I need to keep water out of the run

[unbaked pegga]

Dirt would be better because sand adsorbs water, but sand might work.

Just imagine a compacted mound of dirt several inches high in your yard. If it's higher in the middle, no water will ever collect there because it is too high, and water can't flow uphill; it will just flow down it or around it.

Now imagine a depression in your yard. Water will almost always collect there. That seems to be the condition that your run is in right now.

I have 5 60# bags of sand I bought last week. I will have to use that. Whatever dirt I have in the yard needs to stay there or I will have a problem somewhere else

 

[HenOnAJuneBug]

I have 5 60# bags of sand I bought last week. I will have to use that. Whatever dirt I have in the yard needs to stay there or I will have a problem somewhere else

You could make a small drainage ditch on the uphill (up-slope) side of your run to keep water from getting to the run, and use that dirt inside the run. Then some of the sand on top of that would be good.

 

[lazy gardener]

If you have heavy clay soil, no matter what you put in the run to raise the level, the clay underneath it will act like a bowl to hold the water. The water will sit in the clay basin, even though there is sand or shavings on top. Kind of like if you have a bowl full of water. You can add marbles to the water, but the water will still be there, even if you fill the bowl up with marbles. There needs to be some drainage from the BOTTOM of the bowl, which needs to drain DOWN HILL from the run in order to solve the problem. Until you solve your drainage problem, the standing/stagnant water will continue to haunt you.

 

[aart]

There needs to be some drainage from the BOTTOM of the bowl, which needs to drain DOWN HILL from the run in order to solve the problem. Until you solve your drainage problem, the standing/stagnant water will continue to haunt you.

Ditto Dat^^^

 

[unbaked pegga]

If you have heavy clay soil, no matter what you put in the run to raise the level, the clay underneath it will act like a bowl to hold the water. The water will sit in the clay basin, even though there is sand or shavings on top. Kind of like if you have a bowl full of water. You can add marbles to the water, but the water will still be there, even if you fill the bowl up with marbles. There needs to be some drainage from the BOTTOM of the bowl, which needs to drain DOWN HILL from the run in order to solve the problem. Until you solve your drainage problem, the standing/stagnant water will continue to haunt you.

Well I wish I had read that before I did all of this backbreaking work. I put 300lbs of sand and 2 big bags of pine bark mulch in it and it needs more. Lord have mercy I don’t know why things have to be so hard. To have someone come and put a drain in would be more expensive than I could pay. Just now finished all of that sand

 

[jthornton]

I bet that will work, just give it a try. The important thing is the top is higher than the surrounding ground.

JT

 

[HenOnAJuneBug]

I disagree about the bowl thing. If you fill up a depression in clay with clay dirt, it is no longer a bowl and will not collect water, so there will be no need for drainage from below. The key to keeping clay soil dry is to get the water off of it quickly, ie. quick drainage from the top, so that water can't sit and soak in.

 

[aart]

If you fill up a depression in clay with clay dirt, it is no longer a bowl and will not collect water, so there will be no need for drainage from below.

But if you fill a clay hole with sand, it still may be a water collecting 'bowl'.

 

[unbaked pegga]

I bet that will work, just give it a try. The important thing is the top is higher than the surrounding ground.

JT

If the weather forecast is accurate (which it seems to be hitting spot on) we are supposed to have heavy rain Saturday and on into Sunday with 1-3 inches expected. The weather channel sent and alert to my phone today!! That was a little unusual. But I have 5 more bags of mulch I had to put in the flower bed but I think I will beef up the floor and see what happens. If this doesn’t work it isn’t because I ain’t tried

 

[lazy gardener]

I disagree about the bowl thing. If you fill up a depression in clay with clay dirt, it is no longer a bowl and will not collect water, so there will be no need for drainage from below. The key to keeping clay soil dry is to get the water off of it quickly, ie. quick drainage from the top, so that water can't sit and soak in.

OP had a depression and was filling it with sand.

But if you fill a clay hole with sand, it still may be a water collecting 'bowl'.

What Aart says.