We just moved into a 10 Year old house. We noticed a couple wet areas before we moved in and had a contractor grade the yard and lay down sod.

I think it made the problem worse than when we started. The whole area (15' x15' ) is always soggy. The contractor is convinced I have a leak some where. I turned off all the water in the house and checked the meter out at the street and it did not look like anything was running at all. So I'm assuming no leaks. Someone mentioned I may have a natural spring that's feeding it.

I have been considering french drains but I'm not sure how to drain such a large area. And if the water is coming from the ground will it really drain.

The other parts of my yard are dry just this section at the bottom of my deck stairs.

Any thoughts?

French drain or sump pump pits should help with that soggy area. Is it low compared to the rest of the lawn? With a sump you can pipe the water almost anywhere but with a French drain you need a place lower than at least 1' lower than your soggy sod.

To add to what was posted above, check with your neighbors if they are situated close by. Ask if they may have some "spring" or water problems as well. If there is a spring near by, they too could be affected, and this could confirm your situation.

The sump pump as suggested by Ballengr with a trench drain would work. I have a sump pump and a trench. No spring - just a lot of clay, but it is effective.

Just a thought. Do you know if you have drain tile in your home or a french drain system installed along the footing on the exterior of your home?

This wet area might have been an outlet for that - but if you did not see anything... before grading and installing the sod...

Thanks. The house does have a sump pump that looks like it was installed a 2 years ago. That is going to be another project. They had the AC condensate libnes going into it and had the pump pumping into the sewer line.

My biggest problem is where to drain the water too. There is a drainage easment at the back of the property but it is not much lower than the rest of the yard.

The only thing I can think of (without actually seeing it) would be to build up that area with better landscaping and slope it properly to that drainage area.
Since part of your problem is low spots with lots of water, then you may want to consider some landscape design and proper drainage
Systems to avoid a mucky wet back yard.