Everyone loves a green, flowing lawn, showing off the landscaping around their home. We all know that green grassy areas require water to grow. When rain falls, it nourishes the grass and when the job is done, it should disappear into the ground.

But what if the water is not so cooperative? What if the water pools on your lawn and gathers in one spot or runs off taking soil with it? It is then you know that the drainage in your Ann Arbor Michigan yard may not be adequate.

There are several basic drainage problems possible for your yard:

Erosion
First is that rainwater quickly runs off and takes a measure of your topsoil with it. Erosion has washed it away. It is gone, no longer able to nourish the grass or plant life around your home.

Once the top layer of soil is gone, it may leave only hardened ground or clay. Future rainfalls erode the ground at an ever faster rate, robbing your land of more soil with each harsh downpour. Uneven ground appears with bare ground patches, small gullies and rivulets formed where the water robbed your lawn of your topsoil.

Sandy soils (spodosol) dominate the northern and western neighborhoods of Michigan’s Lower Peninsula, while clays and loams (alfisol) lead in the southern Lower Peninsula.

Heavy rains loosen the remaining top soil, drying it into a hard ground that offers nothing to the roots of the plant life. Weeds love this type of land and thrive here with their hardy root systems.

On a larger scale, the chemicals added to the soil will wash into nearby rivers where fish swim and animals drink, perhaps harming them.

Pooling water
A second warning sign is that after a rain, water pools in depressions formed by soil erosion. Excessive water accumulation may drown plants and grass. A neighborhood with clay or some other hard soil tends to flood after an excessive rain or snow melt.

Land should always be graded downward away from the house to encourage rainwater runoff. Each home has its own distinctive grade and layout. If you were to look across your property from various corners and see only extreme flatness, you may have a potential runoff problem, since water needs a difference in level to flow.

Standing water
A third type of inadequate drainage warning sign in your Ann Arbor Michigan yard may be standing water in your yard or water backup in your basement when there has been no recent rain or excessive snow melt. This is a warning that there may be a breakdown in the pipe flow from your house to the sewer in the street or a basement sump pump.

Pipes
Pipes get old. They crack and break. They clog with flushed debris that should never have been flushed. When they crack under your landscaping, they invite tree roots into the pipe to feed on the water, and homeowner responsibility extends all the way to the sewer connection in the street.

Get your yard looking its absolute best with custom landscaping solutions from Twin Oaks.

Find us online at https://www.twinoakslandscape.biz/, visit us in Ann Arbor, MI at 4100 South Maple Road, or call us at (734) 213-6911.