Yard Drainage near you

A good contractor wants to see the problem wet. Photos and video taken during a downpour or the spring melt show where water enters the yard, which way it travels and where it stops, often more clearly than a visit on a dry day. The contractor then checks the fall of the land with a level, probes or digs to see the soil and how close to the surface it stays saturated, notes every downspout and sump outlet, and identifies a place where water can legally leave the property or soak in. Only then does it make sense to choose between reshaping the surface, burying a drain or planting. Be wary of anyone who proposes a French drain before explaining where it will empty.

In a yard, a French drain is a buried path for water rather than a foundation drain. A trench is dug along or across the wet area with a steady fall, lined with filter fabric that keeps fine soil from clogging the stone, and filled with clean stone around a perforated pipe. The top can be left as stone to catch surface runoff or covered with topsoil and sod so the lawn looks untouched. Placed uphill of a soggy area, the same design works as a curtain drain, intercepting water seeping down a slope before it surfaces in the lawn.

The outlet is what makes the drain work. The pipe has to end somewhere lower: open to daylight on a slope or ditch, in a dry well where the soil can take the water, or at a municipal connection where one is permitted. A drain with nowhere to go only stores water underground. Cleanouts at bends and at the upper end let the pipe be flushed later, which matters where soil carries silt or tree roots are nearby.

The choice usually follows the water. A swale suits surface runoff crossing a yard with enough slope to carry it, and because it stays visible, it is easy to check and simple to maintain. A French drain suits ground that stays saturated, or a yard too flat or too busy for an open channel, but it depends entirely on its outlet and is hard to repair once buried. A rain garden suits roof and driveway runoff on soil that drains reasonably well, trading pipe for planting, though it needs weeding and, like a dry well, belongs well away from the foundation. Many wet yards need two of these working together, such as a downspout led to a rain garden with a swale taking the overflow.

In Toronto, all property owners must have their downspouts disconnected from the City's sewer system. The disconnected water has to flow away from the foundation walls, must not negatively affect a neighbour's property and must not run directly onto a City sidewalk, and the City also warns against sending it onto a driveway. An exemption applies only where disconnection would be hazardous or isn't technically feasible, and owners are expected to try relocating the downspout or correcting the grading first. The Government of Canada recommends that downspouts discharge at least 2 m from the foundation where possible.

Runoff between lots is where drainage projects start disputes. The Government of Canada's grading guidance says to keep swales between properties clear and not to direct water onto a neighbour's property, and other municipalities have their own rules on grade changes and storm sewer connections. Responsibility for water that crosses a property line depends on provincial law and local by-laws, so a good drainage plan keeps water on your own lot or sends it to a proper outlet, and any change near a shared line is best discussed with the neighbour before digging.