Outdoor Drainage Solutions

Do You Have Water Issues In Your Yard or Home?

One of the most important issues facing Minnesota homeowners is water drainage. The weather extremes of the Minneapolis and St. Paul climate provide unique challenges such as heavy rains and flooding in the summer, snow melting in the spring, and snow coverage and refreezing in the winter. All of these extremes take a toll on your house and outdoor space.

Let KG Landscape Management provide solutions to your drainage problems. Whether it’s water damaging foundation, pools forming in your yard, erosion destroying your landscaping, or any other number of problems, our expert team will manage the situation and fix the problems for you. We have a Pinterest board full of great ideas for solving drainage issues.

Every drainage problem is unique and our team will treat it as such. We will wash away your water drainage issues and leave your yard shining brightly.

Outdoor Drainage Solutions Offered by KG Landscape:

Landscaping

• Retaining walls can be used to fix uneven ground levels. Uneven ground provides perfect places for water to pool and stagnate. Properly installed retaining walls can fix the uneven ground as well as divert water away from the area.
• Create rock beds or dry creek beds to divert water away in an aesthetical and functional way. These are beautiful additions to any outdoor space. The wonderful thing about them is that they’re the type of landscaping that both helps solve an issue and provide more interest to the yard.

Drain Tube System

Installing a drain tube system can be a relatively easy, inexpensive fix for drainage issues near a house. It requires digging a trench for a tube, installing a catch basin near the house, and installing an out spout for the water at the end of the tube. There are other additions that can be added to the system such as channel drains for driveways and patios or dry wells. Our expert team of landscaping professionals will install the system and leave the work area looking good as new.

If you are having Driveway Drainage issues, please visit our “Driveway Drainage Solutions” blog post!

Rain Gardens

Put these at the end of a drain system to provide a sustainable extension of your landscaping and plantings. With sustainable landscaping becoming ever popular, this solution has also increased in popularity. These are good ideas for larger yards. A rain garden forces the water to pool in a small area filled with water loving plants. There are many important aspects to consider when building a rain garden, so be sure to work with an experienced landscape company like KG Landscape Management when designing.

Proper Grading

According to the Minnesota Residential building code, grading against the homes foundation should drop a minimum of 6 inches within the first 10 feet away from the foundation. Having good grading and a proper slope away from the foundation is the first line of defense against water damage. One of the ways your grading can become a problem is when settling causes the soil against your foundation to drop. When homes are built, the soil around the foundation walls are filled in with disturbed soils that are not completely compacted when backfilled. This allows water to cause settling in these soils overtime and increases the likelihood of water causing problems.

Drainage Swales

A swale is used to control the flow of water by grading a slight channel into the lawn that collects water from higher adjacent areas around it and allows water to flow away from a desired location. We often use swales when improving grading and they are most helpful in channeling water further away from the home that foundation grading alone would allow. Basically, it solves the question, “The water is 10 feet away from the house, now where does it go?” It can be collected into a swale designed to flow away from the house via gravity. They are typically designed to collect water and allow gravity to channel this water to a drain, an area where water is not a concern, into a rain garden, or into the street.

French Drains

Drain water throughout a perforated tube surrounded by rock. The water enters the tube like a drain tube system above but the tube has holes in it and the water drains out of it and into the ground. Rock surrounds the french drain to improve drainage and help water flow out in all directions. Depending on the soil and ground in your area, this solution can be useful. Allow our trained account managers and designers to work with you to find the correct solution.

If you would like to learn more about French Drains and how they’re built, please visit our blog post “How To Build A French Drain The Right Way”.

What is a French drain?

One of the best tools for any Minneapolis outdoor drainage company is the french drain. The primary purpose of a french drain is to control, direct and distribute service water. The most common use for french drain is to prevent ground and surface water from entering and damaging building foundations. The second most common use is to control and distribute water in a way that does not cause surface erosion, puddling or soggy spots in the lawn. Because French drains look just like the rest of your lawn when they are finished, they are a great option to handle difficult drainage issue in our city and suburban landscapes. French drains are often called many names, including: weeping tile, blind drain, rubble drain, rock drain, drain tile, perimeter drain, French ditch. The basic components of a French drain are a ditch or channel filled with gravel or rock with a perforated pipe in the center to redirect water.

Dry Creek Beds

In landscaping, dry creeks beds use large rocks to fill in a swale or low point where water will flow during a storm. Placing rocks in these areas prevents the flowing water from creating erosion problems in the soil and are installed in a way that looks similar to a dry creek bed you might find in nature. Dry creek beds are often used because they require little or no trenching and people like the look of them.

People often use this method to cover up areas that are perpetually wet or in the exact areas the water has caused erosion issues in the past. So dry creek beds are not often used to change the path water might take, but instead to improve an existing path in a way that prevents soil erosion and is more aesthetically pleasing.

Dry creek beds can be lined with water permeable fabrics that allow water to filter into the soil once the dry creek bed reaches a flat area where filtration is desirable. They can also be lined with water proof liner that allows water to sheet through the creek bed and away from the house when water filtration is not desirable. Fabric liners are important to use whether or not permeability is desired to prevent the rock from being mixed with the soil below. No one wants a muddy/rock creek bed in there front yard!

Dry Creek Bed as a Splash Block

The dry creek bed look is also used as a replacement for traditional plash block.  Splash block in used to help water get further away from the house when you have a short down spout and also to break up the flow of washer rushing out of the down spout that would otherwise wash away your mulch or erode soil.  It also prevents muddy and mulch from flashing up onto your foundation and siding.  At KG landscape we use nothing smaller than 2” rock, usually a mixture of 2-6” river rock to creek plash guards with a dry creek bed look.  We always use non-permeable fabric to prevent water from filter through the rock and continue moving away from the house.

How Much Does An Outdoor Drainage Project Cost?

An outdoor drainage project is deceptive. Unlike other landscape projects like paver patios and beautiful plant beds, it seems very straightforward and easy to do. This is a myth. To do an outdoor drainage project such as a swale or french drain, you need to have a clear plan and experienced installers.

The minimum cost for an outdoor drainage project with KG Landscape is $1500. From the materials to the planning to the labor, it really adds up. However, the cost is worth every penny. We have fixed countless drainage and flooding headaches for clients throughout the Twin Cities.

Advantages of an outdoor drainage fix in Minneapolis:

• get water away from house and foundation
• no basement puddles
• stop ponds from forming in grass
• stop erosion of yard and landscape
• provide a beautiful fix to an inconvenient problem

Why Choose KG Landscape Management for your drainage issues in Minneapolis?

Since our start in 2003, KG Landscape Management has been your Minneapolis and Twin Cities landscape leaders. We have improved client’s drainage issues countless times and we can’t wait to help you solve your issues. Give us a call or send us a free quote to get started!