# Would a French drain fix this issue with my lawn?



## WolfBrother (11 mo ago)

Hi, I'm just someone looking for some helpful input in regards to my backyard being like a swamp anytime it rains or after the snow melts. Would installing a French drain fix this issue and make my backyard dry? Or is there some other method I should consider?


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## marvinljohn (Apr 29, 2019)

It looks like the houses behind you are graded to drain directly into that area. A french drain help.


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## Erichnagle (Jan 17, 2021)

Potentially. Depends where your yard is graded to and how much work you want to put in. If everything is graded to where the yards meet in the back but there's is no actual drainage system then I'm not sure where you could get all of the water to go. I put a French drain system in my yard and it did wonders. But my yard is graded to drain towards the pond on one side and street in the front. I still have issues but I think it's more from dips in the yard and water not making it to the drain than anything.

If you check out French drain man on YouTube he has a ton of great info that helped me out a bunch. It's a pretty easy process other than the hard work of digging the trenches by hand and moving all the rock.


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## rookie_in_VA (Sep 27, 2021)

To build a little bit on what @Erichnagle said, if you have a way for the water to flow on either the left / right / front side of your photo, then a french drain would be helpful. A french drain helps to collect water. You then need to have a pipe that directs that collected water from the french drain to away from your property.

Here is an example:


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## RoushSI (Feb 4, 2021)

As others have said appears that all adjoining properties are falling into yours. It does appear that your rear neighbors yard is also laying wet near his garden area. Is this true? Is there a nearby catch basin in the rear lot swale? If so you could tie potential french drains into these and also have some dirt brought in to regrade your lot to help feed into these drainage structures.

Obviously all of that would be costly. A similar question was asked on The Grass Factor a few weeks back and Ryan Demay recommended renting a two man auger and punching a few holes into the low areas then filling the void with sand. Better yet fill the bottom portion of the hole with a course aggregate (#57 stone or #8's something with NO fines) place a layer of filter fabric (silt fence fabric from big box store), then fill over the filter fabric with with a course sand (NOT play sand). Start with a few holes and wait for a rain/snow melt event and reevaluate. If ponding is still happening punch more holes until the ponding is no longer an issue. Obviously you will have some holes in your lawn as you get this ironed out. But reseed and grass will grow over and you will have dry lawn.

Do all of your rear roof drains runoff into your yard? I am assuming that is the black pipe running through your beds? If we could find a way to burry these and tie them into a rear swale or drainage structure this could help mitigate more of the standing water.

**UPDATE** Came across this brochure about Rain Gardens.Thought that you could possibly implement this for your roof drain run off then utilize some of the excess dirt material to help regrade yard.


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