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Tested and Proven Lawn Drainage Solutions That Work For a Long Time

February 7, 2019
lawn care, lawn service, lawn, landscapes, landscapes installations, landscape maintenance, lawn fertilization, insect interior pest control, weed control, dirt work, irrigation, irrigation and sprinkler repair, lawn solutions, landscape lightning

How do you know that you need lawn drainage solutions? There are many tell-tale signs. However, here are the most common ones that you can watch out for:

  • If the soil in your yard is dense and does not allow water to pass through fast enough, you will need to think of drainage.
  • If your lawn is too flat and does not drain the excess water, you will have a soggy soil problem
  • If there is moisture in the basement, your yard grading could be directing water towards the foundation of your house. Not cool at all! You need an expert to check it out for you.
  • If you have a section where plants look emaciated and yellowed, find out whether the water is draining properly. Nutrients can leak away leaving your plants hungry.

Even if everything looks right now, give us a call, anyway. Drainage improvement is among one of the services that we offer at Tender Care Lawn Service and the last thing you want is to find out you have a drainage problem when the rain comes.
A waterlogged lawn makes a good home or breeding ground for mosquitoes and other unwanted guests. Besides, letting your soil stay waterlogged for far too long allows the nutrients to seep away, leaving malnourished plants behind.

Why you need professional lawn drainage solutions

Implementing lawn drainage solutions isn’t fancy work, at least it’s not the kind of work that you would look forward to all the time. It involves dirt work, digging trenches, checking your gutters, installing downspouts and much more.
“But my lawn looks fairly flat without dips!” you say? Well, it is not about what you can see with your eyes, it is what’s discovered when landscaping companies check grades. You will be surprised that while the ground looks sloped, it can have many parts that are potential swamps.
If you live in an area where the water table is high, you will have water problems. Lawn care services drain water to the storm drainage or the curb, but they don’t always get the surface grading right. That is why you need to call our lawn care company if you notice that some patches in your lawn retain water after a downpour.

Most common causes of lawn drainage problems

There are different causes of drainage problems in your landscape. Before implementing lawn drainage solutions, a lawn care maintenance company must first diagnose the problem.
Here are some of the most common causes of drainage problems:

Lingering surface water

This mostly happens in areas that have clay soil. If you notice water lingering after a downpour, most probably, your landscape designers did not get their grading right. It needs to be corrected as soon as possible.

Downspouts

The main problem with downspouts is when they do not have a place to drain their water. The water follows the gradient and camps at one place on the lawn. Since plants do not like to stay waterlogged unless they are mangroves, they start dying.

High water table

This is a common problem, but the good thing is that there is a solution, as we will discuss later. Landscaping companies advise lawn owners amply about this problem. Having a high water table is nature’s problem, so you will need to counter it with a natural solution by raising the table or using plants that do well in high water table areas.

A hardpan

A hardpan is a patch that will simply not let the water through. Therefore, when there is a downpour, the water lingers on the surface until evaporation. This can be a nasty problem during the rainy season. A hardpan usually forms below the top, tillable layer of soil.

Grade changes

Initially, you may have had good grading on your lawn, but as you grew things, used compost and mulching, the ground rises over time. Your neighbors may also raise their grades thus unknowingly directing their runoff towards your lawn.

Recommended lawn drainage solutions

After a lawn service companies team has diagnosed the drainage problem, it will be time to implement suitable lawn drainage solutions. The solution adopted for your lawn will depend on the type of drainage issue.
Here are the most common drain systems for lawns

Grassy swale

This is a grassy patch with the right gradient to drain water. It looks like a beautiful, little green hill right in your yard. Experts recommend a drop of 1 inch for every 10 feet. A well done grassy swale can increase your yard aesthetics wonderfully.

French drain

Anything French (like French fries) is lovely, and so is the French drain system, which is perhaps the most popular of all drainage systems. It is simple though! A plastic perforated pipe is covered with cloth, then buried with gravel right beneath where the drainage problem is. It directs water to the curb or drainage system. Told you… its French!

Bog section

For this, just get plants that are known to do well in waterlogged conditions. Native plants are best for this section. Landscaping companies can help you get the right plants.

Trench drain

This is a concrete trench. It is covered with grates and has filters fitted inside to allow just water through. Trench drains are mainly for gathering the water from the yard and taking it to the main drainage.

An underground well

This is an underground well where you direct the water from the downspouts, the roof gutters pop up emitters and even the French drains. The water then finds its way out of the well and goes back to the water table. This is a very efficient way of taking the extra water off your lawn. However, the underground well needs to be at the best location.

How our lawn drainage solutions can help you

As you have no doubt seen here, there are many lawn drainage solutions. You can also see that diagnosing the problem could be hard if you do not have the expertise. At TCLS, we have helped many homeowners in southwest Louisiana by designing and implementing the best drainage solutions for their lawns.
A professional team discusses the best options with you, and explains what will happen every step of the way. Together, we will find the best lawn drainage solutions for your lawn and get rid of all of your drainage issues once and for all.

If you need lawn drainage solutions, call us on 337-313-3002 and we will arrange an on-site rendezvous with you as soon as possible.

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