Question
I live on a delta in Vancouver BC. Obviously the water level is high. MY house is about 50 years old, and I rent. The front yard is wet waay past time it should be dry.
My wife and I have talked drainage pipes,French drains etc, but we don't know practicalities. The soil mostly heavy clay and I doubt anything was done by the builder other than dig the foundation, even that dirt out and plant grass on it. Drainage is very poor front and back. I did some perimeter drainage on the back but the front is the main problem. I lean toward buried drainage or a french drain, but with the heavy clay I am afraid to do anything significant. I fear it will drain only a limited area each side of the pipe .Can you give me an idea for how far I could expect one ditch or drainage pipe to have an effect? (the yard is small about 25 feet deep by 40 feet wide. Access to the storm drain is strongly on one side of the yard. (side to side run would be about 35 feet if that helps. I expect you couldn't give details but perhaps you have generalizations for separation?
Your time is appreciated.

Greg R.

Answer
Greg:
What you described is fairly common. We have clay here in Georgia also and we are still able to effectively drain larger areas of the yard simply by creating a network or grid of drain pipes. I suggest you check out the NDS Pro website. There are some new products these days that are very effective. An array or French Drains approximately four to six feet on center connected to a single trunk line connected to a storm drain or daylighted in the yard will probably do the trick.

If you review some of my other answers on French drains you should get the idea.

best of Luck
Sean J Murphy, LA, ISA, LEED AP

Please check out my websites also for more ideas on landscaping.

http://www.seanjmurphy.com
http://amenityarchitects.com