Having a consistently soggy yard or soggy patches in your yard is never desirable for a homeowner; you can't mow over those soggy patches and they can allow kids and pets to track mud into the house very easily. If your property has serious drainage issues, then you may want to call a contractor to build a retaining wall or slope and grade your entire property for better runoff. Sometimes you don't need to do anything quite so severe to protect your property. If you get just a few soggy patches in your yard, note a few simple solutions you could try before you do anything drastic or expensive.
1. Extend the downspouts
Do you get soggy spots in the yard in front of the downspouts? If so, you might extend them to keep water flowing freely after it drains from the gutters. Extensions for downspouts are readily available at any home improvement store; these can be pipes that look just like downspouts or they can be a long section of concrete that widens at the end. This allows the water to be better dispersed over a wider area rather than collecting in one spot.
2. Plant a rain garden
Rather than fight the soggy spot in your yard, you might plant a rain garden. This refers to a collection of plants that do well in soggy areas; these plants will absorb that excess moisture so it doesn't have a chance to collect around your home's foundation and can also help cleanse the area of sediment, pet waste, lawn care chemicals and other contaminants that often collect in soggy areas of a lawn.
3. Add a drain pipe
A drain pipe is a long pipe that you bury in a trench and which can help direct water from one area to another. The drain pipe will have a type of grate over its opening or inlet that you put under the soggy area of the lawn, so that it keeps out dirt and sediment and only allows water to drip through. You would then direct the pipe at a slight slope to another part of your property where this collected water can drain. This might be over the curb or driveway, or to a garden that needs the added moisture. A drain pipe is relatively inexpensive and these usually come in sections so you can easily extend them to whatever size is necessary or turn the pipe to direct it toward any part of your lawn or property.
If these tips don't solve your problem, contact a company like Precision Drainage for professional advice.
