How To Grade a Yard for Proper Drainage

If you’ve noticed puddles near your foundation, it may be time to grade (or regrade) that area of your yard, which means to shape the ground so water moves away from the house instead of toward it. Recently-built homes are less likely to experience this problem because builders grade the yard before they start. But given enough time, soil can shift and lose that all-important slope that supports proper yard drainage.

“Grading is a simple concept, but it plays a big role in preventing basement moisture, foundation cracks, mold, and rot,” explains Reuben Saltzman, a second-generation home inspector based in Maple Grove, Minnesota, and the CEO of Structure Tech Home Inspections. “Good grading is one of the most effective and cost-efficient ways to protect a home from water damage.”

Grading plays a significant role in promoting runoff away from your home rather than toward it, but sometimes additional measures are necessary to address specific issues. Consider this your guide to understanding how to grade your yard to get maximum benefits. Additionally, we’ll examine how to identify signs of poor yard drainage and maintain a drainage system to keep your home protected.

What Is Yard Grading?

Yard grading is adjusting the slope of the land to control water flow. You grade around a house to protect the foundation from pooling water and flooding. But you can also grade other parts of the yard to control erosion and create more suitable growing conditions for plants.

When grading around a building, the downward slope should be at least one inch per foot, maintained for at least 10 feet beyond the foundation. Depending on soil conditions and the lay of the land, a landscaping professional may recommend a steeper slope. But it normally doesn’t exceed three inches per foot.

Yard Grading vs. Yard Leveling

Landscapers tend to use the words “grading” and “leveling” interchangeably, but they don’t mean the same thing. Leveling means filling divots and holes and flattening hills to create a level surface. It’s especially important for properties with lawns. Irregularities in the surface can make water pool in some places and run off in others, resulting in clumpy, hard-to-mow grass.

There are several ways to level a yard. Depending on the extent of the damage, you can spot-fill holes, drop new fill dirt and flatten it with a board or tiller. There’s really only one way to grade, though — deposit dirt at what will be the high end of a slope, then spread it to make the slope. Some grading may be involved when you’re leveling a yard and vice versa, which is why the terms may be confused.

Common Signs of Poor Yard Grading and Drainage Issues

Unfortunately, it doesn’t take much to compromise the grade of your yard. Failure to clean gutters regularly can cause them to overflow and erode the soil around the foundation drip by drip. Sometimes, as with my old home, the problem originates some distance away from the foundation, where rain runoff erodes a path toward the house.

Here are a few common signs of poor drainage that could signal the need to grade your yard, according to Saltzman:

• Water is pooling near the foundation or in low spots.
• Persistently soggy spots in the yard.
• Musty smells or seepage in the basement.
• Erosion along walkways or garden beds.
• Mold or water stains on foundation walls.

How Does Yard Grading Improve Drainage?

The first rule of landscaping (and plumbing, too, for that matter) is this: Water runs downhill. Grading takes advantage of gravity to prevent water from pooling around a foundation, soaking into the ground and seeping through.

By promoting runoff away from the house, grading also provides these benefits:

• Keeps mosquitoes and other pests that live in standing water away.
• Prevents the ground around the house from turning to mud, which can be tracked into the house.
• Drains the soil so grass and plants can grow.
• Controls ice buildup around the foundation.

While maintaining the grade around your house is important, it isn’t always enough. If it’s impractical to make a steep enough slope, water from surrounding hills might still reach the foundation.

It may also be necessary, as with my previous home, to install a perimeter drain. This is usually an underground French drain that directs water to a suitable runoff point away from the house.

Is Yard Grading a DIY Project?

Grading involves two steps: Measuring the existing grade, then moving dirt to make the grade steeper or change its direction. The dirt can scraped from the bottom of the slope to the top, or trucked in.

Anyone can measure the slope with two wood stakes, a string, a line level and a tape measure. Moving dirt is a different story. The feasibility of DIY depends on the amount of dirt.

Large grading jobs are best left to professional landscapers with earth-moving equipment. Smaller jobs, like correcting the grade from one wall of a building, are often doable by one or two people with wheelbarrows, shovels and rakes.

How To Grade a Yard for Proper Drainage

Before you start, you’ll need to measure the existing grade to determine how much earth you need to move and where to take it from. There’s more than one way to measure grade. But when grading around a house, all you need are stakes, string, and the right type of soil. Experts recommend staying away from sandy soil and using a mixture of silt and clay instead, as it will compact enough to prevent water from soaking through.

Here’s a look at the entire process of how to grade a yard:

1. Pound in one stake next to the foundation and another at least 10 feet away.
2. Tie a tight string to the stakes at the same distance from the ground.
3. Set a line level on the string and note the bubble. If it’s centered or tipping away from the house, move up the string on the stake near the house until at least half the bubble crosses the line on the side of the level facing the house.
4. Measure how far you moved the string. That should be the difference between the top and bottom of the new slope.
5. Using the string as a reference, transfer dirt from the bottom of the slope to the top, or bring in new dirt and distribute it along the slope. Keep adding until the level of the dirt is equidistant from the string along the entire slope.

FAQ

How can I improve drainage near my house foundation?

First, ensure the soil slopes away from the home at the recommended grade level: at least one inch per foot, maintained for at least 10 feet beyond the foundation. You should also extend downspouts at least 6 feet from the house to get water away from the foundation, Saltzman advises.

“If water still collects, adding a swale, a shallow ditch, can help guide it away,” Saltzman says. “For bigger drainage issues, a French drain or dry well might be needed.”

How do I maintain my yard drainage system?

These are Saltzman’s top tips for maintaining a yard drainage system:

• Regularly check gutters, downspouts, and downspout extensions for clogs and leaks.
• Keep grading intact. Avoid piling mulch or soil against the house.
• Watch for erosion or changes in the soil after heavy rains or storms.
• Clean out any yard drains or catch basins so water doesn’t back up.

Expert

Reuben Saltzman is a second-generation home inspector and the CEO of Structure Tech Home Inspections in Maple Grove, Minnesota. He is also a Director for The Examination Board of Professional Home Inspectors (EBPHI) and teaches home inspector seminars across the U.S.