Free tool, 10 questions
Yard drainage assessment
Ten questions about what you can see from outside. The answers sort your situation into a planning level, explain it and give the next steps.
Answer the questions
Only what you can see from outside. A guess is fine where you aren't sure.
Your result
Answer the 10 questions and your result appears here. The questions only ask about what you can see from outside, and nothing is sent anywhere.
Is the water in your yard a problem now, or something to plan for? This yard drainage assessment weighs what you can see and tells you how pressing it is and what to do next. We built it at Clay Plano Drainage Company, where we plan and install drainage across Plano and 20 nearby cities in Collin, Dallas, Denton and Rockwall counties, as a step before anyone walks the yard.
How does the assessment decide?
The rules run in a fixed order, and the first one that matches decides the result. The same answers always give the same result, and the result lists the answers that decided it.
| If you said | The result |
|---|---|
| Water rising toward the house, a creek out of its banks, water around electrical equipment, or a washout | Right now: stay safe first, call 911 for rising water, then plan the drainage once it has gone down. |
| Water has come into the house or garage | Soon: find the route the water takes to the house and turn it. |
| Water standing against the slab, or downspouts and slope pointing at the house | Soon: move the water away from the slab before the next wet season. |
| A sale, a new patio or pool, or an HOA or city letter | Has a deadline: plan the drainage before the date that matters. |
| Water along a creek or channel | Planning: check the floodplain and easements on your plat first. |
| Water from a neighbor's lot after every rain | Planning: handle it on your side of the line, toward a legal outlet. |
| Wet with no rain | Soon: find the source, such as a sprinkler or a leak, before any drain. |
| Wet mostly after the sprinklers run | Planning: adjust the sprinklers, then see what is left. |
| An existing drain that backs up | Soon: clean and test the drain before replacing anything. |
| Water that stays two days or more, or a flat yard | Planning: a drainage fix that gives the water a route out. |
| None of the above | Planning: watch the next storm. |
Why does Plano clay make standing water last?
Most of central, east and north Plano sits on Houston Black clay, which takes in water at roughly 0.03 inches an hour. A puddle that would soak into sandy ground in an hour can sit for days here, which is why the assessment asks how long water stays, not only where it stands. The guide to French drains in clay explains what that means for a drain.
What can't the assessment tell you?
It can't see underground, so it can't say whether a pipe is broken, how deep the clay goes or where the nearest legal outlet is. We answer those on the site visit, when we walk the yard and measure the fall.
It doesn't judge a foundation, and it isn't a flood warning. If water is rising toward the house, stay out of it and call 911. Next: see our typical range for the fix.
Questions about the assessment
Can a drainage quiz tell me what is wrong with my yard?
No. It weighs what you can see, such as where water stands and how long it stays, and sorts the situation by how pressing it is. Finding the source and the fix takes a site visit: we walk the yard, measure the fall and look for a legal outlet.
Why does rising water outrank every other answer in the assessment?
Because water rising toward a house, a creek out of its banks or water around electrical equipment is a safety question first. The result appears as soon as you choose one of those, before the other questions, and it puts staying safe ahead of any drainage plan.
Does the assessment say whether my foundation is damaged?
No. It can only tell you whether water is reaching the slab and how soon to deal with that. New cracks or sticking doors are a question for a foundation engineer or foundation repair company; we handle the drainage around the house.
Talk through your result
Send your result and the address. We add your assessment result to the request and start from where the water comes from.