Perhaps the Extension Office could direct you to a department that works with drainage issues especially if the town is small and doesn't do that themselves. It is possible that the land would need an extensive tiling project and if so you would need to know what "county" tile ditches are close by.

Thanks, Wayne. This morning I talked with a guy who goes to my church who has been doing excavation work in my community for 30 years. He told us that property has always had water and basically always will without an extensive and expensive french drain system. Bad news. Good news is we asked him about the possibility of putting in a small pond. He thought that would be an excellent solution and said he knows that area well and that it would, in his words, "hold water like a bathtub". He's going to meet us over there the first of the week to see if/where it might be possible to put a pond and get an idea of how much of the property would be left for cultivating. We feel that if we can have an acre for cultivation, it would still be a pretty good buy.

dunno to me thoughts of rising damp come to mind, when water sits around for so long that usually means the water table is quiet high, so literally the foundations of the house are sitting in constant water.

putting a pond in might give the appearance of the visible water disappearing, but it probably won't take the issue away. now a french drain may work so long as you have an area lower area to feed the run off to, not the neighbours property.

me i would be more interested in what a structural engineer might say? actually for me the attractive price and the lay of the land ie.,. is this block the lowest one around would have me walking away.

if it is water table an extensive expensive french drain may not give the results desired.

might be time to walk away?

len

Here is a link that might be useful: lens garden page

I would be concerned about the house as well. If it is OK the wet areas might be made usable by building raised beds. In this case I'd be thinking you might need as much as 3-4ft of new soil in beds about 10ft wide. In between beds would become drainage ditches properly directed to carry off excess water.

Tile or french drains are dependent on having outlet areas to accept the excess water. Properly done raised beds would allow the current drainage pattern to remain. Some of the material for raised beds might come from ponds.

What a coincidence! Our local ran an article on drainage today.

http://www.ocregister.com/articles/yard-334359-drainage-soggy.html

You should do some research on the property and have a professional look at it. Water problems can cause a lot of damage.

Here is a link that might be useful: What's Growing On?

One of the more difficult prob;ems is when water is coming from neighboring properties that of higher ground.

Hubby built houses for 25 years, we built or remodelled five or six ourselves, so he's got the skinny on that. We are more toward backing out than in at this point. We walked the property thoroughly, talked with folks that have been around, had one excavator who had looked at it in the past. Seems to be risky. Especially at their asking price. If they come down at some point by a considerable amount we may go back and take another look.

the article is more about building a rain garden as in making the most of any rain that falls on site, might be some adaptations there for draining dunno?

again without seeing the local terrain, the suggestion to 'walk away' could be the best choice.

len

Here is a link that might be useful: lens french/agricultural drain

A topographic map from online might help you about that area.If that area is like a bowl where water can collect from the surrounding area ,I will walk away.