[SGrabs33]

This is the time of the year that my swale really gives me problems. After any of our descent spring showers the water builds up and stays soaked/wet for up to a few days. I am going to try some more regular apps of Penterra this year for sure.

Also thought about taking my progplugger and taking it all the way down the swale 3-6 plugs wide and backfilling with sand. Anyone have any idea if that would be worthwhile or wasted work?

Here are a few random pics of the swale area:

 

[ahartzell]

Is that grading necessary for drainage? If not, sand level it. If you can't do a lot of leveling then penterra, aerate and sand, or French drain?

 

[Greendoc]

Why is there a ditch going through the middle of your back yard? If that needs to be a drain, I would make it a drain complete with channels with grates and pipe taking the water out of the yard. Otherwise, I would fill it in and make the lawn level.

 

[SGrabs33]

Yes, the grading is necessary unfortunatley. Very jealous of members flat lots.

I have aerated in the past once. I didn't see much noticeable change but I know one time would do too much. That's why thought proplugging it would be like "extreme aeration".

French drain is def an option. I just don't want to shell out the cash for that right now.

 

[ahartzell]

French drain is def an option. I just don't want to shell out the cash for that right now.

They have all the needed supplies at Home Depot :lol:

Where does that eventually drain to?

 

[SGrabs33]

Why is there a ditch going through the middle of your back yard? If that needs to be a drain, I would make it a drain complete with channels with grates and pipe taking the water out of the yard. Otherwise, I would fill it in and make the lawn level.

Yep it's a ditch alright. It's supposed to move the water out of my yard and in between me and my neighbors yards. French drain would be ideal I guess. I wouldn't want grates in the middle of my yard but I guess that would be better than the water.

 

[SGrabs33]

French drain is def an option. I just don't want to shell out the cash for that right now.

They have all the needed supplies at Home Depot :lol:

Where does that eventually drain to?

I did all of that edging a year or so ago. Digging another ditch doesn't sound like fun. It's draind in between me and my neighbors yard.

 

[J_nick]

Why is there a ditch going through the middle of your back yard? If that needs to be a drain, I would make it a drain complete with channels with grates and pipe taking the water out of the yard. Otherwise, I would fill it in and make the lawn level.

Yep it's a ditch alright. It's supposed to move the water out of my yard and in between me and my neighbors yards. French drain would be ideal I guess. I wouldn't want grates in the middle of my yard but I guess that would be better than the water.

Do it how they do drainage on Golf greens. Dig a trench 18" deep along the bottom of the swale. Place a perforated pipe with a debris sock in the trench and cover with gravel followed by sand to get back to grade. There's quite a few YouTube videos explaining it 100x better than I just did.

A lot of modern greens can handle up to 25" of rain an hour!

 

[J_nick]

As for manual labor, MQ lives close and will come help. He's a great ditch digger and will even hump that dirt to the curb for ya!

 

[SGrabs33]

As for manual labor, MQ lives close and will come help. He's a great ditch digger and will even hump that dirt to the curb for ya!

Nice of you to volunteer him :lol:

Do you or anyone think I would get steals some benefit from my pro plugger idea?

 

[Greendoc]

If you used the plugger and filled the holes with sand all along that ditch, the water would have a place to drain down and then away. Not sure how much water it could carry away. I am with j_nick. Standing water after rain calls for a pipe system. If not the channel grate, a PGA style underground drain. I had to help one of my customers with a bad problem. The loose screw that graded his property sloped everything back towards his back door :shocked: I ended up installing a channel drain along the concrete patio that was then piped to the far end of the yard.

 

[J_nick]

I'm sure the pro plugger couldn't hurt. I would almost like to go deeper than the foot pegs would allow like 12".

Do you have have pics of how the water exits your property? Looks like it hangs a left then follows the fence line?

 

[SGrabs33]

The swale is graded so the water slopes out of my yard and between the houses.

Water flows from the bottom of the pic to the top:


@ the end of the swale is this. The black drain from my downspouts I installed 2 years ago is also there:


Then it all flows between the houses and to the street. This area is terrible. Soaked all the time for a week + after rains because of my water flow and also my neighbors French drain drains here also.

 

[w0lfe]

Man I understand the frustration completely. My front yard is probably worse than this, and causes my driveway to flood. To make it worse, that part of my driveway and yard aren't high enough to drain to the street

 

[Reel Low Dad]

I was able to eliminate a swale that ran through backyard by installing a drain at the beginning and piping it down to the other swale that runs through my backyard and comes out via a pop up emitter. I wasn't sure how it would work but with the rain we have had so far this spring, one day over 2 inches, it works great and the area used to be a soggy mush is now firm. Looking at your new pics, I assume the swale in the back goes to the side yard and then to the sidewalk? With your yard on the left with the stepping stones?

 

[SGrabs33]

Looking at your new pics, I assume the swale in the back goes to the side yard and then to the sidewalk? With your yard on the left with the stepping stones?

Yep, that's it exactly.

I definitely saw improvement after burying my downspouts and getting that water out of the yard. But now it's just the fact that anything that falls in my yard goes to that swale.

 

[csbutler]

I feel you pain this was my situation before I put in a drain along my back swale.







Atleast you have a pretty defined swale. The builder did a pretty terrible job on mine. I had to put in a gravel drain along the entire back of my yard and along one side of my fence. The water behind my house would sit for about 2-3 days but the water along my fence would sit for a week plus. Along my fence the front yard is higher than the back. Before the builder graded the house next to me it was fine but as soon as they graded it I took 100% of the swale and 100% of their water.

The day after I put my drain in it rained pretty much all day and within 30 minutes after it stopped I had no puddles.

 

[SGrabs33]

@csbutler Oh wow, mine has never been that bad. It's a shame that the builders do this to us.

Seems like a French drain is the best option :/

 

[csbutler]

It's a pain but I'm happy I did it.

 

[Mightyquinn]

As for manual labor, MQ lives close and will come help. He's a great ditch digger and will even hump that dirt to the curb for ya!

Nice of you to volunteer him :lol:

Do you or anyone think I would get steals some benefit from my pro plugger idea?

Seriously, if you need help with this project I would be more than happy to help out one weekend. You can rent a trencher from Home Depot and we can knock it out. I would recommend putting a french drain it the swale and down the side of the house with a pop up emitter at the sidewalk. Talk to your neighbor and see if he will let you tie his downspouts into the drain? :thumbup: