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Backyard Grading, Leveling and Flood Prevention Tips

Backyard Grading, Leveling and Flood Prevention Tips

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The coming of winter seems a strange time to think about spring flooding- you are probably more concerned with winterizing your house. But this is the best time to do so: before the ground freezes, and well before next year’s rains catch you unprepared and underwater.

Backyard Flood Causes

The cause of flooding is an uneven yard. This causes rainwater to collect in one area, generally the middle of the yard. This usually happens to people whose property is slightly lower than that of their neighbors. While a slope of 1-2 degrees might be imperceptible to the naked eye, it can cause a big difference in terms of water run-off. And while Frost may have said that good fences make good neighbors, he also said “something there is that doesn’t love a wall”, and erecting a solid water-retention wall could be more trouble than it is worth.

So where does that leave you? The easiest path would be to just fill in the lowest area of your property to make it level. But that only works if you just have one slight indentation in your yard. Filling it in can also leave you with muck and mire in the spot before the new soil or sod has a chance to settle.

Drainage Pipes

So, assuming the problem is a generally uneven yard, not in line with the surrounding property (a very common scenario), you have several options. Perhaps the best way is to install a series of drainage pipes, in what is known as a herringbone configuration. This looks roughly like the spine of a fish- one of two vertical pipes with a series of diagonal tubes running into it.

Of course, you can’t just plop them into the ground. The diagonal pipes have to be slightly higher than the vertical ones, and those have to be positioned to run the water to the soakaway, or the lowest point. You want to have permeable pipes to let the water run in, and have them surrounded by pea gravel, which will let water through much better than tighter-packed dirt (needless to say, there can be soil and grass on top. Your yard doesn’t have to look like a wasteland).

Rain Gardens

This leaves you with just one problem: what to do with the water at the soakaway point? An increasingly popular option is a rain garden. Rain gardens typically contain local plants, wildflowers and smaller specimens, and have a very natural and non-manicured look to them- and they don’t take a lot of work. This is also an environmentally-conscious option, as it allows water to be filtered back into the underground system naturally without soaking up the small detritus that surrounds a house.

Regrading or Leveling Your Yard

If the problem you have is water running into your house, a more radical option is to re-grade your backyard enough for water to run away from your basement, but ideally not enough to run into your neighbor’s yard. Ideally you want to keep 4" to 6" of the top of your foundation wall exposed and pitch away from the house at about 5% for the first ten feet. After that you can get away with 1.5% to 2% slope on the main lawn area. You want to keep it fairly level so it's not noticeable when you're using the yard. The techniques for doing so are much the same for leveling your yard for an backyard ice rink.

Summing Up

These are all good options, but if you are pursuing any of them, especially the re-grading, it is important to make sure that your measurements are correct. Find a local contractor or engineer to help you figure out what needs to be done, and to make sure it is done correctly. A well-placed pipe or a slight degree of re-grading can save you thousands of dollars in flooding damage.

--Brian O'Neill

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