Every storm left an inch of water sitting against the patio for two days, and the fescue between the patio and fence had given up. Red clay does not perc - the water has to be given somewhere to go.
The fix
We cut a 60-foot french drain from the patio corner to daylight at the side yard, regraded the low spot into a shallow swale that moves water instead of holding it, then laid 1,200 square feet of tall fescue sod over screened topsoil.
What it cost and one honest note
Two days, $4,100 - roughly $2,600 in drainage and grading, $1,500 in soil and sod. April sod means a summer of careful watering; fall is the better window for fescue. The homeowners could not wait through another season of mud, so we set a watering schedule and checked in twice over the summer. It held.
The photos
