house so I'm going to need to start close to the foundation and grade out from there. Her land shares a border with her pasture so water runoff won't be an issue. I've got a box blade and a chain harrow, and FEL to work with. Haven't used a box blade or the chain harrow yet, just got them recently.

Pics of last week when I picked up the bush hog and box blade.

 

[deezler]

Are you going to add any soil to bring up the low areas?

It might help to watch the water patterns during a strong rain storm. Pics would help.

Ultimately you probably need to carve the yard in a nice wide swale heading downhill to the pasture.

Edit to add: Your box blade is all you need. Rippers/shanks down as needed to break up the ground if it's tough. Grass will be lost in many areas and you'll have to start over.

 

[kenmbz]

I second Deezler on pics. and box blade for any larger sections.

I used short videos of my run off to both calculate and implement a swale and trench that works really well.

Removing grass in large quantities is always a pain, for small low spots I dumped and smoothed soil and reseeded.

 

[Greenvalleymatt]

I have observed and will continue through the next week the patterns of the flow on site. Good to know the blade will do most of it. I do have around 3 yards of soil and 3 to 4 yards of sand to add when necessary. I have installed a swale in the pasture to divert water, I used a mini skid steer to do it with the small bucket, to say the contours weren't smooth would be an understatement. How would I go about getting the berm to a gradual slope that would be easy to mow over with a box blade? I know low and long is best for this, but I'm not familiar with box blade work, and how to get a smooth grade with one.

 

[Egon]

I’d suggest you start out by staking the grade and level you want. Then you will know where to move or add dirt.

 

[Frankenkubota]

Hello all, looking to fix my mother's yard that's been a mess of a swamp since her house was built. The builder didn't grade the 1 acre lot before building, and my mother didn't know there would be any issues cause it looked fairly flat. All these years later we've found many low spots in the yard that hold water for weeks at a time. How do I start the process of figuring out how to grade the areas? I can raise the house so I'm going to need to start close to the foundation and grade out from there. Her land shares a border with her pasture so water runoff won't be an issue. I've got a box blade and a chain harrow, and FEL to work with. Haven't used a box blade or the chain harrow yet, just got them recently.

Pics of last week when I picked up the bush hog and box blade.View attachment 698898

i'm in the same boat. red clay. ponds here last for months. The fellow that mentioned mud on his drive......hee heeee heee, that's normal around here.

I was going to pay a landscape guy to do it but can't get anyone so i figured, i got a $50K tractor and attachments, even though i got zero experience, i will try myself.

I'm piling fill dirt and using my 4 in 1 as I have no box blades etc. It works. After a while you can kinda see the high spots.

After a few days, i'm about ready for topsoil and seed! Like anything else, you just gotta try!

Good luck!

 

[bdog]

Hello all, looking to fix my mother's yard that's been a mess of a swamp since her house was built. The builder didn't grade the 1 acre lot before building, and my mother didn't know there would be any issues cause it looked fairly flat. All these years later we've found many low spots in the yard that hold water for weeks at a time. How do I start the process of figuring out how to grade the areas? I can raise the house so I'm going to need to start close to the foundation and grade out from there. Her land shares a border with her pasture so water runoff won't be an issue. I've got a box blade and a chain harrow, and FEL to work with. Haven't used a box blade or the chain harrow yet, just got them recently.

Pics of last week when I picked up the bush hog and box blade.View attachment 698898

Grading is very difficult without the right tools. It is very hard to perceive what is level. As an example I have a gravel area in front of my shops that is roughly 200’ x 150’. For years I assumed it to be level. It wasn’t until I started messing around with survey grade equipment that I discovered it drops a foot in one direction and 1.5’ in the other. Judging if something is “smooth” is easy. Level is an entirely different problem.

 

[Greenvalleymatt]

Grading is very difficult without the right tools. It is very hard to perceive what is level. As an example I have a gravel area in front of my shops that is roughly 200’ x 150’. For years I assumed it to be level. It wasn’t until I started messing around with survey grade equipment that I discovered it drops a foot in one direction and 1.5’ in the other. Judging if something is “smooth” is easy. Level is an entirely different problem.

Yes that was the problem with the builder, he looked and said it looks pretty level to me in front of my mom. Them proceeded to not do anything but plop the house in the middle.