# Who has Built Their Own Drainage System?



## jjp2222 (Jul 19, 2018)

I'm looking for advice from folks who have done their own lawn drainage systems.

Background
- My back yard is about 6,000 sq ft of swamp after it rains more than 1/4 inch
- The lot slopes back to front towards the street but there isn't enough elevation to get water from the back yard to the street
- It's unusable for a minimum of 3-4 days and as along as a week and half after a major rainstorm or snow, 1 inch plus
- I've only been in the house for 1.5 years, now I know why the house was listed in the dead of summer

I've gotten a few quotes so far to remedy this but they seem pretty pricey to me based on the actual work being done...digging trenches, adding rock, putting down landscape fiber, drywells, laying pvc, drains and a sump to the street. The best quote I've gotten so far is $11.5k (the worst is $21k), broken down as follows:

Grade yard - 45 yards of topsoil, create crown to pitch water to sides - $3.5k
Drainage Grid System - Install 220ft of PVC with gravel, landscape fabric, eight drains - $3.5k
Catch Basin - Build 18"x18"x24" concrete catch basin attached to drainage grid - $1.5k
Pump plus Piping to Street - Install industrial sump pump, 30 ft of electric conduit, check valve and 125 ft of PVC to street - $2.5k
Reseed lawn - $0.5k

I've been looking at these quotes and trying to understand why I couldn't do much of this myself with some sweat equity and day laborers for a fraction of the cost. Every contractor has thrown in grading the property but this seems like an upsell to me. The lawn would definitely be nicer but the water would essentially wind up in the same places it is now.

Questions
Am I crazy to even consider this as a DIY project?
Has anyone else done something similar, if so, do you have any advice?

Thanks in advance!!


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## jjepeto (Jan 27, 2019)

You can rent a trench digger at equipment rental places. Plan all your trenches and you might be able to do it all in a day. Some places if you rent on Friday you don't have to return until they open Monday morning, so you get a whole weekend. Get your trenches dug and the rest is a lot easier.

Also, make sure your house has gutters and downspouts that drain away from your house. I find my soil can usually handle the rain, but the extra that comes off the roof is too much to soak in. This weekend I'm planning on digging a trench and connecting my downspouts to the stormwater at the street via underground 4" corrugated pipe. I'm hoping this is enough to prevent my lawn from getting so wet, so may work for you as well.

Also, have a read through this exterior drainage document: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1OzGcpmD3DtsaZlePj11KVDNjfP09GNPc/view?usp=sharing

Call 811 or your local utilities to mark any underground infrastructure before you dig.


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## Jrich (Jul 9, 2018)

Can you post some pictures of your yard? I am working on a drainage project in my backyard now. Capturing gutter discharges, french drains, catch basins, a sump pump, etc. I will get around to making a post at some point.


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## BakerGreenLawnMaker (Mar 13, 2018)

So, at my old house the backyard was a swamp when and after it rained. All the houses were built on lots that staggered down hill, and my house was at the bottom, needless to say all the water would run down everyone's yards and eventually make its way into my backyard. I got sick of it and called the best drainage company in the phone book. He wanted to charge $6,500 for digging a ditch, placing a corrugated pipe in the ground and tying in all my down spouts into the drain and take it out to the road. After asking the contractor to go into detail I took notes of what he intended to do and did it myself. I rented a ditch witch from Home Depot, bought enough piping and did myself, it only took a weeks of vacation and $650.


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## jjp2222 (Jul 19, 2018)

Okay, so it's doable and that NDS guide will be extremely helpful, thank you!

Anyone else have anything related to share?


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## jjepeto (Jan 27, 2019)

Depending on how much rain I get this weekend, I'm trying to capture 1/2 of my downspouts this weekend with a trench to the street. Since it will only be 2 trenches, I'm going to just dig by hand and possibly use my mini cultivator if the compacted soil needs to be broken up. If I can remember I'll document it, but for me it's just pretty straightforward downspout capture, not french drains for general area drainage.


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## Jayray (Aug 8, 2018)

The concrete basin would basically be like a septic field? Around here everyone uses a dry well made with fabric and rock. This hole is probably over 4 feet deep and 4'X4', my basement sump pump and a few landscape drains go into it and I've never seen any kind of standing water and we have a very high water table:





You can probably hire out a backhoe on CraigsList and whatever other heavy machinery you need.


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## Shindoman (Apr 22, 2018)

Sounds like good advice so far. Make a plan. Start by surveying your back yard using a builders level. Do some drawings showing your trenching and piping layout. If I would add anything to the advice, it would be to dig up the entire yard to at least a depth of a foot or so before you start your trenching for piping and rock work. Depending on the condition of your soil, either add quite a bit of sand to the soil or replace it completely. Then when you put the soil back in place you can grade it perfectly. Rent a bobcat or hire a local bobcat guy that knows what he is doing and you could have a perfectly graded well drained yard that give you a great base for an amazing lawn. I know it's a lot of work but if you take your time, do most of the work yourself, you could have a beautiful usable yard for a reasonable cost.


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## ronjon84790 (Aug 2, 2018)

Shindoman said:


> Sounds like good advice so far. Make a plan. Start by surveying your back yard using a builders level. Do some drawings showing your trenching and piping layout. If I would add anything to the advice, it would be to dig up the entire yard to at least a depth of a foot or so before you start your trenching for piping and rock work. Depending on the condition of your soil, either add quite a bit of sand to the soil or replace it completely. Then when you put the soil back in place you can grade it perfectly. Rent a bobcat or hire a local bobcat guy that knows what he is doing and you could have a perfectly graded well drained yard that give you a great base for an amazing lawn. I know it's a lot of work but if you take your time, do most of the work yourself, you could have a beautiful usable yard for a reasonable cost.


+1

I over excavated my backyard 8 inches, ditchwitched for 300' of corrugated pipe, covered the pipe with 1.5 to 2 inch rock, then topsoil on top. Ran a bunker rake for a couple weekends to get it level. It doesn't rain much where I live, but when it does, we get pounded. Haven't had a puddle in the backyard since I finished it almost 3 years ago. I only have 3000 sf of lawn in my backyard. I ran the corrugated pipe everywhere, then connected it to two drains that run to the street.


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