Protect Your Landscape Investment: Why Drainage and Erosion Problems Should Be Corrected First
Summary
If water collects around your house, washes soil or mulch out of your beds, creates bare channels through your lawn, or causes a patio or walkway to settle, it’s critical to address these drainage and erosion problems before uncontrolled water damages your landscape or possibly undermines your home’s foundation.
Marshall Grain’s landscape designers are experts at resolving these kinds of problems. We can look at how water enters and moves across your entire property and then incorporate the best solutions for your situation. These can be done as part of a broader landscape renovation, or as an independent project. The specific solutions depend on your property, your goals, and the problems to be addressed.
Learn how we can help you solve your drainage and erosion problems.
How Drainage and Erosion Problems Affect Your Landscape
Rain has to go somewhere. Your roof, gutters, downspouts, lawn, beds, patios, walkways, fences, walls, and neighboring grades can all influence where and how that water travels across your property.
North Texas storms can deliver a large amount of rain in a short time. Roofs and paved surfaces concentrate that water, while slopes can increase its speed. Heavy clay soil may also drain slowly. It’s critical to fix these drainage and erosion problems before uncontrolled runoff damages your landscape or possibly even undermines your home’s foundation.
Marshall Grain has over 15 years of experience in spotting and solving these kinds of problems for North Texas homeowners. In fact, most of the landscape installations we’ve designed included at least some drainage and erosion control measures. Even if you’re not ready for a full landscape makeover, the sooner you address these problems, the less it will cost you in the long run.
Warning Signs That Water May Be Damaging Your Property
Here are the critical signs that indicate you have a drainage or erosion problem:
Water repeatedly collects beside your house, patio, porch, or walkway.
Standing water remains after the surrounding areas begin to dry.
Mulch or soil washes out of the same planting beds after storms.
Bare channels or depressions develop through your lawn.
Soil disappears from around plant roots, foundations, or fence posts.
Turf remains muddy, thin, or chronically wet.
Water flows beneath a fence or collects along your property line.
Patios, stepping stones, or walkways settle or become uneven.
Existing drains overflow or fail to collect the water.
Downspouts release large amounts of water directly into beds or across your lawn.
Although these signs tell you that you have a problem, they don’t necessarily tell you where the problem begins. Water can travel from another part of the yard, collect runoff from several sources, or encounter an obstruction before appearing in a low area.
Marshall Grain looks beyond the visible symptoms to consider these issues before recommending a solution.
Correct the Water Problem Before Designing the Finished Landscape
In some cases, we are asked to focus on solving drainage problems and in others we approach it as part of a broader landscape design and installation project. In either case, it’s important to start with an evaluation of your property to assess how conditions could affect the overall plan.
Depending on your property, we may recommend grading, underground drainage, surface drains, French drains, swales, dry creek beds, dry wells, soil improvements, stone mulch, or plantings into the project. We select and combine these elements according to the conditions on your property, your goals, and your budget.
Here are five examples of projects we’ve engineered to show how we incorporated drainage and erosion control into different North Texas landscapes.
North Texas Drainage and Erosion Projects
Rebuilding a Backyard Patio in Arlington
Marshall Grain recently designed and renovated a large backyard for an Arlington homeowner. The project included replacing a failing patio with porcelain pavers, building new walkways with flagstone stepping stones, and adding new plantings around the completed hardscape.
The problem: The homeowner had previously installed a patio using loose flagstone, rock, and sand. It had settled and shifted, creating an uneven walking surface. Water also collected near the house. Before installing a new patio, Marshall Grain needed to correct the unstable base, raise up low areas, and resurface the space.
The solution: We removed the original flagstone stepping stones and replaced the unstable material beneath it with a compacted road base. We graded the base away from the porch and house and raised the lower patio area to eliminate places where water had collected. We then installed porcelain tiles across the rebuilt patio and over the existing concrete porch. Flagstone stepping stones extended the new walkway through surrounding plantings.
By coordinating the grade, base preparation, patio elevation, finished surface, and soft scaping, Marshall Grain created a backyard renovation that addressed both the homeowner’s design goals and the conditions that had contributed to the original patio’s failure.
Correcting a Swampy Side Yard in Colleyville
This Colleyville project focused specifically on correcting a chronic drainage problem in a narrow side yard.
The problem: Rainwater was collecting between two closely spaced houses, leaving the side yard swampy and damaging the turf roots. The result was that water backed up toward the house. A dirt pile behind a shed partially blocked the natural drainage path and a downspout released concentrated roof runoff, leaving the surrounding soil saturated after storms.
The solution: Marshall Grain installed separate underground lines to manage the two water sources. A solid pipe carried water from the downspout, while a perforated French drain collected water from the wet soil. Surface drain boxes captured additional water before it could collect near the house. We also removed the dirt pile that blocked the natural drainage route, leveled the area, and replaced the sod where the work disturbed the lawn.
Restoring an Eroded Backyard in Grapevine
Marshall Grain restored a badly eroded backyard for a Grapevine homeowner. The project combined grading and soil replacement with groundcover, sod, and compost.
The problem: Stormwater had carved deep channels through the sloped backyard and removed soil near the house. The erosion had changed the grade, and the remaining vegetation could no longer stabilize the affected areas.
The solution: Marshall Grain brought in topsoil to replace the soil lost to erosion. We re-graded the area to move water away from the house, creating an appropriate route through the property. After correcting the grade, we planted Asian jasmine around a large oak tree to cover and stabilize that portion of the slope. We also installed Palmetto St. Augustine sod.
By correcting the grade before installing the ground cover and sod, we gave the new softscape a more stable place to grow.
Integrating Drainage Into a New Hurst Patio
Marshall Grain redesigned this Hurst backyard to create a new patio and walkway. The complete project also included a retaining wall, underground drainage, decorative rock, and new sod.
The problem: The backyard sloped toward the house, directing water toward the porch. The existing surface drain could not handle the flow, and compacted clay soil contributed to the poor drainage. The planned patio and walkway needed to be elevated to prevent pooling.
The solution: We raised the patio and walkway and built the flagstone surface on a stabilized base. We then constructed a mortared chop-stone border to support the elevated hardscape and separate it from the surrounding grade. We also added surface collection points and perforated drainage pipe to collect water from the yard. A solid underground line then carried that water toward the street. Finally, we placed decorative river rock around the new construction to protect vulnerable soil and installed St. Augustine sod.
Redirecting Water Around a Brick Wall in Colleyville
This Colleyville project focused on drainage rather than a complete landscape redesign. Marshall Grain installed rock, edging, and ornamental grasses where they supported and completed the drainage work.
The problem: The property’s grade sent stormwater toward the house, which collected against a brick wall and flooded the adjacent concrete walkways because the wall interrupted the natural drainage route. The area also received roof runoff, as well as surface water from the lawn and water from saturated soil. Marshall Grain needed to intercept the water sources and provide a route past the wall.
The solution: We created a swale to collect surface water before it reached the house. We excavated beneath the wall and installed an underground pipe through the opening so the water could continue toward a lower part of the property.
Solid pipe carried collected water through the system, while perforated pipe drew water from the saturated soil along the swale. We connected downspouts to the underground lines and added drain boxes and a surface grate at key collection points. We also lined the swale with river rock to create an erosion-resistant channel. Steel edging defined the rock area, and ornamental grasses helped stabilize the slopes and visually integrate the drainage feature into the property.
Plan Drainage, Hardscaping, and Softscaping as One Project
If you are planning to renovate your landscape, it’s wise to address any drainage or erosion problems during the design phase so that everything works together. Otherwise, you may end up having to make expensive repairs later.
Marshall Grain begins with an on-site evaluation and a conversation about your goals, preferences, budget, timeline, and intended use of the space. In addition to assessing any drainage and erosion problems, we consider factors such as sun and shade patterns,, existing plants, soil, and other site conditions that will shape the project.
If your landscape does require drainage, grading, excavation, or hardscape construction, we complete that work before final planting. This sequence allows us to build patios and walkways at the correct elevations, preserve suitable water routes, and prepare stable areas for beds, sod, and other plantings.
Build Your Landscape on a Stable Foundation
Drainage and erosion control solutions may not even be visible in your finished landscape, but they support everything you build and plant. Addressing water problems before replacing sod, rebuilding a patio, or redesigning your beds can help protect your investment from repeated damage.
Marshall Grain’s landscape design and build team can evaluate your property and incorporate the appropriate drainage and erosion-control measures into a complete hardscape and softscape plan.
We can also provide customized organic maintenance to help keep it healthy, attractive, and easier to care for over time.
