My friend's dad wants to renew his lawn and do something about the runoff he's been having, so he asked me to help. Here's the plan I drew up, but this is the first residential drainage job I'll have done. Any advice?


Here's the area that needs it.

My main question is, aside from the fact that it's hard to mow around, would the method I'm planning to use be the best option cost wise? Would it even be effective? The plan is to fertilize and put down sod after handling the drain problems.

That downspout and pipe to the corrugated drain line will take care of any washing from the roof flow. Where is the other water coming from? Making mowing obstacles doesn't appeal to me.
That slope doesn't look steep enough to erode much unless you have more water flow than is apparent in the photo. It is hard to tell without more of a view of the surroundings, but if heavy water flow is coming around the rock wall and causing sheet erosion, a shallow "mow over" diversion to cut it off and carry it away before it gets there would be easier to maintain. Maybe that is a swale, but I 'm talking about a shallow, wide water way sloped to drain naturally that redirects the water, but you can mow over it.

Run the down spout to a French drain

I generally run downspouts underground away from structure to daylight out. Flex pipe is ok but will fill up with debris over time unless its a real good pitch. PVC is best and find the correct adapter to connect to the downspout. Looks like a good slope away from the house to the north.....great daylight end for the pipe.

Problem could be too much water from the downspout and too much shade from the tree.

Looks to me like that could be a heavily shaded area in which case sod will not last more than one season and then go downhill fast.
Sod is usually a full sun fescue grown in a sunny field. The shadow of the tree may be full shade once it leaves out. Shade mix grass seed grows real fast and well especially early spring but does not like any traffic. Creeping red fescue is a great shade grass if you mow it tall and infrequently with a small mower or just string trim it down twice a month. Regular heavy mower traffic will tear it up fast. I see landscapers sod very shaded areas often around here and it always looks real bad within a few seasons.

If it is dense shade I would daylight a PVC pipe out from the downspout and sell them on a landscape bed for that area...mulch it and plant Euonymus fortunei 'Coloratus'.....otherwise know as purple wintercreeper or a similar ground cover in the mulch. That will grow and spread fast and they will be done with that area forever. No maintenance required other than maybe string trimming it back off the wall and house. I have planted some difficult areas like that with wintercreeper and the customers have been very happy with the results. Wintercreeper grows about 12-18" tall and the color it becomes will depend on the amount of sun it gets. It can range from purple to green. 12-18" spacing between wintercreeper plugs is pretty standard and the closer you plant them the faster the area will fill in. Use a bulb auger on a cordless drill to make the holes for the plugs and it goes real fast....I have planted many plugs in a few hours that way.

Wintercreeper is very hardy and will grow well in full sun or dense shade and is an excellent groundcover for a permanent plant bed application since you will only have to mulch it before you plant it and then the maintenance ends. Oval shape or an irregular edge looks very good for a groundcover bed.

Thanks, Marty. Unfortunately, the homeowner is the kind of guy who makes his mind up on things he doesn't know much about, and he wants Bermuda sod. I may be able to convince him otherwise. I knew Bermuda was a bad choice in shade, but I didn't realize sod in general was a bad choice.

Another question. I need to get utilities marked, because I know the drain would be near some cables, but 811 only marks on the right of way. This is further back on the property, and I can't find anyone to mark it. How does one find the utilities? Are there maps online? If the drain has to cross paths with a cable, is there any way to work around it?

1-800-dig-safe. If there is a utility line underground right where you are digging I recommend hand digging to find it. You can also buy a t handle probe that is made from hard plastic....mine is 4' long.

Run probe in a straight line to full depth necessary every few inches until you hit/feel the line. You can use water as you push it down to make it go in easier.

But inevitably hand digging will be necessary.