Redirecting water?

[wallawu]

Didn't know whether to put this is gardening or DIY, but with the idea that I want this to be aesthetically pleasing with rocks and plants if possible, I went with gardening. My wife and I moved to a new house in August. It's basically a completely "flat" yard, meaning no hills, but there dips and slants here and there. Last week we got about 5 inches of rain in 2 days, which is a lot for central Arkansas, and it put our yard and driveway to the test. The ducks loved it because we basically had a lake in the back yard, but I hated it because we basically had a lake in the back and front yards. We have a creek that runs right beside our house, and I want to direct water towards it. French drains for some reason never seem to work very well around here, so I was thinking some sort of above ground trench filled with river walks with plants around it. We live on the corner of a fairly popular road, so I want it to look good. I don't know the logistics of it, so I'm looking for help. Here's a satellite map view of my house and the layout. I somewhat mapped out the places where water sits (Dark Blue), but with the amount of rain we got, it was basically sitting everywhere. Let me know what you think! Thanks in advance!

To give you bearings, the driveway faces North, Hill arrow points south. The creek runs eastward and travels under the road. If it didn't flood last week, it likely never will.

Yellow - Backyard Fence Line
Light Blue - Creek
Dark Blue - Pooled water

 

[wallawu]

Also, we don't have gutters (getting a quote this week), so I'm sure those will help alleviate some of the problem.

 

[X_and_Z]

I'm sorry about all the water but I'm happy for your ducks.

There are lots of resources available for stormwater retention/landscaping. Here is one place to start:

https://www.jeffcomo.org/uploads/Stormwater/Slide Shows/Controlling Stormwater Runoff at Home.pdf

If you want some inspiration do an image search on "residential rain gardens." There are some absolutely stunning ones out there and people seem to have a lot of success with them. Some cities even offer mini-subsidies for rain garden installation.

More info a bout rain gardens:
http://savetherain.us/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/4_StR-Rain-Garden-digital6_20_12.pdf
https://watersustainability.wordpress.com/urbanresidential/rain-gardens/
https://www.uaex.edu/environment-nature/water/docs/NWA_raingardens.pdf
https://www.uaex.edu/environment-nature/water/conservation/rain-gardens.aspx
http://www.fayetteville-ar.gov/482/Stormwater-Quality
https://www.epa.gov/soakuptherain/soak-rain-rain-gardens

 

[lazy gardener]

It looks like roof line makes up a LOT of your property. So, if you can get a functional gutter system, that's a good start. I think your next step would be to dig some trenches to collect that rain water: Lay some storm drain (perforated 4" pipe) in a pea stone bed, which you could then cover over with soil and sod (you may want to put some landscape cloth over the pea stone to keep the soil from sifting into the pipe) you can direct the water to where you want it to go. You can try to do this yourself, and hope for the best, or involve a landscaping architect. (I don't know the correct term for this) Someone who has experience designing drainage systems, to get it done the first time and the right way. If I thought I could manage it myself, I might try to do it without outside help. But, if I messed it up and did not solve the problem, I might end up spending a lot of time, energy, and money for naught.

 

[wallawu]

I'm sorry about all the water but I'm happy for your ducks.

There are lots of resources available for stormwater retention/landscaping. Here is one place to start:

https://www.jeffcomo.org/uploads/Stormwater/Slide Shows/Controlling Stormwater Runoff at Home.pdf

This is great! Explains all of the variables involved in runoff.

It looks like roof line makes up a LOT of your property. So, if you can get a functional gutter system, that's a good start. I think your next step would be to dig some trenches to collect that rain water: Lay some storm drain (perforated 4" pipe) in a pea stone bed, which you could then cover over with soil and sod (you may want to put some landscape cloth over the pea stone to keep the soil from sifting into the pipe) you can direct the water to where you want it to go. You can try to do this yourself, and hope for the best, or involve a landscaping architect. (I don't know the correct term for this) Someone who has experience designing drainage systems, to get it done the first time and the right way. If I thought I could manage it myself, I might try to do it without outside help. But, if I messed it up and did not solve the problem, I might end up spending a lot of time, energy, and money for naught.

Not having gutters is killing us, but so is having two mortgages! Once we sell the other house, the to-do list will quickly become shorter. I'm trying to do this on my own to save some money, be productive, and learn some things in the process, but you're exactly right. It needs to be done correctly up front.

I'm also planning to aerate the yard mid to late spring. At our old place this helped a ton with standing water, but we were on a slight slope for it to run down, too. Maybe that combined with gutters (and maybe rain barrels?) will do the trick.

 

[WthrLady]

Gutters will absolutely help your problem and I wouldn't drop another dime on the problem after the gutters until you see how well they function in a good rain. You may not need to do anything else. TELL the gutter guys you want to drain towards the creek. IF you can manage to put the spout ends underground and have them drain even further from the house, better yet.

On the garage side, they can drain to the driveway, and down it goes.

 

[wallawu]

Gutters will absolutely help your problem and I wouldn't drop another dime on the problem after the gutters until you see how well they function in a good rain. You may not need to do anything else. TELL the gutter guys you want to drain towards the creek. IF you can manage to put the spout ends underground and have them drain even further from the house, better yet.

On the garage side, they can drain to the driveway, and down it goes.

Great advice. After doing some research (thanks x_and_z) I realized it was tough for me to fathom just how much water probably 2800+ sq ft of roof can catch and dump into the yard so quickly. Gutters are up next! Thanks!

 

[WthrLady]

Crazy amounts of water come off a roof with minimal rainfall. I have the gutters on our live stock barn going into the stock tanks and rain barrels. Each have diverters and overflows for when the units hit capacity. Takes no time at all.

 

[WthrLady]

IF you still have a water problem look up making a water chain garden. We have them around here. They are basically a natural looking set of rock and plant gardens/outcroppings that link together almost invisibly, to collect, and direct water flow. One fills and filters and sends water down to the next area either via a rock path, or a hidden french drain as they overflow.

 

[WthrLady]

For ideas. https://finkegardens.com/green-choices/designing-a-rain-garden/