How to Get Rid of Standing Water in Your Yard

May 3, 2019

If your property has a yard, then you’ll want to make sure you take care of it to not only keep it looking beautiful but to keep it safe as well. One often overlooked problem that many yards experience is standing water. After it rains, you’ll want to make sure that you spend a little bit of time removing any standing water from your yard.

Why You Need to Remove Standing Water

Standing water, such as puddles in your grass or water that’s gathered on the lids of your trash cans, may not seem like that big of a deal. However, there are several reasons why you need to remove standing water. Here are some of the issues that can result from standing water.

• Standing water attracts mosquitoes – Mosquitoes breed in stagnant water. As such, any standing water that remains for more than a day or so is going to attract mosquitoes. The last thing you want is a mosquito infestation on your property. Not only are mosquitoes incredibly annoying, but they are also known for carrying all kinds of germs, such as the West Nile virus.
• Standing water can drown your plants and grass – While your plants and grass certainly need water in order to live, too much water can actually drown them. To keep your plants and grass healthy, get rid of standing water.
• Standing water can pose a safety risk – Standing water can cause certain surfaces to become slippery, which increases the risk of someone slipping, falling, and hurting themselves on your property.
• Standing water can cause damage to your house – If there’s standing water near your house, it can seep in through your foundation, not only causing water damage inside your home, but also causing potential damage to your foundation, which can lead to costly repairs.

How to Remove Standing Water

The following are a few tips on how to remove standing water from your yard:

• Add organic mulch to the soil – You’ll need soil that drains water effectively. Loamy soils and sandy soils are better than clay-like soils. Clay-like soil will trap water, causing standing water. If you have clay-like soil, then add organic mulches to improve drainage.
• Dethatch the soil – If your lawn has experienced lawn thatch or compaction, it won’t be able to drain properly. You can either dethatch the soil by using a dethatching rake or power dethatcher, or you can aerate your lawn.
• Correct the grading – if you have low spots on your property that’s causing water to collect, then you’ll need to correct the grading. You can do this by channeling water away from these low spots, such as by using a French drain (a gravel filled trench) or by building a dry creek (a path of gravel and rock). These will help move excess water away from low spots. You can build a dry well to lead your French drain or dry creek to.
• By hand – Don’t forget to remove standing water that’s collected on other items and features throughout your property, such as on your deck or on the lids of your trashcans. You can easily remove puddles from your deck by simply sweeping the water away.

Standing water is not something that you will want to ignore as it can cause all kinds of problems. Be sure to use these tips to remove any standing water that you might notice in your yard after it has rained. If you have serious standing water issues due to poor grading or soil, have a landscaping professional come inspect your property. They can determine the best solution for removing standing water from your yard. We’re here to help. Let’s talk about how to solve your standing water issues today!