Help evaluate my backyard drainage problem. (diagram attached)

14 years ago

http://mysite.verizon.net/vzet7ek9/diagram.pdf

IÂm thinking of crisscrossing my backyard with a series of French drains and wanted to get your second opinions. After a series of rains (lets say 2-3 inches over a week) my sump pump runs continuously. And itÂs a soggy boggy mess. I know I have clay soil back there so IÂm thinking that the water just lies on top of the clay soil then penetrates enough to the water table then somehow finds my sump pump pit and thatÂs where it goes to be pumped out(theory).

With a fully saturated ground and new rain, IÂve calculated that the pump will run for 3 full days for every 2 inches of rain. (I have a rain gauge to keep track of all rainfall.) In the summer, the mud seems to attract a different looking fly (mudfly?).

Sorry about the crude drawing. Some further explanation: I did a French drain to left (west) of my house that drains almost to the sidewalk. The water used to pool really badly there after rains. The reason I put it there is because after some heavy rainfalls, the left basement well window ended up taking water (the window is half above ground). The water came into my basement when it was higher than the window. That problem seems to be solved as the water pooling there is gone within a few hours (it used to take a full day before).

The places on the top where it says "water pools" means areas where water seems to gather more than others. Not man-made ponds or water enclosures.

Also, the gutter downspouts (G) have been fully extended (about 7-12 feet) except for the one in the bottom right. It drains to a sidewalk right by my house. Unless I crack open the sidewalk, I canÂt extend it further. On the downspout on the top left I buried some corrugated pipe and extended it all the way to the catch basin. I did this due to the earlier well window flooding problem I mentioned above (overabundance of caution). The top right downspout drains into the buried 4" pipe that is fed by the catch basin (I did not do this improvement). I also extended the sump pump outlet about 8 feet via a buried drain pipe (it used to drain via one of those concrete downspout things).

My neighbor to the right has a sump pump and it never comes on. ThereÂs been times when it rains so hard that a little creek can be seen flowing into the city drain in between my house and my neighborÂs. My neighbor marvels about how my pump seems to run all the time.

The grades everywhere a pretty gradual and not steep. Except for the area between my house and my neighbor (to the right). There, itÂs more like a spread out V.

IÂm thinking of doing a series of spider web drainage pipes to get the water away from the backyard quickly all fed to the catch basin. Thus, the sump pump wonÂt be stressed so much later on. Is this project a waste of time? Be happy to answer any questions.

Sort by:Oldest

Comments (3)

lehua49
14 years ago
Hi On n Up,

Just a tad more info. I do like your diagram. It helps quite a bit(photos available?). Are you the original owner of the property? Do you know of any regrading of your lot? How much lower is your backyard compared to your neighbors yards? Are all the yards part of a large subdivision? How old is the subdivisions? Is the parking lot and dirt tree area to the left lower than your yard? Who's property is the parking lot and dirt tree area? It is strange that your neighbor yards in the back all drain to your yard as well as your neighbors yard to the right. Check your percolation rate of your soil by digging a 18"x18"x18" hole in the yard, then fill it full of water, then let it empty out and fill it again, keep track of the time it take to empty again. Till we communicate again, stay dry. Aloha
onward-upward
Original Author
14 years ago
Thanks, lehua. Here are my responses: I'll try to have photos posted tonight. I am not the original owner. I don't know of any regrading of the lot. I think I am at a downslope from A, B, C houses, but my neighbor to the right (D) is about the same. A, B, C are older homes. Myself and D are a newer row of homes (more homes to the right; about 6) that were built in 2000 or so. I would estimate that the ABC homes were built in the 50s.

Parking lot is about the same level as my yard. The parking lot is for a fire station next to us. It may be a while to dig that 18" hole! I am in the DC suburbs. Right now, all the moist soil/water has frozen so it may not be a good time of the year to do a percolation test.

Before this current period of sustained freeze, we had a lot of rain for December (about 7 inches and we average around 3 for Dec.). I did core aerate/reseed the yard this past spring, which I thought could breakdown the clay soil & absorb more rainwater. However, this won't work in December where we have short days and no warming/evaporation of the water. the lawn is probably less thirsty in December.

This may or not matter, but one of the original owners of one of the our generation homes next to us told me that the land where they built our homes used to be a city park. The park was next to the firestation. Also, when I dug out the long french drain, I kept getting my shovel jammed with many rocks. Some as big as fists.
Related Discussions
Help with bed /border shapes in my odd backyard
Q
Comments (10)
This also brings back a flashback of my own situation. I had been landscaping my backyard over the years, but in pieces and not as a whole landscape. This resulted in several disparate forms, a gazebo on a berm (circular), lawn (rectangle), and playset on bermed area (another rectangle). It wasn't until I saw a little side-bar snippet and drawing in Fine Gardening (don't remember the issue) that referenced "recieving forms". I posted here awhile back my excitement about this (see link to thread below). A recieving form is basically relating shapes to one another, be they bed shaped, lawn shapes or berm shapes so that the peices look that they "go" together, which unifies an area over a stretch of negative space. For example looking from space at the earth, it's easy to see how S. America (brazilian coast) can fit into the west coast of Africa. This type of re-structuring your lawn shape and bed shapes will help to bring together all of the areas of your backyard into pleasant spot. Also consider adding some berms for changes in elevation (assuming drainage won't be adversely impacted)to add some interest and aid in the recieving form effect. Here is a link that might be useful: Recieving forms
...See More
backyard landscape help request
Q
Comments (12)
OK, so now we know why you had all the planters - they were hiding that wall, LOL. Nothing wrong with that idea, but make it easy on yourself and create beds with plants that will hide the wall and spill slightly over the top, softening the look from the patio interior. Always make your beds larger than you think - you have the room to pull this off and those beds must be proportionately large to the scale of your property. The tree rings are not a great idea. They visually "break" the trees from the greenery and look rather like white bulls-eye's plunked in your lawn with tree arrows. I think the major trouble is that where your patio is placed, what do you want to look at? Everything seems very scattered around, without any sense of mystery or cohesive integration, which is why it's troubling you so much. Your basic elements are good - everyone has flaws they have to work around - yet you feel something's missing, but don't know what it is. You have ground level (lawn, patio and short plants) and top-level (trees and pergola), but absolutely nothing in the middle-layer to integrate it all together into a whole satisfying mix. Your patio as it sits in the lawn is like a promontory view point in the middle of a desert. It's all flat and laid out for everyone to see. Stand in the middle of the patio, turn 360-degrees and you can see everything in it. There's no sense of "what might be around the next corner?" to add interest. No matter what your style of gardening you need to always integrate the top and bottom layers with a good selection of mid-height shrubs. These will add color and interest to your garden 365 days a year without needing to always depend upon flower bloom. It is where you get the critical balance of leaf color, texture and shape to interest the eye and provide specific "focal points of interest". As it stands now the eye drifts over your garden greens because they're either too much the same color or too isolated to hold interest. It lands on the wrong things; e.g., the whiteness of the stone or the position of the patio. Think of your garden like the outside shell of your house. Whether you stand at your front door or your back door, you can see some of the rooms but not all of them. Walking further inside, you can see more revealed, as well as a hallway or another doorway that obviously leads somewhere else. Your rooms have flooring (ground layer), furniture such as desks, beds, or bookcases (middle layer), and windows and overhead lights (top layer). If your rooms only had a rug on the floor and a hanging light fixture, think how empty that looks! Fill it with an interesting mix of furniture with different textures, textures, colors and shapes - and suddenly you have a pleasing, beautiful room to live in. A garden is similar in concept. It is an exterior shell, into which you place disparate elements to both contrast and complement one another into a visually pleasing whole. Good luck to you going forward!
...See More
Florida Backyard Floods; Grading or Drainage Issue?
Q
Comments (18)
Hi had a similar problem with mine i live in Palm Beach county I removed the grass from the backyard creating shrub palm islands Using gravel in the paths . Don't know about your soil but mine is mostly beach sand so drains easily if you don't block it I put gutters on the roof and direct it to the water gardens from there to marsh gardens then to the neighbors.lol It has worked well except when there was a 31 inch rain.!! Was collecting fish from the neighbors for weeks lol Summer is the rainy season so expect heavy rains !!! I'm almost 14 inches below normal this year so depending on the hose for my floods lol Good luck gary
...See More
MY BACKYARD muddy mess
Q
Comments (12)
Im not sure why just raising up the low spots (ie where the puddles are) wouldnt solve the problem . I would just bury the whole yard in a truckload of woodchips- thick layer, at least 6 inches, a foot is even better. Seriously! At least youd have a useable yard. It mellows to a nice color and compacts down and becomes a comfortable surface to walk on. And over time breaks down into organic matter that enriches the soil. THen, you can take your time to decide where you would put trees, raised beds, walkways and patio or deck living areas. Grass and several big healthy dogs playing, pooping, and peeing are not really compatible, so you may just want to stick with wood chips as your ground cover and decide to enjoy your dogs instead. Some cities give away truckloads of chips from their tree trimming operation - arborists & tree cutters sometimes do as well.
...See More
lehua49
14 years ago
Hi O-U,

Very interesting. It makes sense know. Then it is an historic condition that the drainage of your neighbor's water comes into the ex-park now your yard. If you are lower than your back neighbors, you might want to install a gunite or concrete lined surface ditch that pick ups their flow and takes it to the parking lot or tree area. Who owns the tree and dirt area next to the parking lot and next to your lot? This surface ditch has the best capacity, fastest moving and most maintainable way to keep water from entering your property. You can adjust your yard grades to make the drains work and get the water to the front of your house and away from your house slab. Underground french drains eventually fail and clog and it is very expensive to rehabilitate. If your soil is clay with low percolation, fast surface drainage is even more important. Pictures would be great. You have my warmest sympathy for the freezing weather. Aloha

Help evaluate my backyard drainage problem. (diagram attached)

Comments (3)

lehua49

onward-upward
Original Author

Related Discussions

lehua49

COMPANY

BUSINESS SERVICES

GET HELP

CONNECT WITH US

Help evaluate my backyard drainage problem. (diagram attached)

Comments (3)

lehua49

onward-upwardOriginal Author

Related Discussions

lehua49

COMPANY

BUSINESS SERVICES

GET HELP

CONNECT WITH US

onward-upward
Original Author