By Kelley Rawlsky

Our backyard flooded last summer. Over the winter, we secretly hoped the yard fairy would sprinkle magic dust over the situation and make it go away.

Unfortunately, the little pixie must have been hibernating. We were staring at the same sopping wet mess this spring.

We hired a contractor.

The plan: remove the top twelve inches of soil, re-grade the area, install a French drain, layer rocks over the subsoil and pipe, lay down geotextile fabric over the entire yard, add top soil and new sod.

Seems straightforward enough, right? What could possibly go wrong?

Unfortunately, a lot. I am sharing my experience hoping others may avoid it.

When grading a yard for drainage, the slope should be barely perceptible. One end of our yard now resembles the half pipe at a skateboard rink.

The French drain was supposed to be located in the center of the yard at the lowest point. Our drain is on the side of a slope daring water to defy gravity and travel uphill.

The contract clearly states they will install geotextile fabric. The purpose of this is to help stabilize the soil, direct water flow and protect the French drain pipe from becoming clogged with mud and muck. Since they skipped this step entirely, the yard flooded two weeks after installation.

The contractor did return to lay fabric over a small portion of the drain pipe, but created another issue in the process by removing the majority of the topsoil in that area. The soil depth in that area now averages one inch.

Then the contractor, a whippersnapper 30 years my junior, dismissed my professional opinion and science-based research regarding the minimum amount of soil needed to grow sod.

“It will be fine,” he said.

I could almost hear a John Wayne voiceover saying, “little lady.”

Yes, the contractor knows that I have a master’s degree in horticulture. Can I get a little r-e-s-p-e-c-t, please?

Out of sheer necessity, I have learned to lower my expectations as I have gotten older. And, I truly enjoy telling folks they have done a good job, but this was a very poorly done job. In addition, there were floating areas in the yard which felt like being on a moonwalk or flying magic carpet, as well as strips of dead grass in between sections of sod.

There are many divots in the yard that qualify as bona fide ankle-turners. They even hauled off the rocks from our border that we intended to keep.

Caveat emptor or breach of contract? We are still weighing our options. All of the long-term benefits of having geotextile fabric are now lost.

While I had general working knowledge of how the project should be completed, I had not done my homework to dig into the nitty-gritty details. As much as I dislike the idea of doing the contractor’s job for them, I dislike the idea of throwing money down the drain even more.

If you need assistance understanding a project, you can always reach out to your local land-grant university or Extension office. They have excellent resources that are easily accessible to the public and are free.

Also, you can do research online. Include “site:edu” after your search term to find university-based and science-backed research.

Arianna Kelley Rawlsky has a master’s degree in horticulture and created Bringing People and Plants Together, an organization dedicated to bringing horticulture education and therapy to the community. For more information: PeopleAndPlantsTogether@gmail.com or follow us on Facebook.