Yard Drainage, Tree Trimming and Removal in Madison, Mississippi

Standing water after every rain, a soggy side yard, a crawlspace that stays damp, a slope that sends the neighbor's runoff at your foundation: these are the most common calls LCN Landscaping gets in Madison, Ridgeland, Brandon, Gluckstadt and Flowood, Mississippi. We fix the water first, then we handle the trees, the cleanup and the lawn that grows back. Call (601) 994-3380 for a free written estimate.

Why Central Mississippi yards do not drain

Two things work against you here. The first is rainfall: the Jackson metro averages well over fifty inches a year, and a lot of it arrives in two-inch bursts during spring storms and late-summer systems off the Gulf. The second is the soil. Yazoo clay does not absorb water so much as seal against it. Once the top inch is saturated, everything else runs off, and it runs to the lowest point on the lot, which on a graded subdivision lot is very often right next to the house.

Builders grade for the day of closing, not for year five. Settled backfill around the foundation, a swale that got filled in by the neighbor's fence, downspouts that dump at the corner, and a patio pitched the wrong way are the usual suspects. We walk the property during or right after a rain when we can, because that shows the problem better than any survey.

French drains and catch basins

A French drain is a trench with a perforated pipe in gravel, wrapped in fabric so the clay does not silt it shut, that collects subsurface water and moves it to a place it can leave. It is the right fix for a soggy strip along a fence line, water against a foundation, or a slope that weeps. The mistakes we see on failed drains are always the same: no fabric, pipe laid flat instead of on a fall, and no outlet, so the trench just becomes a longer puddle. Ours are laid to grade with a laser, daylighted to the street, a curb cut, a dry well or a pop-up emitter at the low corner of the lot.

Catch basins are for surface water. A basin at the low spot in the lawn, in a bed, or where a patio meets a door, with solid pipe running to an outlet, takes the sheet flow off the yard in minutes instead of days. We size them for the storms we actually get here, not the average.

Downspout routing and regrading

The cheapest drainage fix on most Madison homes is getting the roof water away from the house. A 2,500-square-foot roof puts over 1,500 gallons at the foundation in a one-inch rain. We run downspouts underground in solid pipe to daylight or a dry well, with cleanouts so leaves can be cleared. Where the grade itself is the problem, we bring in fill, re-establish a slope of six inches over the first ten feet away from the house, and rebuild swales between lots so water has a path.

Dry creek beds and surface solutions

When a lot has a natural low path, a dry creek bed lined with fabric, river rock and boulders carries surface water the way a swale would while looking like a landscape feature. It pairs with a catch basin at the top and an outlet at the bottom. It also handles the volume that a pipe alone would struggle with in a heavy storm.

Tree trimming and removal

Madison's oaks, pecans, pines and sweetgums are a big part of why the neighborhoods look the way they do, and they are also the main source of roof damage, gutter clogs and shade that kills grass. We trim for clearance from the roof and lines, thin canopies to let light into the lawn, remove dead wood before a storm does, and take trees down when they are dying, leaning, or too close to the house. Removals are done in sections with rigging where the space is tight. Stump grinding follows so the spot can be sodded or planted.

After the storms that roll through most summers, we do cleanup: downed limbs, hangers left in the canopy, split trunks, and hauling. If a tree came down on the fence, we handle the tree and get the fence contractor a clear site.

Leaf removal and yard cleanup

From October through December the pecans and oaks drop more leaves than a homeowner can keep up with, and leaves left on warm-season turf over winter smother it. We do scheduled leaf removal for weekly customers and one-time cleanups for everyone else: leaves, beds, gutters at ground level, and hauling. Spring cleanups reset the property before the first mow.

Commercial drainage and grounds

Parking-lot islands that flood, retention areas that need mowing and clearing, and drainage along building foundations for churches, offices and HOAs in Madison and Ridgeland. Insured crew, scheduled around your hours.

What a drainage estimate includes

We do not quote drainage from the street. The walk-through covers where water enters the lot, where it collects, where it can legally leave, and what the soil looks like a foot down. The written estimate then lists each component separately: linear feet of French drain and pipe size, number and size of catch basins, downspout runs, cubic yards of fill for regrading, dry-creek materials, and sod or seed to restore the surface. That way you can phase it if you need to, starting with the downspouts and the low corner and adding the rest next season. Most residential drainage jobs in Madison are finished in one to three days, and the lawn is restored on the last day. If the problem is a neighbor's grading or a subdivision drainage easement, we will tell you that too, because a drain on your side cannot fix water that is being sent from theirs.

Questions we get

How do I know if I need a French drain or regrading? If water sits on the surface, grading and catch basins. If the ground stays spongy days after rain, a French drain. Often both. The walk-through tells us.

Where does the water go? To the street, a curb cut, a dry well or an emitter at the lowest legal point on the lot. We never send it onto a neighbor.

Will the drain clog? Not if it is wrapped in fabric and has cleanouts. That is what separates ours from the ones that fail.

Do you remove large trees? Yes, including sectional takedowns near structures. We are insured for it.

Can you fix the lawn after the trench? Yes. We backfill, compact and sod the line so it disappears within a season.

Get a free estimate — (601) 994-3380

Call or text (601) 994-3380 for a free written estimate. LCN Landscaping is licensed and insured.

Drainage and tree work runs through Madison, Ridgeland, Brandon, Gluckstadt, Flowood, Canton and north Jackson.

Related: Hardscape · Lawn care · Landscape design · Flowood · Brandon · Madison