Drainage: So Far, So Good

My own personal lake appears every winter.  Didn't used to but about ten years ago the city graded the alley and somehow forced the water runoff onto my lawn.  Since I don't want a lake there, I want a patio there, I decided to put in some drainage.

All by hand.  (Edit: Just found this picture that I took early on.  Trench in the foreground = me digging.  Lake in the background = trench dug by tractor in the fall when getting ready for concrete pad off to the left.)

So, the steps.

Step 1: Figure out where the drain is going to go.  I had old drainage that was still connected to the main drains around the house and garage.  All I had to do was figure out where they were.  Problem? I buried the cap years ago because it was in a hole in my back yard.  Solution?  I put a coffee can over top of it before I buried it.  Enter friend with metal detector who narrowed it down to a couple places around where I thought it was.  You can see the hole where I found the cap right at the bottom of the picture and where I planned on tapping in just above that.  In this picture I've actually already done some of the drainage

Step 2: Cart wheelbarrows of drain rock from across the street.  My neighbors are redoing all their drainage and had 12 yards of rock delivered  They told me to help myself.

Fun fact: one yard of drain rock is 18 partially filled wheelbarrows.

Another fun fact: 18 wheelbarrows partially filled with drain rock is a back breaking chore to move across the street

Third and final fun fact: It is even less fun if you have a wheelbarrow wheel that loses air and you

forget to check it one morning until after you have filled the wheelbarrow half full of drain rock, at which point it is easier to drag the compressor across the street than it is to re-shovel the rock.

So anyway...

Step 3: Drain rock in bottom of trench, drain pipe on rock (I bought the kind that is already enclosed in a fiber sock), drain rock on top of pipe, landscaping fabric on top of rock (the less dirt than can migrate down to drain, the longer it will last), and finally dirt on top of fabric.  I tried to reuse my sod chunks as much as possible and it actually looks OK everywhere that I don't still have a pile of excess dirt.

Connection to existing drainage pictured at left

Prior location of the lake pictured at right.

So far we've had three days with somewhat heavy rain and not a drop of standing water to be seen, so I am hopeful.