Michaljeter
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Clay soil causing wet backyard

Hi all, this is a great forum. First post here!

I was hoping someone could help with some ideas of how to fix this, or let me know how much I might be looking at cost-wise to find a solution to a soil drainage issue we are having.

We have a backyard that slopes slightly towards our back fence. We have clay soil and have noticed that the grass does not typically dry quickly in the back half of the yard. I recently ripped out a bush that was not growing at the back of the property and noticed that the hole had water at the bottom of it. I assume that the back of the yard (about 40 feet wide property lot) is constantly wet as the water has nowhere to drain.

Our property is 2 years old and does have swales and a new fence, so I am not sure how this could be fixed. We are in Hamilton, Ontario.

Please let me know if you could help with this issue.

Thank you,
Mike

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tomf
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You have a big problem, some ideas may include tilling in truck loads of organic compost and sand round sand not sharp sand. A french drain as well, there is a product called Clay Amend that may help, I have not tried it so I can not say for sure.

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applestar
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Unfortunately due to photobucket issues, I don’t think their photos are viewable any longer, but 2 or 3 members have built retaining walls in similar situations. Is that something you would consider?

Generally I prefer to just “go with the flow” and make the area into a rain garden/bog garden and plant bog and other wet soil / loving plants. I posted about this just recently....

imafan26
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I don't think the problem is really the soil, but an issue with grading. Water flows by gravity to lower areas. People like to level yards and put up fortresses that become lakes when it rains. Most houses are built with swales to allow water to flow out of the property, but homeowners often don't realize the purpose of the swale and they fill it in to "level" the yard. If you put up a fence that blocks flow, the yard becomes a pool after rain.

You can fill the low sections if it is not too bad. If it is a large area you can install a french drain to direct water out again or you can make some grade changes. Put gutters on the roof and direct the runoff by connecting the downspouts to a drain that will lead out of the yard or to a sump, collection pond, or rain garden. Reestablish the swale.

SQWIB
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Michaljeter wrote:Hi all, this is a great forum. First post here!

I was hoping someone could help with some ideas of how to fix this, or let me know how much I might be looking at cost-wise to find a solution to a soil drainage issue we are having.

We have a backyard that slopes slightly towards our back fence. We have clay soil and have noticed that the grass does not typically dry quickly in the back half of the yard. I recently ripped out a bush that was not growing at the back of the property and noticed that the hole had water at the bottom of it. I assume that the back of the yard (about 40 feet wide property lot) is constantly wet as the water has nowhere to drain.

Our property is 2 years old and does have swales and a new fence, so I am not sure how this could be fixed. We are in Hamilton, Ontario.

Please let me know if you could help with this issue.

Thank you,
Mike
Not sure if this helps but I got very Hard Clay soil in my back yard and when it rains, it runs off the yard like its asphalt and onto my patio, this year I decided to try to fix the soil for better ground absorption so I planted oats, alfalfa and white clover in one half of the yard, next year I may plant Daikon Radish then the following spring reseed with grass and white clover.
It has been working so far while its growing, but that may be because of the actual plants and not the soil?

Hey if it don't work, no worries, I'll have plenty of green manure for the beds.
This pic is the beginning of May,
Image

Vanisle_BC
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Michaljeter; a couple of cautions; one from personal experience.

- Someone suggested a retaining wall but that could exacerbate drainage problems. In fact water trapped behind the wall could destabilize it.

- When I bought it, my ancient house had a concrete-paved patio that was not roofed. There were unexpected problems with water in the crawl space. I roofed over the patio and put in (by hand!) a functioning perimeter drain. The old one was plugged and collapsed in places; maybe never really worked as it had no gravel bedding. In some ways my new one has worked too well.

Over the next few years the patio has sunk 'differentially' and the unreinforced paving is all cracked & shattered. My guess is that the underlying soil - probably clay-ey backfill - was originally saturated but has now shrunk badly due to my drainage works. Fortunately the house footings must be on undisturbed material and have not moved.

Renewing the patio 'affordably' is something I now spend hours puzzling over!

I don't know if these considerations would apply to your particular situation - just saying be careful.

In any case, Good Luck in solving the problem.



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