There are many homes that need good drainage solutions for yards as these places tend to suffer from continuous problems like water clogging and accumulation. Draining wet yards is not a very difficult task and, if you roll up your sleeves, it can be done easily with the help of simple and logical backyard drainage solutions.
An interesting survey in some selected parts of the United States of America found that a majority of homes (excluding apartments) face a genuine problem of water accumulation and clogging.
One does not need elaborate construction and home improvement schemes, instead simple step-wise measures which you can implement easily, can divert water to some other place.
Drainage Problems
There can be two potential causes of water accumulation in your backyard.
The first possibility is that your yard is on the lower end of a slope. In such situation, water from higher grounds, from other drainage routes, water drains of the roads and other sources may collect in your backyard. In such a case, your backyard essentially becomes a collecting point for the water. In such a case the volume of accumulated water will be huge.
The second potential problem that may occur is that your backyard in itself may be water-proofed and may act like a tank. In short, there is no way for the water to drain off and percolate into the soil.
In order to get rid of the water clogging, you will have to undertake a two-step solution.
Identification of the Source of Water: Among the solutions to prevent water clogging, the first one that is recommended by many engineers is identifying the source of water. The identification is a solution in itself because once we find the source of water, it is quite easy to implement other solutions for drainage. Backyards are often plagued by water running off the roof or broken pipelines.
Find a Place for the Excess Water: The next part of the solution must be finding an appropriate place where you can easily dispose off the excess water. The best place to dispose off the excess water, is the garden. However if the garden sounds unfavorable for you, you may also find a location lower than the level of your house. This water can also be redirected to your water tank.
Drainage Solutions
The Dry Well
A dry well is nothing but a big ditch in the ground. The sides of the dry well are surrounded by a simple concrete and brick wall, and the bottom is left open for the water to percolate. You can divert the water from your roof onto the dry well by reconstruction the piping system. The advantage of a dry well is that you do not need a pump or any moving mechanism to divert the water.
However it is extremely important to have the well deep enough and also use large pipes (diameter wise) to divert the water from the roof. The water from the dry well percolates on its own into the ground. The drawback of the dry well is that you need to keep it clean as waste, in the form of leaves, twigs and branches would hinder water percolation. It is also important that you keep the piping of the dry well clean and replace it when necessary. Another very ingenious way to divert and percolate water of the dry well is by installing a French drain. This would prove to be very beneficial if you happen to live in a hilly area.
Rain Barrel
Most of the time your yard gets blocked as a result of the water that drains off from the piping of your roof. This water can be easily accumulated into the rain barrel and can be recycled for use.
Drain off for the Yard
If the amount of water accumulating in the yard is low then the solution lies in the construction of your yard. There is a strong possibility that your yard ends at a concrete compound, thereby forming a perpendicular angle. The simple drainage solutions for yards in such cases is to break the flooring or the concrete, off the ground till you hit soil. This miniature trench must run along the compound and must have a breadth of about 20 to 30 inches.
The exposed soil would easily help you to drain off the water and also percolate it into the earth.
Leveling the Yard
In some cases, the yard may get clogged with water if it has a steep uphill rise. As a result, the water may flow off from the raised area and may get accumulated in one place. The best solution in such a case is leveling the yard. Another solution is making a separate drain at the place where the water gets accumulated.
However this does not completely solve the problem, and there is a probability of water getting accumulated. In fact, landscape designers often insist that the yard be slightly tilted/sloped in a certain direction that faces a natural geographic slope, as it facilitates the natural out flow of water.
French Drain and Weeping Tile
A French drain is an elaborate drain-off system which is basically used to direct water, away from one’s yard. This system is especially recommended if you have a basement, as it is highly instrumental in keeping the ground free from water accumulation. The French is made by digging a trench around one’s house or property. A porous pipe, known as the weeping tile is then laid down in the trench, which is covered with rough gravel. One of the pipe’s end empties into a storm drain or a dry well.
Fabric Drain Mat
There are of course some drawbacks of using any kind of pipelines, as pipelines inevitably get clogged with sediments. A simple mechanism has been recently introduced to the market. It is a semi-flexible fabric which has partial pipeline-like structures, sort of semi-circular. The fabric is buried into the ground to facilitate water flow off. In some cases it is also put underneath laws.
You would get the material and simple equipment that you need in the nearest hardware store. Remember to keep a simple approach when you implement solutions to drain water from your yard. A simple approach would ensure a foolproof solution and it would not be necessary for you to make many changes to the yard.