Despite the fact that this beautiful home was only a couple of years old and the yard had just been hydroseeded, the new homeowner knew that the best option was to completely tear out the existing landscape and start from scratch building a new one. The landscape was very basic and what could be described as contractor grade. The initial site work performed was enough to pass the inspection and get a loan approved through the bank. This is something that is very common and we see frequently.
Now, don’t get us wrong. We try our best to work with preexisting conditions as best as possible. But this property was simply not salvageable in its current condition. The primary reason for this was improper drainage. There were several places in the yard that held a significant amount of water. The driveway was higher than the front yard and created a dam that held back runoff water. Additionally there were several areas in the yard that had a negative slope. A preferable slope for lawn areas is 2% or greater. Anything less than that will have a difficult time drying out and can even hold water for long periods of time.
Our first step was to perform a site survey and determine how much slope we could obtain with proper grading conditions. Unfortunately the findings were not as favorable as we would have hoped for. As with any project we had some fixed objects that we could not move. In this situation the biggest immovable objects preventing the desired drainage were the elevation and location of the house, driveway and road. We did have several trees that would be in the way or would be at the incorrect height after we were complete but we will take care of those in our next step. Our longest run for drainage was from the front corner of the house to the culvert under the driveway. At the foundation we needed 6” of foundation exposed and positive drainage away from the house a minimum of 10 feet. This would be our starting elevation. The lowest front yard elevation would be the bottom of the culvert pipe. After looking at the elevation drop and the distance, we discovered that we would be able to obtain a 1-2% slope. While this is not the 2% or greater that we had hoped for, this will be much better than the negative slope that existed prior to the work being performed. Negative slopes can cause water runoff to enter your home or foundation. Additionally, as was shown on this property it can also lead to water pooling and long standing ponds after rainfall.
Our next obstacle was the existing trees that were located in the front yard. These trees simply had to be removed to correctly remedy the drainage issues. If the trees were not removed they would have likely died from suffocation after we adjusted the grade. Additionally, the number of trees located in the front yard severely diminished the curb appeal. You could hardly see the house from the street. We decided to remove the smaller trees and any trees that would be significantly affected by our grade changes and we left the larger and more mature trees. This is a great example where land clearing can be very helpful in improving your property value. Additionally, we performed more tree and brush removal in the backyard to open up the yard and create more usable space.
Once all of the trees were removed we could proceed forward with spreading fill dirt in the low spots. On this job in particular we needed to add nearly 1 foot of soil in the low areas as well as we needed to excavate down around 6 inches in other areas. As we were excavating down we had to be cautious not to hit underground utilities such as power, cable, gas, water and fiber optic cable. We also took this opportunity to extend all of the downspouts away from the home into the lawn area. We imported about 20 dump truck loads of soil to finish out this site for sod. The final 2” of soil depth were reserved for topsoil. To prepare for sod we used a Harley rake and landscape rake attachments to level out the soil and perform fine grading in preparation for sod. Out back we added a small decorative rock island with metal edging and ¾” rock to protect the septic tank lids from damage.
The final step for this project was to install the sod. For this project we needed 3 semi loads of sod. Each load is approximately 10,000 square feet of sod. For this project we spaced out the installation date due to both weather and for establishment purposes. On this particular project we did not install a sprinkler system which would have assisted in the establishment of a newly sodded lawn. Instead we installed a temporary sprinkler system to property root and establish the sod. For more information on proper care and watering for newly seeded or sodded lawns click this link. Generally for sod areas establishment takes at least 4 weeks depending on the soil temperature and evapotranspiration. Once the lawn has sufficient root depth then the first mow can be performed. We generally recommend to suspend watering several days prior to the first mow.
Jasper Ridge landscaping provides “Professional Landscape Services” to the Joplin and surrounding areas; including Carl Junction and Webb City. Our service area is contained within Jasper and Newton County. For more information about Jasper Ridge LLC please contact us using the contact form.