There are few things more frustrating when it comes to lawn and landscaping problems than yard drainage problems. Whether you’ve got a backyard swamp forming every time that it rains or you end up with water in your basement, you know that water woes can be the cause of many headaches.

In addition to a swampy yard or water in the basement, other yard drainage problems include plant bed erosion, excessive mud, hardscaping floods over your walkways or patios, and pooling water that can also cause a mosquito breeding problem—an entirely different hassle to have to deal with.

Fortunately, there are yard drainage solutions that can effectively correct these issues. Let’s take a closer look at some of the solutions that we can implement to solve problems at Alexandria, Arlington, and Springfield, VA homes.

1. Grading Correction

The fact is that water is always going to take the path of least resistance. If there is any sort of slope in your property, it’s going to naturally follow that path. Unfortunately if that slope sends water toward your home (as opposed to away from it), there is always the possibility for damage.

Therefore, one type of yard drainage solutions is grading.

Grading means digging and moving soil around to level things out. It can get pretty complex, depending on the severity of your grading issue. However, there are a lot of benefits to having this completed. Grading can make property more functional if your sloped yard was previously difficult to use. And grading can also make sure that water is directed to the best-possible place on your property.

Underground piping is often part of this type of yard drainage solution in that it will help direct the water exactly where you want it to go.

2. Subsurface Drainage

Most of the time, many of our yard drainage solutions require both grading and at least some subsurface drainage solution, but it depends upon the extent of the issue.

Oftentimes, we install a subsurface drainage solution in the low area (where water is directed with a grading solution). This is a way to remove excess water in a quick and more controlled way. It will help prevent water from just pooling in that one location.

A French drain is one example of a subsurface structure meant to address water that is saturating the soil and not draining well.

In more and more of our projects, we’re also looking at slowing water down so that it doesn’t just flood over a property and cause soil erosion problems. After all, even if we’re directing water where we want it to go, it can still cause problems on its way there.

On some projects, we’re also incorporating rain water gardens on these low areas of the property. A rain garden is designed to become this “overflow zone” where water can be naturally absorbed into the soil through a network of deep plant roots. We’ll install a mix of plants that are adapted to the different water depths they may encounter.

A simpler version of this would be a retention area that doesn’t use any plants. Instead it can simply include some river rocks.

3. Downspout Extension and Redirection

It’s important to keep in mind that some water woes are actually occurring from the water that is coming off of your roof. Since the roof is impenetrable, it can capture quite a bit of rainfall. In following the path of least resistance, it will be forced into a downspout.

However, if those downspouts are exiting the water right by a plant bed or really close to your home, it can absolutely create foundational water problems including erosion concerns and water making its way into your basement. The easiest yard drainage solution in this case is downspout redirection. It can be as simple as connecting pipes to your downspouts to diver the water further away from the house (and likely to a low point, in which a subsurface drainage solution may then come into play).

Finding Yard Drainage Contractors in Alexandria, Arlington, and Springfield, VA

As you can see, there are no one-size-fits-all yard drainage solutions out there. It must be determined on a case-by-case basis, depending upon what is happening on your specific property.

More often than not, yard drainage solutions are mult-faceted and include more than one of the solutions mentioned above. It’s all going to depend on exactly what your site conditions are as well as what your expectations are. Golf courses and athletic fields can literally have miles and miles of underground piping installed because even the slightest bit of standing water is unacceptable. So, it’s important that your personal expectations are factored into the solution.

All of this makes it important to hire the right contractor for the work.

You want to make sure that you’re choosing a professional who will think outside of the box as they determine exactly what’s going on at your home and how it can be solved.

Unfortunately, yard drainage isn’t even something on many landscape contractors’ minds. This can end up being detrimental to you, particularly if they aren’t thinking about potential problems that can arise while doing work on your property. Perhaps you don’t currently have a yard drainage problem, but you’re having a patio built.

The last thing that you want is to have a yard drainage issue created because it was never a consideration in the first place. With some forethought and some planning, yard drainage problems can often be prevented.

Getting Ahead of Yard Drainage in Alexandria, Arlington, and Springfield, VA

One important thing to remember is that yard drainage problems aren’t just going to go away. If you have an uncorrected drainage issue on your property, it’s only going to get worse. You might only be biding your time until a really heavy rainfall creates a massive problem that could have been headed off.

The best thing that you can do is choose to work with a professional that is proactive and can identify yard drainage issues and fix them before they become a serious problem. Whether it’s a contractor completing a hardscaping project and simultaneously suggesting yard drainage solutions or an existing problem that needs correcting, you definitely want to find a pro who will stay ahead of it.

By choosing to work with Kingstowne Lawn & Landscape, you can get on a path to yard drainage improvements that will provide you with peace of mind. By identifying problems early on and implementing effective solutions, we can help you to prevent worst-case-scenarios. That means that water woes don’t have to stand in your way of having a property you can be proud of!

If you’d like to know more about yard drainage and whether there’s a solution that’s right for you, request a consultation, get your customized plan, and relax as we give you the royal treatment.