Help with flooding yard!

Hi guys hoping someone can give me an idea of how to deal with our flooding problem. We have installed 2 French drains, and also piped and ran out underground the guttering. Here is a photo, as you can see when it rains it covers my sidewalk and eventually come up onto the porch! We live downhill, and you can see some of the runoff from the hill. Any ideas would be appreciated!

 

Hi jade,
Do you have a slope exiting your property? Gravity is your primary option. Next would be to divert that flow of water to some place other than where it is going now.

How much property do you have to work with and is there a street or other place to drain the water to?

Bud

 

Yes, we are downhill, we have about 3 acres and behind us is a private lake. How would I go about sloping and diverting?

 

Well, for me it is easy, I have a backhoe. Landscaping is not a shovel and wheelbarrow job. Take advantage of the water when it is there to install some stakes marking the elevations. Most environmental rules will not want to see runoff going directly into a lake, but holding area between your house and the lake might be acceptable. You can probably get some guidance from your local town or county officials and being near a lake, doing it right is a must.

Whether there is an easy solution, a simple trench or berm, I can't say. Sometimes you can have a landscape contractor come in and give you an estimate and learn from what they says.

Bud

 

thanks Bud, I may have to call someone. I didn't know who to call to be honest! My dad has a tractor and plow attachment. That is how we made the French drains. We don't live within any city limits, and the county wont even come to grade out road because they said it is all privately owned (and it is) but even diverting the water to the back would be better just getting it away from the front door! I wouldn't know where the best place to make ditches to drain the water from there.

 

How much elevation change between that flood area and the pond out back? If you have enough elevation, I would suggest creating another collecting point where you could divert the runoff and then drain from there to the pond. That provides some level of filtration to keep the sediment out of the pond.

Search for soil conservation at the state or county level.

Bud

 

thanks Bud! its a pretty good slope, I don't know the grade, but when I walk up it I know I am walking uphill if you know what I mean! Are you talking open ditches or what are you thinking?

 

Just a reminder - since you are out in the county, I'd assume you have a septic tank so make sure you don't divert the water to the area where the drain field is.

 

I have to deal with 5' of potential frost, so always prefer open drainage. Depending upon where in AZ you are, frost may or may not be a concern. Your landscaping is the other issue. You apparently have the slope, but how an open drainage path will look is your call. Open is quick and easy and might be a temporary solution while you plan on something underground. Just try to avoid a drainage pipe pouring directly into the pond, EPA will eventually see it and may not be happy.

Bud

 

gotcha Mark! The septic is to the left side of the house so would have to do some diverting around that! I don't know how underground piping is going to help if it is anything like a French drain. We used pref pipe, all in the same area where the water is standing! We have already spent a lot of money and still have the problem. It is sooo aggervating! I would be happy just diverting the water to the back of the yard, anywhere other than here in front of the house where its coming onto the porch.

 

maybe this picture will help!

 

Bud which way would you run open ditches, horizontally in front of the house then vertically away? How do you keep them from filling back up over time? Is there a vented material to cover them so no one steps into them accidentally?

 

I'm not sure what was installed that it is being called a French drain, but they don't typically just drain into the ground. IMO, they should be draining exactly the same as an open ditch, somewhere to daylight. It is just that a French drain gets covered with gravel and has perforated pipes and filter fabric buried under the gravel.

How the surface drainage should be done is difficult to say without the elevations, but if you had to dig a small channel from that wet spot, around your house, and down to the pond, where would it be easiest? Now, make that channel deep enough to drain the lowest wet area. Now make it wider so it would be easy to mow the slope on each side.

If you want to bury some pipes and do not have a frost issue, another foot down and add some gravel. Then your perforated pipe covered level with gravel and covered with filter fabric. Then gravel to grade. Some landscaping would typically be necessary to be sure the incoming water is directed to the channel around the house.

Pick up a water level to be sure you are keeping all drainage headed downhill.

Bud

 

Ill give it a try, want to get it done before spring!! Thanks so much for your help!!