Proper Way To Grade A Lawn

Here's one problem I have, what should a properly graded yard look like? Does it only drain away from the house, or does it drain to the side of the yard as well?

Ideally, you’d have the yard drain toward the edges of your yard all round, so yes, to the sides of the yard as well. Regrading by hand is fairly straight forward – it’s all about moving the dirt. So if you’ve got a wheelbarrow and a shovel and a back that won’t ache (a small yard helps a lot!) that’s all you need. If you’re moving a lot of dirt, it can take a fair bit of time and a lot of sweat, so be honest about how much of that work you want to do yourself. Also, if a landscaper created this terrible drainage situation, that same landscaper should certainly come back and fix it (and not charge you, obviously, since the mistake was theirs in the first place).

Another take. There’s no one standard for the slope of a yard – depends on the property, etc. But there is a range that works best. As a minimum, grade your yard so that it drops at least a foot every 50 feet as you move away from the house. Anything less than that, and you’re likely to have drainage problems. If you get too steep (more than a foot drop every four or five feet) you’ll usually have erosion problems, but it doesn’t sound like you’ve got that kind of a drop off to deal with, so no worries on that front.