The Swamp in our Yard

[hartwood (WavyGlass)]

We figured that the swampy place in our backyard was ground water (it was near the old dug well, so it seemed like a logical conclusion). It started last fall, after we had received a lot of regular rain.

After dealing with muddy dog paws and an ever-increasing swamp ... I really looked at the pattern of water ... and I started to think that we were dealing with plumbing.

Turns out, it was a hole in our 1" copper line, where it came through the wall into our basement. All of the twists and turns of the story, plus lots of photos, are in my new blog post. Perhaps this will help someone else who has a swamp in THEIR yard.

It sure feels good to have this project behind me!

http://www.hartwoodroses.blogspot.com/2 ... n-our.html

[Alyson]

Sadly any water we get in the yard is groundwater, in the flood of 2010 we had 8" in the basement and it was a foot deep in the yard

Thankfully we have a drainage system and a pump that pumps the water out of our property, over the hill behind us and onto our neighbors property. The neighbor installed it and created the drainage easement that allows us to do that.

All I have to do is remember not to turn the pump off again - DH has installed a 'child proof' lock to prevent it from happening again

Our is a permanent issue, I'm glad that yours could be resolved.

I do like the green cabinets.

[hartwood (WavyGlass)]

I am thankful that we never had water in our basement like you did, Alyson. If this hadn't been a plumbing issue, we were looking at having to install drains, too.

The ground water theory for us seemed to be a sound one, since the water arrived with consistent fall rains, it was in the vicinity of the old dug well, and we had that east coast earthquake last year (which can upset all sorts of things). The water was spreading out and it masked its source as it traveled underneath the concrete pad toward the yard. It was only upon standing at the end of the mess, mentally bisecting it, did I conclude that it had to be coming from the inside corner of the back of our house ... right where the water main is.

50 years of low pH well water going through that pipe did a job on it. (I don't remember what the untreated pH of our water is ... we're close to neutral in the house, on the part of the plumbing on the other side of the water system tanks.) One day, maybe I will need something useless to do and I can take the dremel to the pipe and see exactly what the damage is on inside of it.

Until the yard dries out, at least things are frozen and I'm not washing mud off of the dogs' paws multiple times per day. Once the backfill in the basement dries a bit more, I will rake it smooth and put the plywood back down ... and clean up my workshop, because it's a cluttered, unorganized mess down there.

Connie

[arwenmark]

Hey at least your leak was in the yard, ours was in the third floor bathroom which since we don't live there wiped out the second floor bathroom and the ceiling and old wood floors of the living room and dining room. It was just a small drip kind of leak, we did not know was there

[nan-nan]

Glad you figured out the swamp was not an act of nature. We have a naturally swampy yard - the water table is naturally very high. There is a bog nearby - the sound of spring peepers is very loud once the snow melts, and our grass supports bright green frogs in the summer. We can't really walk on the grass until May or June. The squishiness underfoot before then is really gross!

Praise the Lord for sump pumps! Before ours was installed, apparently the basement was a swimming pool. But that was 2 owners ago.

Sometimes I am tempted to see what would happen if we tried to dig out a pond!