The company doing my bathroom renovation is more about solving moisture and mold issues than remodeling. I asked the project manager about drainage issues in my yard. His company doesn’t do that kind of work, but he knew someone who did.

A downspout from my next door neighbor’s house runs into a plastic pipe buried in the ground. Where it empties is a mystery, but I suspect the dry streambed was put in to channel the water away. During heavy rains, the water flows enough for kayaking.

My downspouts empty into the yard. Rather than flowing into the streambed, ponds spring up all over the place. The ground stays sloppy wet for days after a big rain.

I figure the solution would involve heavy equipment, deep ditches, and a mountain of gravel. Then the yard would need re-grading to fix the slope and level things out. The finished product would be a well-drained plot of mud.

The drainage guy came out to look things over and give me a quote. The conversation went further than expected. Much to my surprise, he asked about my preference for lawn grass. Then he talked about options for redoing the streambed.

Fixing the drainage issues and replacing the lawn will cost less than half what I’d expected. To replace the edging on both sides of the streambed and making the width uniform is still less than I’d expect to pay to fix the drainage. Fixing the drainage, replacing the lawn, and sprucing up the streambed will cost less than I’d budgeted for drainage issues.

Sign me up! He can’t get to me for several weeks and the work may delay some planting, but that’s okay. There’s still plenty of time to get the new lawn in before it gets too hot. The job won’t take more than 3 or 4 days.

I’m thrilled. We also talked about a plan to use the existing rocks and edging elsewhere in the yard. He even took a soil sample. The new lawn will be zoysia instead of the Bermuda grass and moss I have now.

For going on nine years, drainage issues have been my excuse for avoiding permanent plantings. Those days are fast drawing to a close. Now to figure out what I want….