Put in a few French drains where you dig a ditch and fill it with crushed rock to help the water drain. In low spots put in some drains [http://www.homedepot.com/p/Tuf-Tite-16-in-2-Hole-Drain-Sump-with-Grate-and-Seals-2HDS-4/203463511] with pipe running to the French drain. You might also need to bring in 10 yards of top soil along with some sand to raise your yard a bit as you're probably right at the water table level. We've had to do all this as we live in the Pacific Northwest in a reclaimed marsh [a nice word for a swamp] where we hit the water table if we dig down 3". We had to put down about 10 yards of top soil along with some sand to raise our back yard. We also dug a French drain along the back to connect to the associations drainage pipes through the neighborhood. My husband has put in at least 3 of the drains in strategic locations around the yard to help drain off the excess water. Our yard isn't perfect, but it isn't the swamp it was the first couple of years we were here. We have to apply moss killer every spring or it takes over the yard. My husband also puts down lime to soften the soil, and help the water drain easier. He and a friend rent an aerator every summer and do both our yards to help with the drainage as well.

Hi there, my husband and I are embarking on a self-build and we're in the early stages - have sketches but not formal drawings from our architect. This is going to be a small starting point because we have a small budget, with plans for extension in the 5-10 year range. The site is in a rural part of Wicklow, so there's no traffic as such (I have seen this as a consideration in other posts :). The question I have is around the size of the kitchen, which you can see in the photo below. The house is on a two-level site, so the main entrance will be through a lower level, under the living area, and up through the stairs in the bottom right corner (marked Down). The kitchen is only 2x4m and I'm not even sure it really qualifies as "galley". I am looking for some guidance as to the placement of our appliances. We'd really like to have big fridge/freezer (XX in the drawing) and dishwasher (not currently in the drawing) in there (in addition to your standard hob/oven/sink). There is a dotted line for counter or island against the wall with the stove, but we think we probably won't have space for that in the current dimensions. There is an option to extend the entire house by 0.5-1m out towards the deck (make it "longer" but keep it the same width), and we'd likely give all of those gains to the kitchen - kind of stretch the inside of the house. However, this would really strain the budget and we may not be able to swing it. Do you think we can make do with the kitchen at the current size and have all those appliances? How would you suggest we lay them out? Thanks so much for you advice! Seems like the people on this site really have a wealth of knowledge :).

We will have oak trusses also. I want to have a lot of natural materials inside.

hi, I'm looking for any feedback on my design but particularly I'm wondering how to do the cooker hood, I will need to vent it out the wall to the left where the window is so I will need to box in the vent or hide it with cabinets. I also have the top half of an ercol dresser that I plan use as shelving somewhere over the sink and hob area, I've added a photo of one. So I'm not sure if I should squeeze in a wall cabinet for the cooker extractor or use a chimney design. I'm not mad about the look of the chimney design ones and my budget is not that high to buy a fancy one. Another thing I'm not sure about is having the tall cabinet for the oven and microwave, maybe it's going to make the room which is quite small, feel a bit heavy? I've used an island in front of the radiator to add storage and counter space, open to suggestions on that too. The worktop in the design is a marble effect ceramic, I wanted something bright and warm coloured to go with the dark of the lerhyttan black cabinets.I will probably go for a laminate version of this worktop but keep the style due to budget and finding out that ceramic worktops chip easily. I'll probably do the walls in a buttery yellow and the floor will be beech wood. The ceiling is slightly low in this room as it's converted from the garage and the room faces west. I'm hoping to make a warm cosy feel. Ikea kitchen planner link to design