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I got a .2 acre (close to) rectangular backyard, slight slope. No puddle, yet the lawn feels wet. Or at least it takes longer to dry up after rain. Sometimes, when my neighbors started mowing, my lawn still is not completely dry.

So I am considering laying down some french drainage system under the lawn. In some YouTube videos, the handyman just dug trenches around the perimeter (fence) inside the yard. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XDOUmX1meAs

I am curious if the center part of the lawn is too far from the drainage. Wouldn't it be better to dig parallel trenches all over the yard to "cover" the whole lawn?

If that is the case, how far apart should we dig our trenches? Let's say we are using 4" perforated PVC tubes.

Blaise
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  • Would you say that your yard is in a hole, so to speak? Is there a low spot or two in your yard that you could take advantage of? How well does the ground slope away from your house and into your yard? – Rob Sep 13 '18 at 19:20
  • There is some low sport (area). Does it mean we can just lay drainage in that area and trust water from high places will seep there through the soil? – Blaise Sep 13 '18 at 20:30
  • That's where I would focus your attention. Anywhere there is puddling in a heavy rain is a low water retention area and may require your attention. That being said, don't go filling your lawn up with drainage pipes. Dress your lawn with sand (helps with water retention) aerate your lawn as well and focus in on a few areas. – Rob Sep 13 '18 at 21:31
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    Sounds like you actually have the makings of a rain garden or pond, if you're up for it. You could edge the area, remove the grass, and install the appropriate perennials to soak up your excess rainfall. Beauty during the growing season and less lawn to mow - a win-win situation to me. – Jurp Sep 13 '18 at 21:39
  • Rain gardens = mosquitoes, raccoons. You need drainage. When you install your french drains do what is called a Herringbone pattern. Use perforated pipe wrapped in landscape fabric. Go diagonally across your property towards a main collector (not perf pipe). – stormy Sep 13 '18 at 22:45
  • @Stormy - absolutely incorrect with rain gardens, since they drain within 1-5 days, typically (mosquitoes must be larval for 14+ days). Why would raccoons be in a rain garden? There's nothing to eat there! Ponds, yes, mosquitoes can be a factor, which is why I toss a larvicide ring in mine once a month. No mosquitoes. Rain gardens are mandatory in many cities in Wisconsin for all new builds, and no one is complaining about insects or "vermin". I've always been a fan of working with the land, not fighting it or taming it. Lots less maintenance, money, and headaches that way. – Jurp Sep 13 '18 at 22:50
  • Grins, rain gardens are essentially wet lands. Great idea but mosquitoes now are a big problem with spreading any kind of disease. Wet soil is a breeding ground. Puddles. Seattle was really into these rain gardens and heck, they take up lots of room, there is anaerobic decomposition going on unless someone had a drainage expert for a designer. I am also a fan of working with what one has not against. It is like cut and fill being equal? Making marshes out of hill tops is not working with the land. – stormy Sep 13 '18 at 22:57
  • Raccoons love to wash their hands in water, eat any goldfish someone might imagine putting into these not so intermittent 'ponds'...grins, I've dealt with raccoons and rain gardens. Raccoon and tiny ponds. Raccoon and fish tanks in the yard... – stormy Sep 13 '18 at 22:59
  • @Jurp How do we "edge the area"? Do you mean dig a trench along the fence? – Blaise Sep 14 '18 at 17:35
  • I used to use a V-trench, but that's more maintenance than I like to do now with re-digging it each spring - and with a rain garden, it's likely to fill in quickly. I'd use commercial-grade black plastic (available in 20 foot straights, not the curled up crap from a box store). You can make any curve with a straight piece because they're flexible. There's a trick to connecting the straights so that they don't break apart at the connection - if you're going this route let me know. Stakes should be provided with the edging, so stake the edging in place and it won't float or frost-heave. – Jurp Sep 15 '18 at 12:16
  • Jurp, have you worked with the modern drain pipe? I am very into doing all the irrigation after construction, after planting, maybe before mulching but it is so not invasive. The difference between a rain garden and a dry well, the latter gets the water below the surface to be absorbed at the rate that soil allows without mosquitoes without making an entirely new environment that really is artificial. I've never seen a beautiful rain garden other than my own, ha ha ha. Which, 5 years down the road looks like an uninviting mucky muddy buggy place. – stormy Sep 29 '18 at 20:05

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Rain gardens = mosquitoes, raccoons. You need drainage. When you install your french drains do what is called a Herringbone pattern. Use perforated pipe wrapped in landscape fabric. Go diagonally across your property towards a main collector (not perf pipe).

What are the regulations for daylighting drain pipe? Install gravel below the daylighted end of the pipe to stop erosion at that point. What is the slope you are dealing with? That dictates the distance between 'parallel' perf pipes connected to a main line of drainage. Looks like a feather? Each line is taking up whatever the up slope diagonal line hasn't taken up in water.

Rain gardens = mosquitoes, raccoons. You need drainage. When you install your french drains do what is called a Herringbone pattern. Use perforated pipe wrapped in landscape fabric. Go diagonally across your property towards a main collector (not perf pipe).

I am trying to draw using a mouse, okay? This is the best I could do right now. Does it make sense? Downhill is to the right on a simple rectangular lot. I assumed your home is uphill. If it is downhill, that gets far more important and one does not ever direct water towards a home, no tying into the foundation drain that kind of thing. At least these are big no no's to try to not do? a sketch of herringbone drainage

There is also this thing I use an awful lot and that is a dry well. Instead of daylighting the pipe you would simply dig a big hole, landscape fabric, fill with drain rock and cover with landscape fabric and then soil, lawn works but not that well, rocks, cobble, gravel are great. No standing water and wet soils.

stormy
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  • Thanks. What are the three line blue lines? Are they perforated pipes? – Blaise Sep 14 '18 at 17:32
  • If a dry well is set up, should it be located at the end of the middle non-perforated drain pipe? – Blaise Sep 14 '18 at 17:33
  • Yes, on YOUR property. Digging a 6 X 10 X 3' deep hole is normal. – stormy Sep 15 '18 at 05:16
  • The blue lines are property lines/fence? So sorry I just now found your question! A dry well at the end of that pipe on your property would be ideal and easy for you to do. They make drain pipe that all you have to do is use a trencher, cuts 6" wide and x amount in depth, install this drain pipe that is maybe 12" high, 4" wide and comes with 'landscape fabric' already part of the pipe. There are 3" pipes stacked upon one another and covered with a mesh like your 'scrubbie' for dishes. Rent a narrow ditch digger, peel back the lawn or soil and you won't be able to tell you installed pipe. – stormy Sep 29 '18 at 19:58