Standing water is the most common problem we are called about, and the one most often treated as a lawn problem when it is really a grading problem. Water goes where the ground sends it. If it is sitting in the middle of a yard in May, the ground is sending it there.
Work out where the water is coming from
Before anything is dug, it is worth knowing which of these you have — the fix is different for each.
- Roof water — downspouts discharging straight against the foundation
- Surface water — ground that falls toward the house instead of away from it
- Neighbouring ground — water arriving from higher land next door
- Melt — a season of snow releasing over a few weeks into ground that is still frozen underneath
The fixes, roughly in order of how often they work
Re-grading
The simplest and most durable answer is usually to reshape the ground so it falls away from the building. No pipe to block, nothing to maintain.
French drains
A gravel trench with perforated pipe in it, laid to fall, giving water a path it prefers to the one it is taking now. It has to daylight somewhere useful — a French drain that ends nowhere just moves the puddle.
Downspout extensions and drain lines
Often the cheapest meaningful improvement on the whole property: carry roof water properly away from the foundation before doing anything more ambitious.
Dry wells and catch basins
For low points that cannot be graded out, somewhere for water to collect and soak away instead of sitting on the lawn.
Why break-up is the real test
A drainage system that copes with summer rain has not been tested. Break-up is the test: a large volume of water released over a short period into ground that is still frozen below the surface. Systems designed for that behave in July as well. The reverse is not true.
Watching water sit where it should not? Tell us what you are seeing and we will take a look at the whole property, not just the wet patch.