Around 79 percent of Americans think that a nice lawn or yard is essential for a house. But, if your yard has a wet spot that won’t dry up easily, you got quite a problem there.
A wet spot in the yard makes the soil muddy, and the grass in it can even die if the water is stuck there for a long time. So, you should learn how to dry up a wet yard fast.
How To Fix A Yard That Holds Water?
There are several reasons why your yard could hold water. Let’s look at some of the simple solutions to fix the issue.
- Look for Faulty Underground Lines
First, you have to identify the spots where the water is getting stuck in your yard. And then, make sure that muddy or wet spots in your yard aren’t the result of a damaged sewer line or water main.
Consult a professional if you think your yard is holding water because of a faulty underground line.
- Fill the Low Areas
If your yard is holding water in certain low areas, you have to fill those areas with soil. Low areas are bad for a nice yard that kills its overall ambiance.
- Aerate The Soil
If your soil is too compact, it will not hold as much water as it should. In this case, you have to de-compact the soil by aerating it.
Aerating the soil with a core or spike aerator will increase the overall capacity of the soil to hold water.
- Dig A Trench For Drainage
Most of the time, yards hold water because of poor drainage. If the water stuck in your yard can’t go away by itself, you have to create a way for it.
Dig a trench for drainage from the spots where water is stuck in your yard. Make sure to dig the trenches at least 18-inch deep, which will let you install a gravel bed as well.
- Grow More Grass
If your yard doesn’t have enough grass, you can always grow more grass to fix the water holding issue. Grass will fill the low areas, and they will help to absorb the water as well.
How to Dry Up a Wet Yard Fast?
If you need to dry up your wet yard fast enough, there are some useful techniques that you can follow.
- Level The Yard
If your yard is not leveled in every corner, it will likely hold water and stay wet.
The easiest solution to remedy this problem is to regrade your grass and make your yard leveled so the water can drain away.
Fill in all of the low-lying areas with dirt and fine gravel to bring them up.
- Use Sand
Adding sand is the finest technique to fast and dry your wet lawn. Sand will aid in the rapid drainage of water and the preservation of the soil’s dryness.
If your yard’s soil is muddy, adding gravel or sand will help it dry up faster.
- Dethatch The Grasses
Thatch is a dead grass layer that doesn’t let the soil absorb water when it reaches a thickness of 12 inches.
When the old grass in your yard dies, a layer of dead grass forms among the green grass blades and the ground.
A power rake or a dethatcher can be used to remove the thatch.
- Dig A French Drain
French Drains are also known as Curtain Drains. It’s an excellent system to dry up your yard in no time!
It’s basically a trench that you have to fill with rock, gravel, and other rough materials that you find. The trench will also have a pierced pipe at the bottom.
You can even cover the drain with soil on top and grow grass on it to hide it.
My Yard Is Always Wet And Muddy: Beyond The Box Solutions
If your yard is muddy and wet all the time, then you won’t be able to use it, which kills the purpose of having a yard. So, let’s see what you can do to fix your wet and muddy yard!
We have already explained a lot of the effective techniques above to fix a wet yard. You can try these techniques and fix your muddy yard along with the ones we’re discussing now.
- Using Lime
Using lime is an efficient solution to fix a muddy yard. A wet or muddy yard creates a lot of wet dirt, which is extremely tough to deal with.
When you sprinkle lime on the wet dirt, it will draw water out of it, allowing the soil to dry quickly.
When lime comes into contact with moisture, it begins a chemical reaction that causes the lime to expand while simultaneously emitting heat and steam rapidly.
Naturally, because concentrated lime is such a powerful alkaline chemical, it must be handled with caution. It’s possible that if you’re not careful, you’ll wind up with burns on your skin.
- Using Kitty Litter
Kitty litter clumps and absorbs water by definition. However, as kitty litter isn’t cheap, you should be aware that spreading it over a large portion of the yard will be difficult.
If you can’t locate lime in the store and need a quick way to dry up the yard, kitty litter is an excellent alternative.
When the soil is dry again, you have to remove the scoop away the litter from your yard. And after you’ve removed the kitty litter, you can put sod over the soil or plant more grass.
This will make the soil compact again, and your yard will remain unharmed.
- Using Straw
One of the cheapest methods to fix a muddy and wet yard is to use a straw. You can go to any feed store and buy as much as you need. Just spread them over the muddy areas and let them dry up the yard.
As you leave the straw in your yard, it will absorb the water while it dries up. But, keep in mind that straws are too lightweight. So, a strong wind can drive it away from your yard easily.
- Hardscape
You can fix your wet or muddy yard while also increasing your landscape’s overall aesthetic and functionality by adding a new hardscaping component.
Create a path over the muddy area with a non-mucky material, such as gravel over flagstone or landscaping fabric.
Even in the wettest of environments, a boardwalk made of wood will come in handy, and it’s easier to construct than a concrete walkway.
When Should You Be Worried About The Wet Spots?
There are a lot of different causes you may have a wet spot in your backyard. Sometimes they can be very serious, and sometimes it’s just normal issues like a leakage in the pipelines.
Now, when you should be worried about the wet spots is a question you may ask.
Here, I will tell you some unique cases of a wet spot that is slightly different from the usual ones. In these cases, you will have to look for the location of the wet spot and determine the causes.
Also, these areas will indicate what kind of issue you may have with your yard and wet spots.
- A wet spot near the edges
The edges of your yard or lawn are a pretty usual area to have wet spots. The reason is that water from the patio, deck, or bricks will usually drip onto the edges and cause this issue.
Also, if you have sprinklers, the sprinkler head can cause the yard to have wet spots around the edges.
However, if you constantly see wet spots around the edges, it can be an issue with the sprinkler lines. Because if you have a sprinkler head around the edges, then most probably the lines run through that area as well.
So, in that case, make sure to get your sprinkler lines checked by professionals.
- Wet spot surrounding dry grass
Now, this is the most worrying kind of wet spot you can experience. This is a clear indication of a major issue with your lawn.
Most of the time, the cause for this is a broken water line around the wet spot area in your yard.
It can be either your general water line or your sprinkler line, depending on the plumbing in your house.
But with this issue, you can get a clear indication that something is wrong with the plumbing, and you need to get it fixed right away.
- Wet spots all the time, even under the sunlight
Here is another example of a severe issue with your lawn or yard. If you see a wet spot in a shaded area, it does not have much concern, as it can take time to dry.
But if you see wet spots directly under the sunlight, then there is something wrong here.
In most cases, it’s a condition of a pipe leakage in your yard. This indicates that you will need to get some plumbing work done in your yard, and a pipe is leaking for sure.
Knowing these things will help you fix up your yard and help you save up on the water bill. Because if this goes unnoticed, you could be looking at quite an expensive amount on the water bill you get.
So, whenever you see wet spots of this pattern, you should get worried not only because of your yard but also for the plumbing line running under them.
Bottom Line
Having a nice yard increases the overall ambiance of the house. But, if your yard is wet and muddy all the time, it’s worse than having no yard at all.
Also, grasses and most plants will not survive in a yard that doesn’t have a proper drainage system.
So, we hope you have found the solutions we provided to fix wet spots in the yard that won’t dry.