| Lawn, Yard + Garden Drainage Guide Step 1 |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
Lawn, Yard, and Garden Drainage
+ French Drain Installation Guide
Step 1
+ French Drain Installation Guide
Step 1
In this Guide you will find information on:
• How to design, build, and install a drain system
• French drain system building guide
• Installation of plastic drainage pipe and tile
• How to install a drywell to drain rain water
• Avoid having a soggy lawn, garden or yard
Do you have a soggy lawn? Are your garden plants drowning in rain water?
Do you get big puddles in your yard that take days to dry up?
The Lawn, Yard, and Garden Drainage Guide can help!
How To Discover Your Water Drainage Problems – Step One
Normal drainage problems start during a rain storm and can last for a few days
afterward. They usually fit one of these 3 memorably named categories:
1. Lake Downspout
2. Soggy Lawn Swamp
3. Rainy River
There is a 4th category that we won’t be tackling in this guide, the Eternal Wet Zone.
This soggy bit of landscape that never seems to dry up, even when it has not rained
for weeks. It is probably a spring, an area of unusually high water table, or a leaking
water or sewer pipe. All of these situations call for professional assistance. Don’t start
digging into an area that may be a little spring, or it is likely to become a BIG spring.
Here is an article that will give you a little insight on dealing with springs.
Installing a drain system yourself is probably going to involve some expense for
plastic drain pipe (still called drain tile by some – I’ll use both terms), much gravel,
and a lot of digging. Before you start spending you time and treasure, let’s figure out
WHY your yard, lawn or garden has a drain problem, and then we will figure out how
to best FIX it. That means going out in the next rain storm and getting a little wet.
Before the next rain storm you should do these few tasks. First, round up a dozen or
two wooden stakes, a hammer, a pencil or two, and a rain poncho or umbrella. Next
make a sketch - on something fairly water proof - of the portion of yard that has the
drainage problem (I like to use a scrap of plywood). Lastly check your gutters and
downspouts – make sure they are not plugged and that the downspouts are intact
and located over the top of splash blocks if you have them. You may want to have
others in your household read this guide also so they can do the discovery task for
you if you are not home during the next big rain storm.
Shortly after the rain storm starts head outside and watch for the occurrence of our 3
memorably named water drainage problems:
1. Lake Downspout
2. Soggy Lawn Swamp
3. Rainy River
The first drain problem to show up is usually Lake Downspout. Try to figure out why
rain water is building up near your gutter downspouts. Is the ground next to the
house tilted back towards the house so the water can’t flow away? Does the soggy
downspout have a whole lot more water coming out of it than other nearby gutter
downspouts? Are there two gutter downspouts fairly near each other with a lake
between them? Mark the center of any Lake Downspout with a stake with the number
1 written on it. Note if the soil is fairly soupy so the stake slides right in, or if it takes
firm steady pressure to push the stake in (clay) or if you have to hammer the stake
through a hard crust (surface compaction). Make notes on your plywood sketch of
any clues you discover.
The next drainage problem to pop up is usually the Soggy Lawn Swamp, though in
your yard it may be better called the Soggy Garden Swamp, the Under Deck Flood,
or some other soggy area I’ll let you name. Slosh on out to the middle of each one
and stick a stake in with the number 2 written on it. Again note how hard it is to push
the stake in. Mark these places on your sketch and then look around to try to find
where the water is coming from. Is a Lake Downspout feeding your swamp? Does the
swamp show up as a broad low area in an otherwise flat lawn? Is your swamp the
pathways between raised garden beds? Or does it fill the area above or below a
retaining wall? Is your swamp backed up against your foundation wall? Is it stretched
across a dip in your driveway or along the edge of patio? Take lots of notes and
mark all these areas with your #2 stakes.
After awhile it will be time for the Rainy River to start flowing (if you are unlucky
enough to have one). Sketch its path and mark it with stakes with 3 written on them,
usually one at the river’s beginning and one at its end. Again note how easy or hard
it is to put the stakes in. Try to figure out where the river originates and why it flows
where it does. Does the river begin on your property or your neighbors? What is
feeding the river? Is it flowing across an area that causes any problems for you? Is
there a natural depression or swale that the river follows? Does it drain to a ditch, the
street, or just flow into another Soggy Lawn Swamp? If it flows into a Soggy Lawn
Swamp does the swamp keep growing or does it stay the same size? (in other words,
can it handle the extra flow?)
Wander around a little longer and see if anything changes much and if any other
insights come to mind. Then go inside, dry off, have a cup of coffee, and try to figure
out how you are going to explain your strange behavior to the neighbors.
Once the rain stops head back outside with your pencil and sketch. Take notes on
which areas soak in and disappear first. Normally the Lake Downspouts and the
Rainy Rivers will soak in first, and the Swamps will hang around the longest – but not
always. Note on your sketch the places that disappear quickly. Also mark the ones
that are very slow to disappear like more than 8 hours. This drain time information will
be useful in setting priorities of which drainage problems to tackle first.
So now you have information on where your drainage problems occur, some clues as
to why they occur, and information on how severe they are (the drain time
information). In Step 2 of the Lawn, Yard, and Garden Drainage Guide we will figure
out How To Design a Drainage System to solve these problems…
Do you get big puddles in your yard that take days to dry up?
The Lawn, Yard, and Garden Drainage Guide can help!
How To Discover Your Water Drainage Problems – Step One
Normal drainage problems start during a rain storm and can last for a few days
afterward. They usually fit one of these 3 memorably named categories:
1. Lake Downspout
2. Soggy Lawn Swamp
3. Rainy River
There is a 4th category that we won’t be tackling in this guide, the Eternal Wet Zone.
This soggy bit of landscape that never seems to dry up, even when it has not rained
for weeks. It is probably a spring, an area of unusually high water table, or a leaking
water or sewer pipe. All of these situations call for professional assistance. Don’t start
digging into an area that may be a little spring, or it is likely to become a BIG spring.
Here is an article that will give you a little insight on dealing with springs.
Installing a drain system yourself is probably going to involve some expense for
plastic drain pipe (still called drain tile by some – I’ll use both terms), much gravel,
and a lot of digging. Before you start spending you time and treasure, let’s figure out
WHY your yard, lawn or garden has a drain problem, and then we will figure out how
to best FIX it. That means going out in the next rain storm and getting a little wet.
Before the next rain storm you should do these few tasks. First, round up a dozen or
two wooden stakes, a hammer, a pencil or two, and a rain poncho or umbrella. Next
make a sketch - on something fairly water proof - of the portion of yard that has the
drainage problem (I like to use a scrap of plywood). Lastly check your gutters and
downspouts – make sure they are not plugged and that the downspouts are intact
and located over the top of splash blocks if you have them. You may want to have
others in your household read this guide also so they can do the discovery task for
you if you are not home during the next big rain storm.
Shortly after the rain storm starts head outside and watch for the occurrence of our 3
memorably named water drainage problems:
1. Lake Downspout
2. Soggy Lawn Swamp
3. Rainy River
The first drain problem to show up is usually Lake Downspout. Try to figure out why
rain water is building up near your gutter downspouts. Is the ground next to the
house tilted back towards the house so the water can’t flow away? Does the soggy
downspout have a whole lot more water coming out of it than other nearby gutter
downspouts? Are there two gutter downspouts fairly near each other with a lake
between them? Mark the center of any Lake Downspout with a stake with the number
1 written on it. Note if the soil is fairly soupy so the stake slides right in, or if it takes
firm steady pressure to push the stake in (clay) or if you have to hammer the stake
through a hard crust (surface compaction). Make notes on your plywood sketch of
any clues you discover.
The next drainage problem to pop up is usually the Soggy Lawn Swamp, though in
your yard it may be better called the Soggy Garden Swamp, the Under Deck Flood,
or some other soggy area I’ll let you name. Slosh on out to the middle of each one
and stick a stake in with the number 2 written on it. Again note how hard it is to push
the stake in. Mark these places on your sketch and then look around to try to find
where the water is coming from. Is a Lake Downspout feeding your swamp? Does the
swamp show up as a broad low area in an otherwise flat lawn? Is your swamp the
pathways between raised garden beds? Or does it fill the area above or below a
retaining wall? Is your swamp backed up against your foundation wall? Is it stretched
across a dip in your driveway or along the edge of patio? Take lots of notes and
mark all these areas with your #2 stakes.
After awhile it will be time for the Rainy River to start flowing (if you are unlucky
enough to have one). Sketch its path and mark it with stakes with 3 written on them,
usually one at the river’s beginning and one at its end. Again note how easy or hard
it is to put the stakes in. Try to figure out where the river originates and why it flows
where it does. Does the river begin on your property or your neighbors? What is
feeding the river? Is it flowing across an area that causes any problems for you? Is
there a natural depression or swale that the river follows? Does it drain to a ditch, the
street, or just flow into another Soggy Lawn Swamp? If it flows into a Soggy Lawn
Swamp does the swamp keep growing or does it stay the same size? (in other words,
can it handle the extra flow?)
Wander around a little longer and see if anything changes much and if any other
insights come to mind. Then go inside, dry off, have a cup of coffee, and try to figure
out how you are going to explain your strange behavior to the neighbors.
Once the rain stops head back outside with your pencil and sketch. Take notes on
which areas soak in and disappear first. Normally the Lake Downspouts and the
Rainy Rivers will soak in first, and the Swamps will hang around the longest – but not
always. Note on your sketch the places that disappear quickly. Also mark the ones
that are very slow to disappear like more than 8 hours. This drain time information will
be useful in setting priorities of which drainage problems to tackle first.
So now you have information on where your drainage problems occur, some clues as
to why they occur, and information on how severe they are (the drain time
information). In Step 2 of the Lawn, Yard, and Garden Drainage Guide we will figure
out How To Design a Drainage System to solve these problems…
| Ready to start digging? Want to dig faster than a shovel and with less effort? Try our new Easy Digging tools! |
| Lawn and Garden Drainage Guide Step 1 Step 2 Step 3 Step 4 Instructions |
| Copyright © 2008 easydigging.com and Baka Specialties, LLC - All rights reserved. Terms of Use |
 |  |  |  |  |
| NEW FOR 2008 - Mattock and Pick Axe with extra long 45" handles - Great for trenching! |
Groundbreaking tools for gardening and construction
Professional quality digging tools that are fast, efficient, and affordable.
Forged steel for long life. Extra long handles for easy digging with less effort.
| News Flash! Home and Garden Television (HGTV) lists Easy Digging as a tool supplier in their feature on grub hoes and other heavy-duty digging tools. Click here for more info |
