How to Improve Backyard Water Drainage
Before you consider installing a backyard landscape make sure you have adequate drainage. Not only can the most beautiful landscape be ruined by poor drainage, but the integrity of any structures--including your home—can be at risk for water damage. Provisions to improve backyard water drainage should be made at the beginning of landscape installations. If you have water problems in an existing landscape it is still worth the effort to dig up your garden and retrofit efficient drainage that will protect your property. Does this Spark an idea?
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Things You'll Need
- Shovel
- 3-inch or 4-inch drainage pipe
- 3-inch or 4-inch T connectors
- Couplers and angle fittings
- Fitted pipe grate
Instructions
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Place drainage at the lowest point(s) of your backyard. All general land surfaces should have a slope of at least 2 percent toward your drainage area. This will assure water flows into the drainage area where you want it.
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Check for a swale in the backyard area. Most backyard properties, especially in more recently built homes, are constructed with a gentle swale. A swale is simply a mild depression in the land that forms a conduit for water to collect. In heavy rain the swale will conduct water away from the house and other areas of the yard. If you have no swale look for the lowest areas of your landscape surface. This is where water will normally pool so it is usually a good place to consider placing drains.
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Dig a trench into the bottom of the existing swale or create your own swale using the low areas of your back yard. Make sure the channel you create is at least six feet away from the foundation of your house. The drainage needs to cross your backyard and eventually reach a street or other drainage area. This may mean the drainage must make a sharp turn, passing parallel to the side of the house until it reaches the street. Ideally, you should run exiting drainage down both sides of the house, making a “U” shape.
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Lay 3-inch or 4-inch corrugated, perforated or unperforated pipe made specifically for this purpose into your trench at a depth of 6 inches or more. You can use prefabricated connectors to extend pipes or to turn corners.
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Install T connectors along the drainage pipe at least every 10 feet. T connectors are most effective when they are placed at low points along your drainage line. The two ends of the T connectors will join the two parts of the main line pipe together. Point the connector's stem upward toward the sky. The open end of the upside-down T should be level with the bottom of the swale.
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Place a pre-formed drainage grid over the top of the T connector. It should slip smoothly over the open end. The grid will keep soil, leaves, stones and other materials from pouring into the pipe.
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Bury the pipe leaving the swale or depression in place above so water will collect there rather than sheeting toward the house or gathering in places where it isn’t wanted. As water from heavy rain pours into the lowest ground levels it will be guided down through the openings into your pipe system created by the upside-down T-joints and safely conducted away.
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Do your research. Different areas of the country have different weather conditions, soil structures and local building codes that will vary, so you may want to adapt these basic instructions to your individual situation to improve your backyard drainage.
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Resources
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