Yard Drainage and French Drains in Canfield, OH
Canfield has a soil named after it, and the soil explains the calls. Water soaks in fine, hits a hard layer a foot or two down, and runs sideways into the low side of the yard, the pole barn pad or the drive. Jeff reads where it is going and gives it a better route.
Yard Drainage in Canfield
The soil that carries Canfield's name
The USDA's Canfield series is glacial till with a fragipan, a dense layer that starts fifteen to thirty inches down. The ground above it drains well enough. The ground below it barely drains at all. From November to April, water perches on top of that layer, ten to twenty inches below the lawn, and moves sideways.
That is different from the flat, poorly drained clay in Warren or Niles. In Canfield the yard may look dry on top while water is travelling underneath it toward the lowest point, which is often a pad, a basement wall or the drive. The fix has to catch water that is moving, not just water that is sitting.
Big lots on old farm fields
Canfield grew out from the village green and the fairgrounds onto farmland, and the newer houses sit on lots that are larger than most around Youngstown. Many of those fields were tiled by the farmers who worked them, and the tile is still down there, cut by the builder's excavator and running nowhere.
When a wet stripe shows up in a straight line across a new lawn, that is often what it is. Jeff finds where the old line is surfacing and either picks it up with a new French drain or opens a swale so it can reach the ditch it used to reach.
Water on the uphill side of the pad and the drive
Pole barns, garages and long gravel drives are normal in Canfield, and all of them get cut into ground that seeps. Water perched on the fragipan arrives at the uphill edge of a pad and has to go somewhere. Without a path it goes under the pad, or across the drive, and softens both.
A curtain drain along the high side, a trench of stone and pipe that intercepts the seep and carries it round, keeps the pad dry. A drive that crosses a swale needs a culvert under it so the ditch keeps flowing. Culvert installation and gravel driveways in Canfield cover that side of the work.
Swales you can mow across
On a lot this size, a wide, shallow grass swale moves more water than any pipe and never clogs. It is just the ground shaped into a gentle channel along the line the water already wants to take, falling steadily to the low corner, the road ditch or a pond. You mow straight across it and forget it is there.
Jeff builds swales first and pipes second. A French drain goes under the stretch that stays saturated even after the surface has been shaped, bedded in clean stone with fabric and real fall. On a Canfield lot the outlet is usually easy to find, which is one advantage of having room.
City, township, district and the Engineer
Canfield is a city with a township wrapped around it, so the first question is which side of the line you are on. Canfield Township is part of the ABC Water and Stormwater District, which looks after public storm lines and ditches. The water on your own lot is yours to fix either way.
A new culvert or a drive onto a county road goes through the Mahoning County Engineer, and a state route through ODOT. OHIO811 gets notified before any trench is opened, as Ohio law requires. The driveway and culvert permits guide explains which office handles what.
Walking the lot, and one figure
Jeff comes out and walks the yard with you. He looks for where the water enters, where it is travelling under the surface, and where the lowest proper place to send it is. Then he recommends the least work that will fix it, and gives one free figure with the digging, stone, pipe and grading in it.
If an old barn or shed is sitting in the wet corner, demolition in Canfield can take it out on the same trip. The drainage page explains the methods in general, and the Canfield page has the rest of what he does around town.
Yard Drainage & French Drains
Standing water on slow clay moved off yards and away from the house: regrading, swales, French drains and buried downspouts.
See the serviceTalk to Jeff(330) 625-5754
Tell Jeff whether the water shows up at a pad, a wall or the drive, and which road you front. He walks the lot and gives one figure.
Call nowWhat that covers
- Curtain drains. Stone and pipe along the high side of a pad or barn to catch seep before it gets under.
- Old tile picked up. Cut farm tile surfacing in a new lawn given a new line to the ditch.
- Mowable swales. Wide grass channels across big lots that carry water to the low corner.
- Drive culverts. Pipe set to grade under the drive so the ditch keeps flowing.
Canfield, OH
Southwest of Youngstown around the village green and the fairgrounds, 40 minutes from Farmdale, with larger lots and newer houses on former farmland.
Town pageAlso in CanfieldDemolition & Removal in Canfield, OH
See the pageAlso in CanfieldGravel Driveways in Canfield, OH
See the pageThe serviceYard Drainage & French Drains
Standing water on slow clay moved off yards and away from the house: regrading, swales, French drains and buried downspouts.
Main service pageCanfield and the towns nearby
Canfield is at the southwest corner of the regular run from Farmdale. The same seep-and-swale work goes on in Austintown and Boardman, which share the stormwater district, and out in Ellsworth, Greenford and North Lima where the lots get bigger still. Youngstown, Niles, Warren and Cortland are up the valley, and Hermitage is across the Pennsylvania line. The rest of the map is on the service area page.
You get Jeff. Not a crew he sent.
You call
You call or send the form. Jeff comes out and looks at the job with you, on the ground, rather than pricing it off a photograph.
A number first
You get one figure before anything starts, with the hauling and the grading in it.
He runs the machine
Then he shows up and runs the machine himself.
Ground left usable
Voids get filled and the ground is graded back so you can build, seed or just mow.
Photos of his work.
These are photographs from actual jobs. See more recent work. Or read about the full yard drainage & french drains service.
Questions people ask
Not seeing yours? Call (330) 625-5754 and ask Jeff, or read the guides.
Why is my Canfield yard wet underneath when the top looks dry?
Because of the fragipan. The Canfield soil series has a dense layer fifteen to thirty inches down that water cannot get through, so from November to April it perches on top of that layer and moves sideways. The surface drains, the subsoil does not, and the water shows up at the lowest point, often a pad or a wall.
How do I keep water from getting under my pole barn pad?
With a curtain drain on the uphill side. A trench of clean stone and perforated pipe along the high edge intercepts the seep moving on the fragipan and carries it round the pad to daylight or a ditch. The pad itself should sit on built-up stone with the grade falling away on every side. Both get built together.
Is Canfield in the ABC stormwater district?
Canfield Township is, along with Austintown and Boardman. The district deals with the public side: storm lines, ditches and flood control. Water that falls on your own lot and has nowhere to go is yours to fix, and that is dirt work. If you are inside the city limits, the City of Canfield is the office for the public side.
Do I need a permit for a culvert under my drive in Canfield?
If the drive meets a county road, the Mahoning County Engineer has a driveway permit that covers it. On a state route it is ODOT, and on a township road the township. Check which road you front before the pipe is bought. Once the office has said what it wants, the culvert is set to grade and backfilled.
Can an old field tile be reused instead of replaced?
Sometimes, if it is intact and still falls toward an outlet. More often the builder cut it in several places and the easier fix is a new French drain along the same line, running to a swale or the ditch. Jeff digs a test hole to see what is there before deciding, and the estimate is free either way.
Other work he takes on
Most jobs end up being two or three of these at once, and they get quoted together.
Yard Drainage & French Drains in other towns
Land Clearing & Brush Removal
Overgrown lots, fields and wooded acreage cleared and left ready to use.
Learn moreForestry Mulching
Brush and small trees ground into mulch in place. No piles, no burning.
Learn moreExcavation & Site Prep
Digging, pads, trenching and dirt work on rural and suburban lots.
Learn moreGravel Driveways
New drives cut, based and crowned; ruts, potholes and soft spots rebuilt.
Learn moreDrainage & French Drains
Standing water moved off yards and foundations on slow-draining clay.
Learn moreStump Grinding
Stumps ground below grade and the hole filled.
Learn moreFree estimate in Canfield.
Send the details and Jeff will come out and look at it. If it is easier to talk it through, call him directly.
Farmdale, Warren, Niles, Cortland, Youngstown, Boardman, Canfield, Austintown, Hubbard and Trumbull and Mahoning counties, over into Mercer County, PA.
Need yard drainage in Canfield?
Call Jeff or send a few details. Estimates are free.