Small Front Yard Flood

[Normal Bill]

My front yard has this area that always floods and I want to fix it this spring. I think I will dig up the top soil from the low spot and add gravel under it to raise it up. Then along the edge of the woods create a swale or shallow trench of some kind to keep water from going to that puddle area. I'll need to be careful as I am near the well.

(When looking at the photos the ground pitches gently toward you and to the left.)

Does this sound like the right way to do this? I know it isn't as big as the projects that I read about here. Still, I'm looking for advice because I want do do it right.

 

[dave1949]

If that area is wet because that is where the surface water collects coming down out of the woods, then I think a swale at the edge of the trees would intercept that water and move it away--if you have somewhere down slope to send it. The swale doesn't need to be deep.

I would be inclined to use the dirt from the swale or hauled in dirt to build up the low spot, not gravel.

Do you think the water collects there due to the way the grading was done when the house was built--leaving a low spot with no continuous slope, or is it wet because ground water seems to appear there?

 

[hunterridgefarm]

I had to cut a "V" section of my yard where water gathered and ran toward the house. I ended up putting in a dry creek bed to channel the water away. It work great and looks like a small river during heavy rains. I don't know if this is possible for you but may be an option. And it would look good at the edge of the woods.

 

[tractorshopper]

I have a similar situation where water comes down out of the woods. I used my box blade and loader to cut a shallow swale at the edge of the woods and have the water drain down the property line to my front ditch. I agree with Dave in that I'd use the top soil you get from digging the swale to build up the low spot that is holding water.

 

[EddieWalker]

I don't think adding rock is going to do anything. It takes a lot of rock to create a surface solid enough to support a vehicle, but it's not great at filling low areas. In fact, rock is used to hold moisture in areas of the soil.

Like the others have said, you need to dig a wide, shallow trench that will allow the water to drain away from where it is sitting. The wider you make it, the more natural it will look and the easier it is to mow.

Do not use pipes or install a French drain. They never last and you will always have to deal with maintaining them. Ignore anybody who says theirs works great, they just haven't had one long enough for it to fail. They always fail, it's just a matter of when.

Eddie

 

[Normal Bill]

Okay so I'll use soil not gravel to re-shape the front yard.

I live a long way down in the woods ( by CT standards anyway) so a lot of water heads down hill toward my house. I hope that this one is because of grading but since buying this house I've found a number of wet areas that are failed pipes/ drains that I've had to fix. I connect them to solid pipe and send them out to a trench on the side that is not nearly as pretty as Hunter Ridge's.

That trench runs like a river also. If I make one on the front too it'll be like I have a moat defending my house.

Eddie, when I said that this project isn't very big I was thinking about your lake building thread. You are like a superhero or something.

Thanks for the advice everyone.

 

[oosik]

Yes, everybody should end up with a "drainage fix" that looks a good as David's. I have a low spot in the yard but to create gravity drainage means a ditch over 200 feet long. The low spot can be anything from bone dry to about 1500 sq ft and approaching 14" deep depending upon the conditions that spring. Since it only goes to the extreme about once every ten years I just hook up my trash pump and pump it about every third day. I checked pitch & slope on the low spot and its even questionable if it would drain by gravity. I'm happy with the way it is and that's what counts.

 

[dave1949]

Sometimes hillsides leak. If the ledge is not very deep, the water stays near the surface as it drains downhill. The slope leading onto the back of our property is like that. Lots of upland territory above it, a stream at the bottom; and the hillside is saturated at the surface.

If you have found various pipes here and there, someone was working with the drainage at some point in the past obviously. It is likely that the drainage where your house is sited was never really done right for the conditions. It could be worth your while, depending on the scale of the situation or how much it bugs you, to have a heavy equipment "dirt guy" contractor look at the situation and make recommendations. They can read the terrain pretty well and have local experience too. An excavator and bulldozer can do awesome stuff in two or three days if they have room to work.

You could end up with a dry yard and small trout pond.