Solve Your Property’s Drainage Problems Before Spring

Do you cringe when it rains because your lawn turns into a swamp?

Suppose you have ponding problems in your Alexandria, VA property that’s leading to a messy backyard and flowerbeds dying because there’s too much water. In that case, you need to consider getting residential drainage.

Many homeowners with drainage problems ask, “Should I solve my drainage problems before spring?

Yes, so flooding and ponding stop before the spring thaw. In this article, we’re going to talk about the following:

Check your yard for ponding or puddling.
How are your downspouts?
Are your flowerbeds drowning?
How’s your hardscaping and landscaping in Alexandria, VA?
Solve your drainage problems with spring planting, patios, fire pits, & retaining walls.

Check Your Yard for Ponding or Puddling

If you’re experiencing drainage issues now, then you need to fix the problems before spring.

For example, water will freeze and thaw throughout the winter, not allowing the soil to fully absorb the moisture. Come spring, you could have rotten flower bulbs and snow mold on your lawn.

By handling water drainage problems now, you’re preventing continued deterioration of your yard and landscaped areas before the spring thaw.

Your hardscape contractors will put in a swale, a catch basin, or a French drain to move water away from your home and yard. Catch basins are drains that include a basin or box to move water from low-lying areas. They’re placed right below the soil’s surface.

French drains consist of a trench filled with stones or rock that holds a perforated pipe in place. The drainpipe from the French drain will divert water away from your home’s foundation, yard, and flowerbeds.

A swale is a low-lying area where water drains into the in-ground piping, and a drain moves the water away from your property.

How Are Your Downspouts?

Downspouts are one of the biggest culprits of yard flooding. If you haven’t had your gutters cleaned in years or the downspout isn’t correctly aligned, your property gets deluged with rain.

Your local drainage contractors will install a catch basin or a French drain to stop the rain’s surge of water flowing onto your property from the downspouts. Water will continue moving to the catch basin or French drain to soak into the ground.

Are You Flowerbeds Drowning?

If you’re a homeowner, you have spent a lot of money making your landscaped areas, including your flowerbeds, look beautiful.

Perennials, shrubs, and trees all cost money. And if you planted fall bulbs for spring blooms, you don’t want those bulbs to rot in the ground due to standing water.

First, start with mulch to help absorb the excess water during rain events. If that doesn’t work, consider installing a French drain or catch basin to move the water away from the landscape to soak back into the ground.

How’s Your Hardscaping and Landscaping in Alexandria, VA?

Water can run over your patio, driveway, and other hardscaped areas during a rain event. Again, catch basins, swales, and French drains will move this water away from your home, landscaped areas, and lawn.

Learn more: Fall Landscaping Tips 101

You may need multiple in-ground drains on your property to keep the water from creating a mini-river flowing over your hardscapes each time it rains.

Solve Your Drainage Problems with Spring Planting, Patios, Fire Pits, & Outdoor Lighting

If you have low-lying areas on your property, you need to install a catch basin, French drain, or a swale. Swales can be all grass or include a dry river bed or rain garden.

A dry river bed moves water away from your home and property. It’s also a beautiful hardscape where you include river rock and native plants, including:

Bee balm
Bottlebrush grass
Joe-Pye weed
Marsh marigold
Swamp milkweed
Swamp rose mallow
Sunflowers
Tall tickseed.

Additionally, your patio contractors can install a patio or expand the one you already love. A properly designed patio or retaining wall will always address drainage solutions. This will also help to control runoff through and from your property to the neighbor’s property. Add outdoor lighting to extend your outdoor living space well into November or early December.

Get an outdoor fire pit added to your backyard patio so you can enjoy sitting outside for longer in the season.

Campbell & Ferrara is Your Drainage Contractor

If you’re tired of water ponding on your yard, hardscapes, and in your flowerbeds, then you need us at Campbell and Ferrara to fix your drainage problem before spring.

If you’re ready to fix the ponding in your yard, contact us at Campbell and Ferrara to solve your residential drainage problems. Call us today at 703-705-7892 or fill out our contact form.

Campbell and Ferrara provides landscape design/build services and a retail garden center for homeowners living in Alexandria, Annandale, Arlington, Fairfax, Falls Church, Mount Vernon, and Springfield, Virginia.

Sources:

A2Concrete.com, French Drains.

Ibid, What is a Catch Basin?

JBIrrigation.com, It’s Not Too Early to Prep for Spring Drainage … Prevent Future Flood Damage.

RainGardenAlliance.org, Go Native!