Drainage/Landscaping advice

[Capm_Spaulding]

We have a small trench to the south of our house where water is supposed to drain and flow until it reaches the creek another 2 blocks down.

Due to one of many issues with our developer and the way they half assed things, the water instead flows from our east neighbors lawn, through the center of our yard and makes it 3/4 through my lawn before it flows into the trench.

This has basically cut my lawn in half and I lost just under 2ft of soil last year alone.

Any ideas on how to redirect the flow so it cuts over the the trench instead of flowing across my yard? I am thinking a French drain from where it enters my yard over to the trench?

 

[John6185]

I had similar problem once and used railroad ties to shunt the water. It worked without complaints. I thought for minute that your builder's last name started with an "M" but saw the storage shed.

 

[NightShade]

Have to either build up and force the water to go where you want it or dig down to give it a place to go. Either way it's going to take work and likely cost you some money. Personally I would dig down and take what I pulled out and spread it across some of the low lying area's to help build them up. Make sure whatever you do that you are able to either get things growing or have something in place to prevent it from washing out really bad otherwise the little drainage trench will end up being the next grand canyon.

 

[dennishoddy]

Don't think a standard 4" french drain will help you with the amount of water in the last pic unless you use something like an 8" pipe that you would have to drill yourself and then bury it in a large rock (1 1/2 - 2" rock) swale that would direct the water to your drain pipe and allow quick drainage.

 

[Capm_Spaulding]

Thanks for the advice gentleman. I agree, I think the French drain just wouldn’t hack it on second thought. I thought about the railroad tie idea too, but wasn’t sure how they would stand up to moisture. I’ll read into the idea more. I like the digging down idea, unfortunately the prior owners built the fence right on the property line and the neighbors on the other side got into a big thing with them about it so they’re unwilling to negotiate anything on the other side of the fence now.

 

[MacFromOK]

You could put multiple smaller pipes side-by-side, or instead of cross-ties, pour a concrete drainage ditch.

I agree that it seems a bit much volume for a regular French Drain though.

Just my ...

 

[John6185]

I'm not sure what it's called but it similar to a French drain. I installed one at my current home. I placed a couple of drain boxes (They come in various sizes) and used flex hose purchased at Lowes. I ran the hose across my back yard to a "pop-up" drain. If you install a couple of boxes where the mass of water starts across your yard it would allow the water to drain out where ever you placed the popup. It isn't costly and could be done on a weekend. I didn't have the slope or grade recommended for the flex hose but it works great anyway. It doesnt have to be exact for the water to transit the flex hose.

 

[Shoot Summ]

Several choices.

Redirect, not easy, have to be mindful of the impact to others, typically a lot of material involved, soil, ties, rocks, etc.

Drain, a good option, but needs to be sized for what appears to be a significant volume. I would use drain boxes, and rigid pipe. Pop ups wont handle that flow unless you have a lot of them. You will want to cover the open ends of the drain pipes somehow to keep rats and critters out, but it also means you will have to clean the covering as it will likely accumulate debris.

Embellish, make a "creek" that runs through your yard with stones and rocks, channel the flow, and make it a "feature" of your landscape. I've seen this done a lot, and it can actually be a nice addition to the overall landscape design.

 

[bigfug]

My brothers drainage, similar to what Shoot Summ is talking about. Becomes a water feature when wet, or a rock garden when dry. Has worked really well and he had almost the exact same problem. He does landscape design, and is now doing it for all of his neighbors lol