standing water

[FourSeasons]

I have a customer that has new sod in his backyard. It was put in about 4 months ago by the previous lco. Now i'm the new one. 1.The new sod has standing water on it and it is saturated and spongy. 2.The front yard is on a slope and is the same way. But the front yard is not new sod and the dirt is just basically clay. So no water is being aborbed. Its not spongy but you cant walk on it very much or it just tears the grass up and turns to mud with the little topsoil that is there. It is also compact. What can I do do help this situation for the new sod and the older existing lawn in front? Would aeration help at all? What about applying gypsum to help break down the clay in the front so it will absorb water maybe instead of just running off. Also I am putting in a french drain along the north side of his house due to the same problem. But it was forming a big puddle on the side of the house. But after i finish the drain i'm putting down pea gravel for his dog. so there wont *be any grass there to worry about. He wants me to mow it once a month in the winter to keep it looking nice but i think I'll just end up tearing up the lawn doing it. I dont have any pics. I keep forgetting my camera.

__________________
Rob
Green Image Lawn & Landscape

\"If you don't feel the same way about Friday nights as you do Sunday nights, then you are not doing the right thing.\"

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can we use google earth to see the property? If I can see the lay of it I might have some suggestions, but I think your on the right line of a french drain it might work for the back yard puddleing, with out seeing it it is had to say though.

[FourSeasons]

how do you put the screen shot up?
I'll try to take some pics tommorow.

I'v never done a french drain before but i read a lot about them and they are pretty simple to do.
With this one I'm just digging out a short trench and having it run into a drain area . Its kind of shaped like a thermometer. long, big at the bottom and circular.
Of course with the perroferated pipe and drain rock running into a little drain area that is filled with rock. There isn't really any where to run it.

Originally Posted by [b

Quote[/b] (FourSeasons @ Dec. 19 2007,12:40)]how do you put the screen shot up?
I'll try to take some pics tommorow.

I'v never done a french drain before but i read a lot about them and they are pretty simple to do.
With this one I'm just digging out a short trench and having it run into a drain area . Its kind of shaped like a thermometer. long, big at the bottom and circular.
Of course with the perroferated pipe and drain rock running into a little drain area that is filled with rock. There isn't really any where to run it.

Sounds like yo have a handle on it.

[FourSeasons]

Originally Posted by [b

Quote[/b] ]Sounds like yo have a handle on it.

Kind of, just on one side of the house where there is not going to be grass any more.
He wants all standing water eliminated as much as possible.


What about the new sod and the old existing lawn areas?
Will any of the things in the first post work?

[Steve]

Originally Posted by [b

Quote[/b] ]how do you put the screen shot up?
I'll try to take some pics tommorow.

Can you take a screen cap of the overhead view? Then save it as a jpg and attach the file?

[FourSeasons]

where do I find the option to take a screen cap?

[Steve]

Try these following steps and let me know how it works.

Step one. Once what you want to take a screen capture of is on the screen hit the print screen key on your keyboard. This will transfer the screen capture into memory. (Note that holding alt and striking print screen will take a capture of the active window only.)

Step two. Open a graphics editor such as paint and press paste to put the image into the graphics editor. (Paint is located in start/programs/accessories.)

[FourSeasons]

Here are some pics of the standing water.
The first 2 are of the new sod.
The 3rd one is from no drainage and then being walked on over and over.

The 4th one is what I spent 8 hours doing today. Just to dig out that little ditch. There were so many rocks and its all clay. I had to dig it out little by little with a pick.









In the last pic where Im putting the french drain in, pea gravel is going in there. Do you think its okay to just put the gravel or do I need to put something down first. Or maybe scrape all the mud up best I can. Gravel will be about 2.5 inches thick.

Thanks

Rob You have got one tough job on your hands with this one.

I have to say you got a good handle on it with the french drain, the only thing I can thnink of that might help is to do this totally around the house and try to put more than 2 inches of pea gravel in the drain the mud will take over the pea and clog it up and try to put about 2- inch of 57's (clean rock no larger that 1" dia.in the bottom) then it should be no less than 4" of peas, if there is some slope to the yard, if there is no to little sope you would want to put more like 5-6 inches.

Here in KY french daian are no less than 6" square. and at least 24" min deep to the top of the drain.

Before you can do anything you gotta get that water out of there, get a pump and pump it out all out it to the best you can. Let it stand a day or two and check and see if more water has reapeard, if there has and there has not been any rain then you have even bigger problem. But the key is to get all or as much water pumped away from your work area in the pictures i can see your drain ditch is working, si your on the right track.

Good Luck Bro.
Tim