Exterior puddle at foundation

Question

What is the best way to drain under an outdoor faucet in heavy clay soil? Faucet use and rain cause a puddle to form. I could grade the soil away from the house, but I think that would only be temporary.

Answer 1

Basically what Tester said in his comment but to elaborate... Ideally you want a 6" drop 10' past the foundation.

In addition to placing stepping stones under the spigot I might consider also adding one of those gutter splash blocks.

Plant some foundation plantings and grass. They'll help absorb some of the rain water and reduce erosion. The level of soil around the foundation was probably higher at some point based on the height of that pvc pipe.

Does the building have gutters? Last time I remember someone from GA posting about having a hard time growing grass around their foundation their home didn't have gutters for most of the time since the house was built. The rain comes down heavy as a result around the perimeter causing nutrients to leach out of the soil and the soil to wash away which just makes the drainage problems worse. Bring in some good top soil with a good mix of compost when you do the grading to help grass establish. Install gutters if they're not there and make sure downspouts extend at least 6' away from the foundation.

Answer 2

I faced a similar situation at my house, the soil was very clay-ish and just didn't allow for absorption or drainage. So I ended up doing the following.

1. Digging a lot of the soil out. Around 3 feet, not fun in mushy soaked clay.
2. Dumping in a bunch of small rocks (tennis ball size) to fill the hole.
3. Mixing the clay with sand and small pebbles to break it up and keep it from returning to a giant clay mass.
4. The final step was to put down some soil, and a set of bricks higher then the soil line with a slight grade so the water rain away from the house.

It was a lot of work, but the ground around our house was so full of clay, nothing ever drained and so it would just sit days/weeks after a rain storm.