How to add lawn drainage?

[vanessajaye]

Recently moved into a new place and noticed the backyard drainage doesn't seem great. Water pools along the shed and the lawn always feels quite damp.it looks like they had some mulch down along the shed to make it appear as more of a garden bed but it's just mostly damp dirt.

We are in the process of moving some plants/trees to allow for more lawn space for our dogs.

But where should we start for putting some drainage in? And any advice around lawn care or putting turf down with dogs would be great!

[JacobZ]

Hi @vanessajaye,

Welcome to the Bunnings Workshop community, it is fantastic to have you with us.

The first step I would suggest is identifying specifically where the water is pooling and focusing your efforts there. You've mentioned that the water is pooling against your shed, so this is an obvious place for some drainage. Are there other specific spots that the lawn seems to naturally funnel the water to?

If you identify the spots where the water naturally funnels, you can then install french drains in those areas. Check out How to install garden drainage for an example of how to install a french drain.

These drains need to expel the water somewhere, so if you can have a plumber connect them to your stormwater pipe, this would be ideal. If there is no available stormwater outlet, then you could look at installing a soakwell, which is essentially a deep pit of drainage material that allows the water to travel vertically through the soil where it is deposited much lower down in the earth.

Once the drainage has been managed, you can look at improving the turf. If you were considering replacing what is there, you could check out How To Lay Turf for some guidance, otherwise have a look through the Lawn section of our D.I.Y. advice pages.

Allow me to tag @Dave-1, @AlanM52 and @Noelle to see if they have any advice they can offer.

Let me know what you think and if you have further questions, please don't hesitate to ask.

Jacob

[Dave-1]

Good morning @vanessajaye 

I can see a stone bed next to the pool for capturing the water that splashes, do you know where the water drains to from there?

The shed suttering, do you know where it runs to downpipe wise?

Are both of the drain pipes for these clear? You can stick a hose down them and see if the water backs up.

If they are not connected to stormwater but to something else then that could be your problem. A trench with gravel and a 100mm agi pipe next to the shed could help but the lower end still needs somewhere to drain to (preferably stormwater as @JacobZ has suggested)

If the pipes are connected to stormwater already then maybe a long straight  gravel and agi pipe drain in between the pool and shed to the fenceline and then get that joined into the stormwater pipes. The sheds slab would be the thing forming a dam I am suspecting. 

Dave

[AlanM52]

Hi @vanessajaye,

I feel like I have been pushed aside because @JacobZ and @Dave-1 have already provided many suggestions (only kidding) so I'll take a different more theoretical approach. I am sitting on your back porch (dogs are drooling on me) and saying to myself for that area of lawn normal runoff would not result in that much water pooling along the concrete slab. OK there may be a drainage problem because the Iawn always feels damp, not sure where you live and the amount of rainfall but the sun is out in your east-west photo so there are periods where the lawn should show signs of drying out.

I would wait for warmer weather and depending on rainfall that lawn area should (must) start drying out and if not there must be another source of water - the pool? You have recently moved in so I suggest start investigating the pump and pool areas including underground plumbing - not sure how. Monitor pool water level and if you have a pool cover keep it on to reduce evaporation affecting the readings.

Cheers