Fast-growing Wolfforth means new subdivisions cut flat on caliche — backyards that can neither soak up nor shed a storm. Here’s the fix.
Tell us what your yard is doing and we’ll come take a look — no charge.
Wolfforth has been one of the fastest-growing towns on the South Plains, and most of that growth is new subdivisions cut flat onto caliche ground just southwest of Lubbock — a recipe for backyards that hold water.
When a development is graded onto the flat, caliche-underlain plains, the builder sets a rough grade for the pad and streets, but individual backyards are often left nearly level. On this ground that’s a double bind: water can’t soak in because of the caliche below, and it can’t run off because there’s no fall. So the low corner of a two-year-old backyard stands in water for days after a storm. It isn’t a defect in your lot — it’s the predictable result of flat grading over hardpan.
In these yards the answer is typically a combination: leveling or a swale to build some fall, a French drain to collect the trapped water, and — because there’s often no downhill — a positive outlet or a sump to carry it off the lot. We size it to the specific property rather than dropping in a one-size trench.
Whatever the yard is doing, we bring the full range to Wolfforth — and it all starts with understanding why yards here flood:
In Wolfforth’s newer, tightly-platted subdivisions, a fix that just shoves your water onto the next lot isn’t really a fix — it’s a dispute waiting to happen, and it can run against both HOA expectations and local drainage rules. So part of designing a drain here is finding a legitimate place for the water to go: a street or approved discharge, a swale that follows the platted drainage flow, or a sump where the lot is landlocked. We’ll also tell you honestly how much of your standing water starts on your lot versus arrives from uphill, because on flat subdivision ground a lot of it is just passing through.
A new slab isn’t immune to moisture-driven movement; the caliche ground swells and shrinks around a two-year-old foundation the same as an old one. Getting the grade and drainage right early — sloping about 0.5 inch per foot over the first 10 feet away from the house — is cheap insurance. We cover Wolfforth and the southwest Lubbock County growth areas; call (806) 298-6289.
Free on-site drainage assessments across Lubbock and the South Plains. We’ll tell you what’s actually causing the water — caliche, a flat lot, a nearby playa — and what it takes to fix it.