The island is sand. Why does my yard still hold water?

Sand drains quickly until it hits the water table. The water table gets real close to the surface on the low portions of St. Simons after a heavy rain. The sand above the water table is saturated and can't drain down any further. So the water drains laterally. Grading provides it the lateral route to a swale or ditch or street.

Can you raise my lot with fill?

Carefully, there are mapped flood zones on the island (depending on where) so placing fill can require looking at if it pushes water onto people. Fill doesn't compact well when just dumped on top of organics under the oaks. If the fill is right we strip and lay in compacted lifts and grade to drain. If the fill is not right we swale or drain.

Does grading work around a septic drainfield?

Must. A lot of the old island lots are on septic. If you drive over a drain field or alter the elevation over a drainfield you can really mess it up. So we make sure we know where the tank and field are before we do anything and make sure not to drive on them.

Can you grade under my live oaks?

Not much, and certainly not by machine. If you cut grade underneath a mature oak, you're cutting roots. If you put a fill pile up against a mature oak's trunk you're strangling the roots. Glynn County has tree protection laws. And apart from the laws, it's a poor exchange to take an oak's life to solve your puddle. We hand-dig grade around the root zone. And bypass the tree with water flow.

My lot backs onto the marsh. How close can you grade?

The Georgia coastal marsh buffer prohibits ground disturbance at the marsh edge. All lots along Dunbar Creek, Village Creek and Frederica River have the marsh buffer. We avoid grading and equipment in the marsh buffer. We don't send any water to the buffer except at the natural low spots where the water naturally flows to the buffer.

Who issues the permit on St. Simons?

St. Simons isn't incorporated. If you need a land disturbance permit, you'll get that through Glynn County Community Development. Sometimes you don't need a permit to do a yard reshaping for drainage. Sometimes you do if you're doing a lot of grading, moving a lot of dirt in or in the vicinity of the marsh, etc. We'll let you know before quoting.

Land grading on St. Simons Island: drainage for sandy lots under the oaks

Island sand drains fast until it hits the water table. Grading on St. Simons is about giving water a sideways path when it has nowhere to go down.

It's amazing to think that sand on a barrier island can keep water in for days on end. And it can. The water table is so close to the surface on the low areas of St. Simons Island. So when it rains a good summer storm the sand on top of the water table is saturated. It can't sink. So it just sits there. Whether it's in the low spot of your yard in Sea Palms or on the driveway that sits off of Frederica Road, or on the slab of the newer construction by Sea Island Road, Golden Isles Fencing and Excavation is grading lots all over the island so that water has somewhere to go. And all the while we are trying to work around two things that you will have on every St. Simons lot, live oaks and usually a marsh edge.

We're a family owned, Christian-based company located in Brunswick. We also clear and fence on the island so we're always grading with the next step in mind.

Reading a sandy lot

Where to start? First thing you have to do is use a laser level and we shoot the grades out through the yard, the neighbors grade too. We're looking for the outlet. That is where the water is going. Street, county ditch. Natural low spot that already drains towards the marsh. On the barrier island there's not much difference. A few inches could be a difference over a whole lot. You have to be precise in your grading for things to work. Then we design a uniform fall away from the house. Swale, French drain. We're directing water to the outlet. Only fill in spots that help. Not necessarily where convenient.

Excavator lifting cut limbs and a felled tree trunk out of an overgrown lot — Storm timber and brush coming out of a lot by machine rather than by hand.

Grading around live oaks

A mature live oak tree has a very shallow, wide root system. The fastest way to kill one is by grading. If you cut the grade through the canopy, you are cutting the roots. If you pile up any fill against the tree, you're smothering the roots. We have a tree protection ordinance in Glynn County. It addresses the trees on the island. But, regardless of the ordinances, you shouldn't be destroying a two-hundred-year-old tree to fix a puddle. We stay out of the root zone of the tree. We manually grade around the tree if necessary. We redirect the water around the tree instead of through the tree. Often times by making a shallow swale and curving around the canopy line.

The marsh edge

A good number of lots on Dunbar Creek. Village Creek. Frederica River. The marsh on back of the south end have the coastal marsh buffer on them, for Georgia. This is an area that there is to be no ground disturbance along the marsh. We don't grade into it. But, we can, and do direct water to the marsh through the natural low spots that already carry it there. But, we leave the marsh buffer alone, as is. And, no machine. The marsh side is the natural low side of the drainage plan on these lots.

Fill, flood zones and settling

In St. Simons sometimes fill is the right move in raising a low lot. Sometimes it's a bad move. Some areas of St. Simons have mapped flood zones and then we have to have it looked at if it's going to be fill and you're displacing water onto the adjacent lots. The fill thrown onto leaf litter and roots underneath oaks will settle unevenly for years. If we need to use fill we remove the organics. Put it in compacted lifts and shape it to drain if appropriate. If not, swale it or use a drain. No elevation changes to the lot.

Open utility trench with pipe laid in the bottom and a mini excavator parked at the head of the run — Trenching a service line across a wooded lot, spoil banked to one side so it can go straight back in.

Septic, pads and driveways

Many older island lots often on septic. You do not want to have machine driving over drainfield. No grade change above it. Find the field and tank location prior to job planning. Stay off. Compact lift pads for shed, slab, pool decks. Crown for shedding. Above seasonal water table. Build drainable base driveway. When driveway meets county road we handle apron and culvert (if needed). Right of way permit too.

Rentals and timing

Many of the homes on St. Simons are rental properties or second homes. We try to avoid having a grading crew in the yard when you are booked. We either do it between guests or in the off season. We will also leave the yard seeded or sodded instead of exposed dirt so when the next guests come in they don't see a dirt lot.

Permits on the island

St. Simons is unincorporated. So for a land disturbance permit, if one is required, it's done through Glynn County Community Development with silt fence and erosion controls associated with disturbing loose sand. You don't always need a permit for reshaping your yard to drain. You might need a permit for bigger grading, major fill or something close to marsh. We'll let you know before we give you a quote.

How an island grading job runs

Shoot the grades. Your Lot, your Neighbors & your Outlet: laser level on the yard
Locate. Septic tank and drain field. Utilities. Identify keeper oaks. Flag marsh buffer.
Plan the flow. Slope away from house. Swale or drain toward outlet. Only fill for beneficial effect.
Grade. Machine off root zones & buffer. Hand treat around oaks. Fill in compacted lifts.
Finish. Extend downspouts. Seed or sod swale. Clean up.

Got standing water in your yard on St. Simons? Post us a pic after the next rain & your street. We'll give you an estimate, for free.

Grading elsewhere in the Golden Isles

Mainland and Jekyll lots drain on their own terms. Read about land grading in Brunswick, GA, land grading on Jekyll Island, and everything we do as a fence and excavation company on St. Simons Island.

Related work on St. Simons

Grading usually comes after clearing and before a fence, so see our land clearing on St. Simons Island, fence repairs on St. Simons Island, excavation and site prep, and land grading service overview.

Mini excavator loaded on a dump trailer at a job site

Questions and answers

Common questions about land grading on St. Simons Island

Sand, oaks and the marsh change how grading works on the island.

Sand drains quickly until it hits the water table. The water table gets real close to the surface on the low portions of St. Simons after a heavy rain. The sand above the water table is saturated and can't drain down any further. So the water drains laterally. Grading provides it the lateral route to a swale or ditch or street.
Carefully, there are mapped flood zones on the island (depending on where) so placing fill can require looking at if it pushes water onto people. Fill doesn't compact well when just dumped on top of organics under the oaks. If the fill is right we strip and lay in compacted lifts and grade to drain. If the fill is not right we swale or drain.
Must. A lot of the old island lots are on septic. If you drive over a drain field or alter the elevation over a drainfield you can really mess it up. So we make sure we know where the tank and field are before we do anything and make sure not to drive on them.

Not much, and certainly not by machine. If you cut grade underneath a mature oak, you're cutting roots. If you put a fill pile up against a mature oak's trunk you're strangling the roots. Glynn County has tree protection laws. And apart from the laws, it's a poor exchange to take an oak's life to solve your puddle. We hand-dig grade around the root zone. And bypass the tree with water flow.
The Georgia coastal marsh buffer prohibits ground disturbance at the marsh edge. All lots along Dunbar Creek, Village Creek and Frederica River have the marsh buffer. We avoid grading and equipment in the marsh buffer. We don't send any water to the buffer except at the natural low spots where the water naturally flows to the buffer.
St. Simons isn't incorporated. If you need a land disturbance permit, you'll get that through Glynn County Community Development. Sometimes you don't need a permit to do a yard reshaping for drainage. Sometimes you do if you're doing a lot of grading, moving a lot of dirt in or in the vicinity of the marsh, etc. We'll let you know before quoting.