Backyard Drainage Issue


  #1  
Old 06-02-19, 03:19 PM
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Backyard Drainage Issue

Hello everyone.

As the title says, I have a drainage issue in my backyard. The picture will show that my backward is at the bottom of a hill. I live in Canada, and when the snow melts in the spring, water pools up and it stays squishy and gross for at least a month and a half.

I'm likely going to do french drains that connect to the ones in the window wells in the back of my house as part of a larger renovation project in a few years, but that's for later.

For now, I am wondering the following:

What if I dug a trench that would be about 3' wide and 3-4' deep, across my whole yard, at the bottom of the hill where it becomes flat. I would then put about 1' of 3/4 stone, and then soil, top soil, and grass on top of that.

Could this work to help with the spring drainage?

Thanks!
Nic
 
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  #2  
Old 06-03-19, 04:42 AM
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The best solution is to grade the surface so the water runs off. French drains can help sometimes but they only work when the water has somewhere to go. Once the ground is saturated they stop working. And, it sounds like your whole back yard stays saturated for a very long time.
 
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Old 06-03-19, 05:02 AM
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It looks like the low spot is in the middle of the yard so in theory yes it should help assuming the drainage goes out the back which would be lower.

As noted, it looks like you might be able to fill in the low area to get slope to the rear and not need the drain.
 
  #4  
Old 08-19-19, 12:46 PM
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hmm, looks like grading might be my best bet, but that's another issue because it needs to go from the side of the house all the way to the front in order to slope it toward the street, or towards my neighbours' place.

I might go with a combination approach.
Thanks again guys, super helpful as usual.

And sorry for the delayed response, it's been a busy summer.

Cheers,
Shivaya
 
 

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