Tracyton: There's a Soggy, Green Patch in My Lawn That Won't Dry Out

Why this happens in Tracyton

An irrigation leak: a cracked lateral or a weeping valve wets the ground on watering days. In Tracyton that usually means copper and poly on 1960s ranch homes near Tracyton Beach Road, and the ground, clay with groundwater along Tracyton Beach Road, decides how far the water travels before you see it.

The second thing we rule in or out is a natural seep or perched water. Common on bluff and hillside lots. It's common enough on sloped waterfront lots on the inlet that we never skip it.

Don't overlook a failed drain line. A crushed downspout or yard drain line discharging into the lawn instead of its outlet. On Tracyton properties from 1950s-to-1980s ranch homes and waterfront cabins it comes up more than you'd think.

Before you call

On the plateau around Tracyton Boulevard and Riddell Road the locates are conventional and the breaks are usually at fittings.

What you can check yourself on plateau lots near Olympic High: do the meter test with everything closed, then with the house isolated. Don't dig at the spot. If you get that far, we'll pick it up from there with probe rods and marking and electronic acoustic ground microphone.

What happens next

In Tracyton the work that follows the diagnosis is underground water leak detection, and it runs in order: confirm there is a leak, correlate, listen. Fittings failing at the house entry in dense hardpan on the plateau sets the pace on bluff parcels with natural seeps; the sequence doesn't change.

Our Tracyton coverage for soggy lawn spot runs Fairgrounds Road, Dyes Inlet, the boat launch, Olympic High School and everything between. We're based in Central Kitsap, minutes from our base, with probe rods and marking and pumps on the truck.