Any advice? I live near a lake so fighting with clay here



by jbcostan

48 Comments

  1. SlipperyRhinocerous

    Haul in dirt, dump dirt, have fun in bobcat sloping dirt toward street. Wait for grass to overtake dirt.

  2. BoxAble8147

    Is this your front-side yard? The short answer is you need a drain. Ideally leading to the road or a storm drain.

    But you’re obviously catching a lot of run-off, your yards lower than everything else I can see. Is the road running into it? What’s feeding that pool

  3. Dixiehusker

    Soak up? Not much for that amount of water. To drain it, you have to identify where you want the water to go first.

  4. yoitsme_obama17

    A load of shamwows will do it I think

  5. Segazorgs

    Surface water drain which should be an easy install with flex pipe.

  6. Sleeping_Bunny_

    A flood pump, or plant some water-loving plants and turn it into a lake. But most effective would be to correctly grade the land so it slopes toward a storm drain or something

  7. HawaiianHank

    you use the only thing that can hold fifty times it’s size in water…. you use the SHAMWOW!

  8. RuthTheWidow

    Harvest It! Screams the gardener… as she wishes for this moisture. A swale, lightly tapered…. direct the water to a small sand-bottom water lily feature, oh damn…

    I’ve actually dug several trenches (actually about 10) throughout my yard — some as deep as 30 cm deep, and tapered to a width of about 55-60cm. One trench runs along a full length of my yard, and deposits the bulk of water in a pond under my ancient old trees out front. Flowers bloom in abundance all along the edge of the trench, delphiniums and hyssop and lilies and haliopsis, its gorgeous…. but it once was a boggy, mildewy, damp and ugly spot.

    Embracing water, rather than forwarding it on… could make a lovely feature in your yard.

  9. Highimstuff

    All you need is some nice bread to sop it all up. Easy.

  10. Old-Blacksmith-7830

    You have options. I’d love to see what’s on the other side of that fence.

    Option 1 – install drain tile in that side yard and move the water to the street. Might require a submersible pump basin.

    Option 2 – bring in dirt and re grade the yard. You might have to do this even if you choose option 1.

    Option 3 – nothing. It’s probably been doing that since the early 80’s.

  11. EvaDaMama

    I would contact your county or city building/zoning dept and make sure you don’t need a permit. They will surely have suggestions, too. Looks like your neighbors have the same issue. By my house we trenched between our houses and angled yards with fill and trenches with slope towards the boggy woods behind us. For me, the dirt was expensive but the trenching, lining, and drain hose (?) were very affordable.

  12. Blunt4words20

    Add dirt that will wash away in a few years, and repeat!

  13. DizzyintheMileHigh

    You need have a lot fill dirt hauled in, level it out and replant grass or whatever you like at that point.

  14. streachh

    Rain garden. Deep rooted native plants help water filter into clay soil, and by creating a specific area for the water to drain to, you reduce widespread flooding like this

  15. NinjaBilly55

    Add dirt until it becomes your neighbor’s problem..

  16. ShakeThatAsclepias

    If you have a spot well enough downhill, you can use direct drop catch basins, run solid pipe from that to a lower point where it can spit out in a daylight cut or a pop-up. If, however, it is uphill all ways, French drains of a decent size might do the trick. Large hole, or trench, in the ground, lined in filter cloth on all sides, filled with 3/4-in wash gravel, topped in the fabric, then 4 inchws of soil up to the existing grade. Seed or sod on top.

  17. Diaslife

    A big piece of bread. Lol you said soak it up.

  18. Verusauxilium

    Your cheapest option is a surface drain piped to the street.

    Long term I would get some trees.

  19. daisiesarepretty2

    make it quit raining
    wait
    while waiting figure out where it is coming from, neighbors, your downspouts etc.
    work on plan for grading to move water.
    when dry start to implement plan

  20. Look into “rain garden” to drain and soak it in a temporary pond with beautiful plants.

  21. Lunamoms

    Host a competition for the neighborhood kids to see who can drink the most water, winner gets a Nintendo switch.

  22. Klutzylady_death

    Have you thought about a rain garden? You dig an area for a gently sloping pond and plant water hungry plants around the edges at different levels. If you look it up on Google or Pinterest, you’ll find good examples with lists of plants you can use. Do your research and put in about a day or two of work and you should never have this problem again.

  23. French drain

    Or several dozen kiddie pools filled with alfalfa 

  24. The_Poster_Nutbag

    Well the first consideration is that it’s obviously still raining. We would need more context of the surrounding area to know where it can flow off to.

    How long after it rains does the water take to dry up after it stop raining? How often does this happen and with what level of rainfall?

    Things like that will determine the proper solution.

  25. boom3rty

    dig a 2-3′ deep hole, 2′ diameter, lay down weed mat, and fill with rocks. Can then cover with more weed mat, top soil then turf. This allows water to bypass the clay loam layer and drain directly into the bedrock below.

  26. TennisLow6594

    “Soak up” As if you don’t understand that’s probably hundreds of gallons. Landscape some drainage or ignore it.

  27. xingchenESF

    Plant something. Look up wet site plants, or ornamental grasses that soak up water. Willow trees need water like this but their roots can sometimes be an issue with plumbing.

  28. _fractured_

    Tal to the city about why all your neighbors drain thru your yard

  29. Loose_Ambassador2432

    Dealing with clay is tough; mixing in sand or compost can help improve drainage, or you could try digging a shallow trench to redirect the water. French drains work wonders if you get this often.

  30. Human-Entrepreneur77

    Gutters on neighbors garage will solve a lot of the problem.

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