Might need to put a drainage ditch

Hi all,

I have a MHP that has a problem with sitting water. When it rains the water sits on people’s yards. This is a problem. The park is shaped as a very long and narrow U. And the opening of the U is the entrance and also the bottom of the hill (the hill is not very steap). So I’m thinking I need to dig a trench in front of the homes, install perforated piping in the trench along the interior of the U (so the water flows in there), and hope that gravity takes it down the hill and away into the storm drain.

-What do you guys think I should do?
-Is my idea a good one?
-If I do this can they do it without making it look ugly?
-And what kind of professional should I call to do this?
-What’s a reasonable price for a job like this?

Landscape fabric. Mark utility lines first and Mark it. Dirt and seed over it again.

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You should have 2 or 3 good landscaping companies come out and help you with the best options for your situation. It could be as simple as putting in some thicker grass to absorb the water, which IMHO is much less work than the stormwater plan you had in mind.

But if you do proceed with the perforated pipe make sure you cover the fabric with something that drains well. This means sand or rock. If you just cover it with dirt and grass then the water will shed over it or sit on it during heavy rain, which will defeat the purpose. I have done this, and had to remove the dirt and replace with rock to make the system effective again. Check your stormwater ordinances too as they can dictate how this water is released back onto streets or into streams etc.

Good luck.

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Start with having someone shoot elevations to figure out if there is enough Fall to be able to do a ditch.

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What does shooting elevations mean?

There is an ideal amount of grade in your topography for water to flow adequately. If there is not you will continue to have standing water without it going anywhere. To find out if you have adequate slope people will use a laser level, or other techniques, to “shoot elevations” and confirm what is needed to meet that requirement.

If you need to dig a nine foot deep trench to make it happen the project could be unfeasible or cost prohibitive, for example.

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I was thinking of using gravel to put on top of the perforated pipes.

the hill is about 30-40 degrees. So I think the water will go down just fine with the gravity.

If we put thicker grass where’s the water going to go? We still need the water to go somewhere else other than sit there in three inches of standing water. So that’s why I think diverting the water down the 30 degree hill out to the storm drain is the way to go.

Jack, good to hear from you!! Hope you’re well! Anyway what do you mean by figuring out enough fall?

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@Gulliver this is what @jhutson described above. making sure you have slope with laser level .

Find a few different guys that maybe do site work, or more advanced landscaping drainage. have them check it out and give you feedback on pricing regarding resolution for it.

I like to get pictures after a heavy rain, figure out where you have standing/ holding water send it to the contractor and see what their proposal is for resolution. Hope that helps.

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Get help from a pro who can look at the situation with you. This is all advice from the peanut gallery and I’d be stupid to tell you I know the best answer for your situation. You have our thoughts to help inform you as part of that process and wish you the best.

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Ok sounds good. I’ll call some professionals. In your opinion should I call a concrete professional, drainage professional, or a landscaper?

Ok will do. Thanks again!

I would call landscapers that can speak intelligently to the points above. A drainage professional will be like a civil engineer and not sure you need to get into that spending unless the landscapers say otherwise. I don’t even know if there would be any concrete involved this project so I cannot speak to that.

In addition to the comments above, speak to an underground utility contractor. Landscapers can install the lightweight corrugated pipe, but if you need heavier concrete pipe, they won’t know what to do.

Pricing cannot be determined based on information you provided. We just replaced 4 18 inch culverts and it cost about 12,000.

I had a situation with standing water and no way to get it to go anywhere without major grading or trenching.

I installed a dry well.

We installed a drain where the water was standing, dug a big pit (10 x 10 x 6 foot deep), ran a drain line to it, filled it with Leaching rock, covered the top with straw and back filled the dirt.

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