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In front of my North facing window, on a slight tilt, is this 1.5m x 3m patch of, well, mud.

Area of mud outside my window

There is are paving slabs just underneath the window, but the moss is happily growing which gives you an idea of how the whole bit often sits for a day in 1-2 inches of water.

I've tried laying mesh on it then putting various rocks around it as you can see. I left big gaps for large pots, thinking I could put big plants in there that will give it some life over winter.

It rained hard 2 days ago and the whole lot just sat in about 4 inches of water and.. well.. it's just not working.

My wife suggested making it into a pond! I'm still liking the rockery idea but considered maybe putting something over the top, almost like decking, to life the rocks and plants out of the way. I'm clueless when it comes to drainage.

For reference this is Aberdeen Scotland where the max temp in summer is about 25oC (77f) and min in winter around -5oC (23f). The area never gets sunlight and it rains every 3 days.

Any suggestions for a way forward?

Edit - 2 more photos added with annotations. One looking "head on" towards the house. One where I crouched down so you can see the angle of the neighbours garden.

Front Image "Crouched Down" Image

Edit 2: Some great advice on the comments. I've decided I can't ignore this problem so my next step is to dig in and around the area to see if I can work out why this ground isn't draining. The house is 30 years old so there's little chance this has been a problem from the start. I'll report back when I get chance to get dug in.

sunscreem
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  • You need a drainage system of some sort under the ground there - its obvious why you're having drainage issues, given the lawns in the picture are all higher than the trenched areas around them, and certainly higher than the flagstones at the front of your house, meaning water drains down and back towards your foundations, that being the direction of fall and the lowest point. And that's where a drainage system needs to be put in place. – Bamboo Jul 28 '16 at 12:31
  • I've got some digging and sorting to do by the looks of it! Was hoping to avoid it. Thank you – sunscreem Jul 28 '16 at 14:36
  • Yes, I'm afraid so, its a drain system or the whole garden taken up and lowered with the fall away from the house rather than towards it. – Bamboo Jul 28 '16 at 15:25

2 Answers2

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It's not good for that water to be sitting around your foundation like that. I have a few suggestions that vary in the level of time, money, or practicality.

The simplest is going to be to add dirt and grade the area away from the house. That's going to depend on what's around you and where you want the water to go. Hopefully, your house isn't in a hole. I couldn't tell if you had gutters either. If you don't, that would help a lot, because otherwise your entire roof is shedding onto the ground right there.

Next, you could make a rock stream. I see these more frequently on pinterest and other places now. Basically, it's a little trench with a lined bottom. You fill it with pebbles or "river rocks" and make it weave a little through your lawn so it looks like a small stream. People will direct their gutter spouts into them, but even when they don't have water flowing in them, they look like a decorative "river" or "stream".

enter image description here

The other thing I sometimes see people do for decoration is the same thing, but instead of for a gutter spout, they'll use it to create an artificial creek. You need to have it on a slope, but they'll create a creek the same way as described above, they make the trench, line it, add rocks to cover the lining, position rocks to create sound as the water passes over them and then either empty them into a pond. If you don't want to care for a pond, you simply dig a hole and bury a plastic barrel with a screen top and liner around it. You cover it with small rocks as well as the liner. Line the outer edges with larger rocks. I creates a faux-pool. The water goes into the barrel sump and gets pumped back up the top of the "creek" to flow down again. The benefit here is that there aren't any fish to harm and you can treat for algae more easily.

enter image description here enter image description here

Another idea, that can be added to either of the ones above is to add in moisture loving plants. I wouldn't add something like a weeping willow, because while it would thrive on the conditions, it would probably crack your foundation, but you might find other water loving plants that would help soak some of it up. I think redirection is going to be your biggest chance of fixing it, though.

Barring any of these ideas, I would dig a small pit where you have those large rocks and fill with sand or small gravel up to about 4-6" from the surface and then cover it over with dirt. This will give you a reservoir to keep it away from your foundation.

Dalton
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  • Wow - Thanks Dalton. I hadn't considered the implications of the water near my foundations. I'll go and grab a "front on" photo and add annotations showing the nearest drain. Might be tomorrow due to the fading light. – sunscreem Jul 26 '16 at 18:52
  • Okay @Dalton I edited the question with more images that might help :) – sunscreem Jul 26 '16 at 19:14
  • Probably similar and not worthy of a separate answer, but if you do not want/can't have a water feature on the surface, you could still bury a pipe that diverts water away from your foundation (depending on slopes). You would need to construct a collection area in that waterlogged area, called a [French drain](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_drain) <-- the article has much more detail. – frIT Jul 26 '16 at 19:23
  • Do not forget that standing water is great for mosquitoes and more maintenance. Why do you have all that plastic and stone. What I see is that you've created a 'dam'. I see good slope away from your foundation. Perhaps a simple trench at the bottom of that 'rockery' to carry excess water away. Trench drains are very effective. To make a water feature to hide drainage problems is NOT a professional solution. What was this area prior to this plastic and rocks? Does your home have a foundation drainage system? It is good that the soil/rocks are well below your siding! – stormy Jul 26 '16 at 20:56
  • But sweetie, these water features will not address your problems, and pretty sure they will cost dearly. To keep water running to keep it clear of algae, mosquitoes is EXPENSIVE. If you live on a well, not so much. If you are on city water it is crazy expensive and high maintenance!! There seems to be plenty of slope to carry any water that lands on the ground near your foundation to be carried away from the foundation. A simple trench between lawn and that 'rockery' would be far more effective. Get rid of the plastic and rocks. If you do a water feature it should be... – stormy Jul 26 '16 at 21:00
  • ...situated farther from your home, made to look nice even when dry and you will not be using plastic but TWO layers of pond fabric. Pumps, water level sensors, electricity, filters, chemicals and a humongous water bill. A dry water feature that looks nice and doesn't hold any water would work. As that would be the condition when there isn't extra rain added to the system. There is another great solution called a DRY WELL. A big hole filled with drain rock, landscape fabric over the top then pull soil back over the fabric, drain everything into this dry well. – stormy Jul 26 '16 at 21:05
  • @Robert Cooper, Wasn't sure if you were referring to my posts or not, but I realize a water feature isn't a professional solution. I just mentioned it because they were talking about making a pond anyway. The dry well is a good idea, but I don't know how effective it will be if they're getting rain every 3 days. It would work in SC and I had to make a small one for the drip on our AC unit. If they're getting the kind of rain he's talking about over there, it would eventually fill and if the surrounding ground is saturated it wouldn't drain. I think if he goes that way, – Dalton Jul 27 '16 at 12:44
  • @Robert Cooper, he should bury a piece of pvc pipe that had holes drilled in it. He can cap it loosely and cover it with something, but it would give him the option of dropping a small pump in and pumping the water out if it becomes full and won't drain on it's own. He could do it under one of the moss covered paving stones. Also, the first picture I put up doesn't contain water all the time, it's a dry "creek bed" when there is no rain water in it. Robert, does the yard on the right drain into this area as well, it looks higher than this area, but I can't tell if it slopes into it. – Dalton Jul 27 '16 at 12:47
  • @dalton - it does yes. I'm getting most of the water from the neighbours I think. – sunscreem Jul 28 '16 at 11:33
  • @stormy - thank you - much to think about there! – sunscreem Jul 28 '16 at 11:33
  • @fr13d - I'm hoping there is a blocked french drain under this mess when I get in there for a dig around over the weekend :) – sunscreem Jul 28 '16 at 11:33
  • @RobertCooper Oh, well, after 30 years it could very well be blocked :-) :-(. If they put stones/rocks in there, the going might get tough... good luck. I suppose fixing it in a way that would allow easier periodical access for cleaning might be desirable, if you/your kids intend to stay there for another few decades. I've only ever done **in**filtration (water seeping into the ground), not **ex**filtration as you'll want. Maybe keep [geotextiles](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geotextile) in mind? – frIT Jul 28 '16 at 12:37
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I saw this emergency solution on someone's youtube video: dig a hole out a few feet but close enough to drain water, take a pump, and pump away.

A shop vacuum will work the same way as long as the container for the vacuum will work (to keep this going, you could probably crack the outlet a little bit so it has somewhere to put the water at while still sucking).

black thumb
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