Service
Water that stands for a day after rain, or ground that stays soft for a week, has a cause you can usually find from the yard itself. The cause decides the fix.
A puddle that vanishes an hour after a storm is normal. A puddle that is still there the next morning, or a lawn that squishes underfoot for a week, means water is reaching that spot faster than it can leave. Rein Irving Drainage Company starts with the cause rather than the symptom, because the right fix for standing water depends entirely on where the water comes from and how it moves through your soil.
Two yards with the same puddle can need completely different fixes. A few questions sort most of them out:
| What you see | Most likely cause | Usual fix |
|---|---|---|
| Puddle near a downspout | Roof water landing in one spot | Buried downspouts |
| Puddle in a low spot after every storm | No fall to an outlet | Catch basin or regrading |
| Lawn soft for days, no puddle | Rain perched on clay below sandy topsoil | Shallow French drain along the clay line |
| Water at the slab | Grade toward the house, beds, downspouts | Foundation drainage |
| Water arriving from the fence line | Neighbor’s slope, roof or sprinklers | Interceptor drain or swale along the line |
| Water across the patio or drive | Paving sloped the wrong way | Channel drain |
| Wet strip in dry weather | Sprinkler or plumbing leak | Leak repair, not drainage |
| Low area with nowhere lower | No gravity outlet | Exterior sump |
Irving has two broad kinds of ground, and both hold water, in different ways.
In Las Colinas and much of north Irving, the USDA soil survey maps Ferris and Heiden clay at the surface: about half clay particles, absorbing water extremely slowly. Rain on that ground runs across the surface and stops at the first low spot. That is surface water, and grading and catch basins are the tools.
In much of central Irving the survey shows sandy soil over clay: about 15 inches of loamy fine sand over sandy clay loam near Irving Boulevard, and about 8 inches of sandy loam over clay in Plymouth Park. Rain soaks through the sand and stops on the clay, so the lawn stays soft for days even with no visible puddle. That is perched water, and a shallow French drain along the top of the clay is often the fix.
The soil survey describes sample points, not every lot, so a test hole a couple of feet deep tells you which you have. The French drain versus catch basin guide shows how to read it.
The DFW area averages about 37 inches of rain a year, but yards flood in bursts. NOAA’s Atlas 14 puts Irving’s 2-year storm at 1.77 inches in one hour. A yard that copes with an all-day drizzle can still hold water for a day after a one-hour burst, which is why a fix is sized for the burst.
When the water clearly comes from a neighbor’s lot, the fix on your side is usually an interceptor drain or swale along the line, sending the water to your outlet. Texas Water Code section 11.086 makes it unlawful to divert surface water in a way that damages another property, which applies to both of you. The guide to neighbor water runoff in Texas explains what the law covers and how these conversations usually go.
The complete guide to fixing yard drainage goes through each step in more depth.
Standard homeowners policies generally exclude flood and do not pay to change how a yard drains, so drainage is usually a maintenance cost. Water rising from a creek or the Trinity is a floodplain matter that no yard drain can stop. See does insurance cover yard flooding.
Rein Irving Drainage Company plans and manages each job; installation is carried out by licensed and insured drainage contractors we work with. The plan starts with the source and the soil, then the outlet, then the fix. Where there is more than one source, it becomes a whole-yard drainage plan so the lawn is dug once.
The fix decides the cost. As a guide, a standard French drain runs about $25 to $55 per foot installed in the Dallas area; as national budgeting ranges, catch basins run about $500 to $1,500 each and buried downspouts about $150 to $350 each. The drainage cost guide and the cost tool help set a budget.
A few hours after a heavy storm is normal. Water still standing the next day, or ground that stays soft for several days, means water is not leaving the lot fast enough and has a cause worth finding.
Water that stands against or near a slab on expansive clay keeps that side of the soil wetter than the rest, which is a common cause of uneven movement. Water in the middle of a lawn far from the house is mostly a lawn and mosquito problem.
Usually a leaking sprinkler valve or line, a neighbor's irrigation, or a plumbing leak. With every fixture and the sprinklers off, a moving water meter dial points to a leak on your side of the meter.
On sandy topsoil with a compacted surface, aeration helps water soak in. On dense clay, or where water perches on clay a few inches down, it does little, because the problem is below the depth an aerator reaches.
Water that stands for several days can breed mosquitoes. Fixing the drainage removes the water; until then, emptying containers and keeping drains and basins clear reduces breeding spots.
Send a photo during or right after rain, and one from the next day.
