Lawn Drainage Problems - Who to Call? (credit, house)

[megesp]

We have drainage problems in both the front and back of our house and wasn't sure who to call to fix it - we use Scott's Lawn Service, but wasn't sure if they would be the most qualified to fix the problem. Any suggestions?

[Kim Wagner]

What kind of drainage problems do you have?

[HomeHuntress]

How old is your home? Are you in a subdivision?

[megesp]

We live in a subdivision. When it rains, our lawn gets VERY soggy. We have a water meter in the ground near this soggy area in the front of the house and it pools on top of the meter cover.

[HomeHuntress]

It may have something to do with the slope of your yard. You might want to contact the builder if your home is still new (or if there's construction near you). We had a similar problem during the first few months we were in our home. It was the result of runoff from a nearby home under construction (the slope of her yard was causing all rainwater to pool into ours). The builder re-graded both yards as soon as they finished building the other home and we never had another problem.

Another possibility could be your soil. The rocky, clay dirt that's common in this area tends to hold water - especially if the area is shaded.

[CHTransplant]

Call Two Guys and a Shovel.

Seriously, most drainage issues (that aren't affecting a house foundation) simply require the application of some basic manual labor. Either you need to add some dirt and change the grade so that water flows over the surface from a low area, or you need to remove dirt and/or add some drainage piping to move the water away from the wet area.

So if you can define what needs to be done (and perhaps supply the materials) hiring a couple of laborers to do the digging might get you by relatively inexpensively.

[underPSI]

Originally Posted by megesp

We live in a subdivision. When it rains, our lawn gets VERY soggy. We have a water meter in the ground near this soggy area in the front of the house and it pools on top of the meter cover.

What's your average water bill? Does it seem abnormally high? Sounds to me like the line may have a leak. If your bill doesn't seem high the leak is probably before the meter which means the city is responsible for the repair.

[giffman]

Originally Posted by underPSI

What's your average water bill? Does it seem abnormally high? Sounds to me like the line may have a leak. If your bill doesn't seem high the leak is probably before the meter which means the city is responsible for the repair.

It's not a waterline break if her front and back yard are wet. Sounds like a poolry graded lot which is all too common. Most landscape / grading contractors can easily fix the problem.

[Chicky]

We had a similar problem and we used a landscaping company to put in some drainage (multiple french drains) in our backyard that pulls the water out of the backyard and into the sides where there are outlets for the water. The company we used seems to no longer be in business!

[lovemaine]

I got estimates from 3 different companies when we had to have drainage issues fixed in our yard. I found them on the Better Business Bureau website. I'll DM the info. to you.

http://www.bbb.org/easternnc/accredi...ge-contractors