If water visibly pools in one low spot after rain
You can point to the puddle. It fills from above, sits in a dish, and may shrink after the storm. That is usually surface water stuck at a low point.
Start with catch basins and surface drains if a grate at that low point can collect the pond. Grading and swales belong in the same look if the dish exists because the ground is shaped to hold water.
A French drain under a bowl that still ponds can miss the water sitting on top. Read catch basin vs. French drain if you are choosing between a grate and a trench.
If the lawn stays saturated after puddles disappear
The photogenic pond is gone. The ground is still soft. Shoes still sink. That pattern is water in the soil, not only water on the grass.
An exterior French drain is built for that: a gravel trench that gives groundwater a path to an outlet. It still needs somewhere appropriate to discharge. French drain vs. grading is the comparison if you are not sure whether the ground is holding water or sending more of it into the same spot.
If water is concentrated beneath a downspout
The wettest circle is at the outlet. Mulch washes. Soil hollows. The splash zone soaks every storm.
Downspout drainage is the first tool for concentrated roof water. Extending or burying that discharge can dry a strip along the house without trenching the whole yard. If the rest of the lawn is still saturated after the roof water is moved, a French drain may still be part of the plan — not instead of moving the downspout.
If water flows across the property in the wrong direction
You can watch it travel: toward the house, across a walk, into a side yard, or into a neighbor-facing low strip. That is a path problem.
Grading and swales change that direction. A surface drain may sit where the flow finally stops. A trench does not replace a slope that keeps feeding the wet area from above.
If water collects between houses
A narrow side yard is a corridor. Two roofs, two lots, and a low slot can all dump into the same few feet.
Do not pick a product name first. Decide whether the corridor is ponding on top, staying saturated in the soil, getting roof water from facing downspouts, or sitting in a reverse grade. Water between houses walks through that. Then yard drainage is the planning page for the mix.
A short match from what you see
Use this as a first filter. It is not a substitute for looking at slope and a workable outlet on the property.
| What you see | Usually investigate first |
|---|---|
| Puddle in one low spot after rain | Catch basin / surface drain; grading if the dish is the cause |
| Lawn still soft after the puddle is gone | French drain if groundwater has a place to leave |
| Wet circle under a downspout | Downspout drainage |
| Water sheeting the wrong way | Grading / swale; surface drainage where it stops |
| Muddy strip between houses | Diagnose surface vs. roof vs. soil first — then yard drainage |
More than one method can work together
A downspout line can feed a basin. A swale can keep surface water out of a trench. A French drain can take what still soaks in after the surface is honest.
Yard drainage is the page for that sequencing. This page only helps you start in the right drawer.
Service pages that match those situations
Open the method that matches the water, not the name you searched first.