Case study
Drainage solutions
Metro Atlanta clay holds water, so a poorly draining yard is a common problem, and a costly one when it undermines hardscape or reaches a foundation. These projects solve standing water with dry creek beds, dry-well systems, and grading that carry runoff away while looking like a deliberate part of the landscape.
The problem
When water has nowhere to go
A drainage problem shows up as the same few symptoms: a soggy patch that never dries, mulch and soil washing out of beds, water pooling against a patio or a foundation, or a bare, eroding channel where runoff has cut its own path. On heavy Georgia clay, which does not absorb water quickly, these get worse every wet season if nothing is done.
Solving it starts with diagnosis, where does the water come from, and where can it go? From there the fix might be a dry creek bed to carry it, a dry well to soak it away, re-grading to shed it, or a combination. These projects take a property from standing water to a landscape that drains.
The approach
Matching the fix to the water
There is no single drainage solution, only the right one for where the water comes from and where it can go. These are the tools we use.
-
Dry creek beds
A graded channel of river rock and larger boulders that both moves stormwater and looks intentional, turning a wet, eroding low spot into a landscape feature that carries runoff where it should go.
-
Dry-well systems
A buried gravel-filled chamber that collects water and lets it soak away underground, relieving a spot that stays soggy, often fed by a drain line from a downspout or a low area that has nowhere to drain.
-
Grading and drains
Sometimes the fix is re-grading so the ground sheds water away from the house, or setting a catch basin and a buried drain line to collect and carry it off. The right solution depends on where the water comes from and where it can go.
-
Protecting the whole landscape
Standing water is not just a nuisance, it undermines hardscape, drowns plants, and finds its way toward foundations. Solving it protects everything else in the landscape, which is why drainage is designed alongside the hardscape it serves.
Before and after
A look at the drainage we build
Representative examples of the arc from a poorly draining yard to a finished solution. These are examples of the kind of work we do, not a client-by-client portfolio; our own project photos are added here at launch.
-
Before: a yard that will not drain -
A dry-well system going in -
After: a dry creek bed
Have standing water to solve?
Tell us where the water collects and what you are seeing, and we will walk the site, diagnose where it comes from, and put together an estimate with no obligation.