Finally got around to installing a French drain in my backyard, and man, I wish I'd done it sooner. No more soggy grass or mini lakes after rainstorms, you know? Curious if anyone else had similar success or if you did something different that worked out great.
Did something similar last spring, but instead of a full French drain, I went with a DIY dry well setup—basically dug a deep hole, filled it with gravel, and routed the downspouts into it. Cost me way less and solved about 90% of my flooding issues. Still get a bit soggy after heavy storms, but nothing like before. Might upgrade to your setup eventually if this stops working as well...
I did something pretty similar a few years back—went the DIY dry well route first, thinking I'd save some cash and effort. And yeah, it worked...mostly. But after a couple of seasons, I noticed the ground around the well started getting saturated quicker and quicker after storms. Turns out, my soil was mostly clay underneath, so the water wasn't draining away as fast as I'd hoped. Eventually, I bit the bullet and upgraded to a full French drain system.
Honestly, the difference was night and day. I joked with my wife that we could finally retire our canoe after heavy rains. 😂 The soggy patches disappeared completely, and even after those crazy summer downpours, the yard stayed firm enough to mow without sinking ankle-deep into mud.
Not saying your setup won't hold up—if it's working for you now, that's awesome. But if you start noticing more sogginess creeping back in, it might be worth considering the upgrade sooner rather than later. One tip: if you do go for the French drain eventually, make sure you line the trench with landscape fabric before adding gravel and pipe. Learned that one the hard way when roots and dirt clogged my first attempt after just a few years.
Either way, glad you're seeing improvements. Nothing worse than having a swamp instead of a backyard every spring...
