HawthorneVillager.com

We had the same problem with water in our backyard, and we ended up getting a french drain installed 2 years ago. We never had a problem with water again! A french drain is esentially a trench dug in the backyard, filled with gravel and sand, and then topsoil and grass go on top of it. And voila! The water has somewhere to go, and if you grade the drain properly then it follows the natural flow of water as originally intended.

We have an oversized lot (wide, not long) and did not want to do all of the digging ourselves. We contacted a bunch of people and ended up getting Peel Exterior Maintenance (on Trafalgar) to do it for the best price, and quickly. They did a great job, and like I said, now we have full use of our backyard. Definitely worth looking into!

Yep, it's just gravel and sand. That's it. I did some research on the internet and decided that was all we needed. (Try Googling "french drain") The guy at Peel Exterior agreed with me.

It is amazing the difference, we used to get algae back there because it was so wet, and now it dries up very quickly. And yes, you will get that 2 feet back - we did!

Where did they trench? Along the property line?

The trench is not on the property line, but it is in the "valley" where the grading was supposedly done. The fence was already up when we got the drain put in.

Len - sorry, I don't remember the name of the guy I dealt with at Peel Exterior, I essentially cold-called them and he came out and gave us a quote. I am sure that if you give them a call they will put you in touch with the right person.