Why Water Stands in Your Yard, and How to Tell If You Have a Drainage Problem

Why water stands for a day or more after rain

Water usually lingers because more of it reaches a spot than the soil there can absorb. Roofs, driveways and walks send rain across the ground instead of letting it soak in. Packed or tight soil takes water in slowly, so puddles stay put.

This isn't only a big-storm issue. Ordinary rains make up most of the water your yard handles in a year, so a low spot that floods after a routine shower is telling you something.

• Hard surfaces like roofs, driveways and sidewalks don't let water through, so rain on them becomes runoff.
• Graded or disturbed soil can be heavily compacted, and even grass-covered land can then shed much more water, per Pennsylvania's stormwater manual.
• Tighter, poorly draining soils take in less water than more permeable soils.
• Downspouts release a whole roof's worth of water at one point, which can pool or wash out soil there.
• Trees and shrubs catch and use more rain than lawn grass, so removing them can leave more water on the ground.
• Pennsylvania's stormwater manual notes a 1-inch rain accounts for over 65% of average annual rainfall volume.

Check this before anyone digs

If your home was built after 2010, look into whether your property has stormwater features on record before changing the ground. A rain garden or buried system can look like plain plants or gravel.

• For homes built after 2010, the developer will have recorded any post-construction stormwater features with the deed.
• Your county keeps these deed records, and you can look them up through the courthouse.
• If you're the responsible party, upkeep is a legal duty, and you can't flatten a rain garden and replace it with lawn.
• Compacting soil or stripping plants can ruin these features.

What getting B&K to look at it involves

Usually you call, and reviewers say the person who calls back often comes out, looks at the area and writes the estimate, sometimes the same evening. Sometimes no visit is needed: one homeowner got an estimate by phone within 15 minutes because Bob knew the area.

Grading is work B&K has been asked to estimate. In one review, the area being graded diverted a lot of runoff from the house, and Kurt wanted to see it before the stumps were ground. Another reviewer recalls Kurt saying they needed a landscaper, not an excavator.

• B&K is licensed/registered and insured.
• These accounts come from B&K's Google reviews, not promises from B&K.

Common questions