# Flooding Back Yard



## erin2404 (Mar 8, 2009)

I need help with our new house. Our back half of our yard floods bad when it rains. I think the houses around us lower into our yard. Does anyone have any sugestions?


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## glennjanie (Mar 8, 2009)

Welcome Erin:
First I would ask the local municipality to check the culverts and drains in that area. Then I would buy several truckloads of dirt and make my yard the highest. It is just a law of nature that water runs to the lowest point it can find, just make sure your yard isn't that place.
Glenn


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## handyguys (Mar 9, 2009)

Right glenn - When you add fill tho you need to make sure it slopes AWAY from your house. Also, you need to make sure any dirt does not come in contact with siding or wood on top of your foundation wall.

Good luck


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## porchtalk (Mar 26, 2009)

erin2404, this comes a little late in response but be careful about raising your yard in that you do not create a subsequent issue with your neighbors. In most municipalities you cannot "cause" a problem for others by resolving your own problem. You have other solutions as well. You can install french drains, etc.


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## GreenIsGood (Apr 8, 2009)

Since it's illegal to divert the natural flow of water such that it causes problems to others, you might consider making a sump or two. Here's how we do it:

Bore a hole(s) in the lowest spots. We use a 12" tractor auger, but if you can't 3 - 6" hand auger holes placed to make one large hole is fine. Go at least 4' deep. Fill the hole with washed rock - the same kind used for septic installation. The water will go down the hole and perk out of the soil quickly - especially at the bottom of the hole where the weight of the water is so great.

1 cu ft of water = 7.48 gallons. Put in additional holes if you want to top them with sod - though the sod will stay pretty dry.


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## streetkatt (Apr 13, 2009)

In reguards to the sump. I have the same problem with a flooding back yard. I will dig the hole alot deeper than 4", but wont the hole just fill up with water than i'll be stuck with the same problem. I dont understand.

Tim


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## GreenIsGood (Apr 16, 2009)

streetkatt said:


> In reguards to the sump. I have the same problem with a flooding back yard. I will dig the hole alot deeper than 4", but wont the hole just fill up with water than i'll be stuck with the same problem. I dont understand.
> 
> Tim



The holes should be 4 feet deep, not 4 inches. The hole dramatically increases the surface area for the water to perk out of. The weight of the water also helps with the perking - as the hole fills, the water is heavier and pushes the water down into the ground faster. It is possible for the hole(s) to fill, but regardless, they will drain much faster than the surface would have otherwise. If your problem is quite severe, do a second or third hole.


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## sarah anthony (Apr 20, 2009)

plant a couple of weeping willow trees.   they love water and will

dry up a lot of your yard.


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## cibula11 (Apr 28, 2009)

Rain garden might work.  Google it.  But its essentially a pit that collects water and drains through the soil.  Although they say not to place one in an area that already collects water because it doesn't drain properly.  I would guess if you excavated the area and added sand and rock to help drainage it might work.


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## Philphine (Jun 9, 2009)

guess this would only work if you have a ditch behind your house like i do. i noticed some standing water spots were deeper than others. one day out in the rain i took a pick and kind of linked the deeper puddles with a little drainage ditch till it got to my fence and from there it ran on into the ditch. now it's mostly finished out as one of those artificial stream deals so it doesn't just look like a small trench running down the yard.

again this will depend on how things are set up for you, but another thing was i got some of that corrugated drainage tubing and ran it from the rain gutters on the back of the house and garage to the beginning of my artificial stream too (i should add that they're mosly running under my deck and not just across the yard). so the water from the gutters wasn't just spilling out into the yard.

truthfully i think it only helps up to a point, then the yard gets pretty soggy anyway. i do think it kind of drains off a little quicker though.


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## csweihe (Jun 29, 2009)

I had a lake in my yard every spring and every storm. My house was moved onto the lot 50 years after all other builds. lt settled last on the block. I had water from across the alley, and next door. It would bury 2 out 3 steps to the back door and was about 30 ft in diameter. There was a current with little white caps when the wind blew. I cried the first year I saw this. I couldn't believe it. 

I solved the problem by observing how the water entered my yard and thereby  building a berm wall running the length of my lot. I also raised the drip edge with gravel about 6 inches. 

 important factors: My neighbor agreed to this!  I left a "culvert", so to speak, that would direct the water to the street in front of the house. My berm is not level with or higher than my neighbor's yard.The culvert is wide enough to mow and away from my drip line. 

I also planted lilacs, dogwood, snow berries, and miniature pine trees on the berm to help absorb water and hold the dirt in place with a root structure.

I've been dry for 3 years. It was considerably less than the 6 grand quote for a drain tile. I hired a friend's husband to do heavy work, cost me about 1,800.


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## TEmpRandomGuyMustSignUp (May 8, 2012)

GreenIsGood said:


> The holes should be 4 feet deep, not 4 inches. The hole dramatically increases the surface area for the water to perk out of. The weight of the water also helps with the perking - as the hole fills, the water is heavier and pushes the water down into the ground faster. It is possible for the hole(s) to fill, but regardless, they will drain much faster than the surface would have otherwise. If your problem is quite severe, do a second or third hole.



I had flooding in my side-yard and the "hole" / dry-well remedy didn't work at all.  When it rained, a puddle about 6' wide by 10' long formed, with about 2" of water in it, on top of our undeveloped side yard (new house).  I went on the internet and found that the easiest and cheapest solution was digging 4' holes like was recommended here.  So I did it at the lowest point of the puddle (once it had dried out of course).  And having left over energy that day, and wanting to avoid doing other obligations, I went on to dig 4 more holes, for a total of 5, 4-foot deep (aprx 2' diameter) holes.

I looked at my holes and was so proud of myself.  Then the next Oregon rain hit, and it wasn't even a heavy one.  And guess what?  4 of the holes filled up to the top and REFUSED TO DRAIN.  To my amazement, they refused to drain even an inch for over 48 hours.  I don't know how long it would have taken them to drain completely, because I pumped the water out.

The culprit: compressed, already wet (spring), super-heavy clay soil.  So didn't work for me, had to fill holes in and do French drain instead.  What perplexes me to this day, though, is that one hole (and they were all within 3' of each other, max) drained INSTANTLY and COMPLETELY and even looked dry after the rains.  ???  That was like the "magic" hole or something.  Still don't know what the difference was.


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