Somehow I think if I installed gravel all the way to the top, the grass would dry much quicker in the heat. One extra benefit here is that my soil profile is still the same all over the place (at least 6' of usual clay/rocks), so it does not show up in dry spell either.

Mostly because of that catch basin I installed under the downspout, so this place does not receive that much water as it used to. All in all, corrugated drain pipe is super affordable. slotted corrugated drain pipe, lightweight engineered aggregate all encased in a 30-sieve white geotextile mesh fabric and ready to install Flexible, 8 in. Most corrugated pipe fittings such as couplings, tees, wye, etc. Drainage bundle comes preassembled with 4 in. A 100 roll of 4 corrugated pipe (solid or perforated) will, at the time of this article, set you back roughly 50 to 75. In fact, now and then during heavy rain I am watching out of basement window to see how it handles, it is not even pools there anymore. Typical Costs of Corrugated vs PVC Drain Pipe. So, I followed instructions and buried it 6 inch deep. In my case, all I wanted is to decrease soil saturation, so the surface will have chance to dry out eventually.

Next best thing (in terms of GPM) will be gravel right under the sod. If we are talking about foot of a hill/slope, you might need something like this: Click to expand.That is all about GPM you want it to handle.

French drain 8 slotted corrugated pipe