It’s good that the soil in your yard is damp and wet because it will give your grass a good watering. However, if it doesn’t dry up at all and is in fact consistently wet, then you have to do something about. You surely do not want to promote the growth of mold or mildew and put the health of your loved ones at risk, right? And anyway, it’s not really comfortable at all to walk on wet soil every time. The solution to such a problem is the installation of a yard drainage system. Here’s a quick guide in case you are a handy DIY enthusiast.
What You’ll Need:
* shovel
* gravel
* sand
*perforated pipe
* mesh sleeves
Steps:
1. Mark the area in your lawn where water is always present. You should also look for a place where water retains even after it has been an hour since it rained. From that area, walk to both directions and identify those as the places where you’ll set up the drainage holes. Use rocks to mark those spots. Take note that both holes should be three to six feet away from the area where water always retains.
2. Using your shovel, dig a hole that’s about three feet deep and about a foot wide. If there’s grass in those spots for the drainage holes, make sure that you’ll dig about two inches deep first and carefully remove the grass before creating the holes. This will ensure that the grass can still be re-planted afterward. Scoop out the soil and set it aside.
3. Create a drainage line from point A to point B. This should be a foot wide. Repeat this process for every wet area that you’ll find wet in your yard.
4. Now once you’ve marked all the lines, excavate the soil using your shovel. The trenches should all be about 10 inches deep. Keep scooping the soil out of these trenches to create some sort of a slope. The slope has to be a quarter of an inch deep for every trench length of 4 feet.
5. Now combine some gravel and sand and place the mixture at the bottom of the trenches. These things will let the water flow in the lines freely.
6. Get a perforated pipe that measures about 4 inches in diameter. Place it in the trenches to position the holes down. To prevent clogging, fit mesh sleeves on the pipes so as to keep particles from getting into the system.
7. Pour a mixture of gravel and sand again to fill the sides and the top of the pipes. It should not exceed two inches over the pipe. Once done, add a layer of sand above the gravel. It should have a height of only two inches. Now place the soil back to cover the trenches.
8. When you’re done with the trenches, pour a mixture of gravel and sand into the drainage holes up to a point where it reaches the top. Add a layer of sand just like what you did on the trenches. Put some soil at the top again for the last touch.
We hope that this DIY guide will help you install a drainage system in your yard. Should you need help with that, just find the best Florida City plumbing professionals. Douglas Orr Plumbing delivers first-rate plumbing services in Florida City including septic tank installation, leak detection, sewer camera locator, backflow prevention and many more! Call us at (305) 240-6731!
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