Are you in the unhappy position of having to deal with pools of standing water in various places around your property after each and every hard rain? If so, you’re not alone and it’s a sure sign you have a drainage issue.

If the water is pooling at a safe distance from your home and any outbuildings you may have on your property, it’s probably more of an eyesore and a nuisance than anything. Even so, they still serve as a breeding ground for mosquitoes and other pests, and they give you less space for planting and entertaining, which can be a significant downside.

If the water is collecting up close to your house though, the issue goes from being a nuisance to being a dire threat. Few things are more damaging to your home than water, and its presence for any significant period of time can cause thousands of dollars in damage to your foundation.

In either case, if you want the water gone, a landscape drainage system on your Potomac MD property can neatly solve the issue for you.

One thing we don’t recommend though, is rushing right out and spending money to have something designed and built, even if the water is pooling up right next to your house. It pays to take a longer term, more strategic view, especially if you have any other landscaping projects you’d eventually like to do.

Here’s the core issue: If you rush out right now and spend money on a landscape drainage system for your Potomac MD property, then when you eventually do get around to doing the rest of the projects you’ve got on your wish list, you might find the drainage system to be in the way, or sub-optimally placed once all of the landscaping work is done.

Your best bet then, is to begin by creating a master landscape design document. Don’t let the fancy name fool you. It’s just a document you use to gather all of your landscaping plans, goals and ambitions in one place.

When you do that though, you get much more than a blue-sky wish list of ideas. The list takes on a certain power and life of its own, and it gives you a number of powerful benefits.

For one thing, if you have any landscaping projects that are big, budget-busting affairs that might be too daunting to attempt, you’ll be able to spot them and break them into smaller pieces that are much more budget friendly. That allows you to make steady, consistent progress, rather than finding yourself paralyzed by an impossibly large project on your list.

Another key advantage is that it allows you to order your list and spot projects that depend on the completion of other projects, ordering those accordingly as well. For example, if you have steeply sloped property, you’ll need a retaining wall to create a terraced space before you can actually do something with that terraced space, obviously, so you know the retaining wall has to come first.

Speaking of retaining walls, that might be one of the key elements to the landscape drainage system on your Potomac MD property. A properly designed retaining wall is built with a robust drainage system, so depending on the particulars of your situation, that’s all you may need.

Many people don’t realize it, but there’s no such thing as a ‘generic’ retaining wall. There are actually a number of different flavors or variants. Here’s a quick overview:

Wooden Walls – Tend to be shorter and usually have about 40% of their height beneath the surface. They feature support beams spaced a minimum of one foot apart and are anchored into the soil itself for additional support.

Sheet Pile Walls – An ideal choice for a retaining wall that needs to be built in a confined area and provide support for loose soils that shed water fairly quickly. These are usually made of steel or wood plank, and about two thirds of their height are buried, with only the top third visible.

Gravity Walls – Rely on their mass to hold back the soil and water. These tend to be resource intensive and constructed of heavier materials, being much thicker at the base and gradually thinning out near the top of the wall.

Cantilevered Walls – Structurally similar to gravity walls, but they require less material to construct because they feature a concrete base which extends deep into the soil.

There’s no way we can tell with any certainty which of these is the best fit for your property and your particular situation until we’ve had an opportunity to survey the situation and assess your needs firsthand.

If you decide you want to work with us, that will be our first priority. Once we’ve done that, we’ll be in a position to give you our professional recommendation along with a free, no obligation estimate so you’ll have a clear understanding of exactly what it will take to design and build the landscape drainage system for your Potomac MD property. If you need an assist with creating that master landscape design document, we’ll be more than happy to lend a hand there too.

Whatever your landscaping goals and ambitions are, we’ve got you covered. Since the day we first opened our doors, we’ve built our reputation by exceeding the expectations of every client we work with and we’d love to add you to our growing family of satisfied customers. Give us a call today.

A surprising number of properties in the area suffer from some type of drainage issue. Worse, it’s not something you were likely to have picked up on when you went out with your realtor to see the place you eventually purchased. After all, unless you toured the place on a rainy day, how would you know?

Unfortunately, you likely found out not long after you moved in. If the first thunderstorm you rode out in your new home left you dealing with standing water for days on end, it’s official. You have a drainage issue and you could almost certainly benefit from a well-designed landscape drainage system on your North Potomac MD property.

Few things are more threatening to hearth and home than water. If the water is pooling up close to your house or an outbuilding on your property, unless you take immediate action, you could be facing thousands of dollars worth of damage to your foundation.

Even if the water is pooling at a safe distance from your home, it’s still problematic because it reduces the amount of useable space you have to work with. It’s hard to plant or entertain outdoors if half of your outdoor space is underwater! Not to mention the fact that standing pools of water like that are fantastic breeding grounds for mosquitoes and draw all sorts of other pests.

Before you tap into your savings or pull out your credit card to pay for a landscape drainage system for your North Potomac MD property, however, it pays to take a step back and take a slightly more strategic view.

Do you have any other landscaping you’d like to do on your property? If you’re like many people, you’ve probably got a wish list as long as your arm, and if that’s the case, then before you attend to your drainage issue, it’s worth taking the time to create a master landscape design document.

Don’t let the fancy name fool you. It’s simply a single document that allows you to capture all of your landscaping goals and ambitions under a single umbrella. At first glance, you might think that this is nothing more than a laundry list of things you want to do. It is that, but there’s power in having a list. Among other things, it enables you to plan your landscaping at a high level and ensure that all the elements you want to include hang together to create a cohesive whole that is pleasing to the eye.

On top of that, it enables you to spot projects that depend on the completion of other projects, allowing you to create an ordered list that’s logical and sensible. And you can spot big projects that would normally be prohibitively expensive and break them into smaller, more budget-friendly chunks that enable you to make steady, consistent progress.

Then, of course, there’s the fact that once you know what you want to do on your property and how you want to improve it, you’ll be able to incorporate the landscape drainage system for your North Potomac MD property in a way that makes sense. Simply put, you’ll know where and how to build it so you won’t have to rip any future landscaping up to make room, and that can save you both time and money.

Here’s another, related question: Do you have areas on your property that are steeply sloping? If you do, then you don’t have nearly as much useable space as you could have. That’s easily fixed with the construction of one or more well-placed retaining walls, which transform those steep slopes into wonderful terraced areas that give you a great deal more space for planting and outdoor entertaining. In addition to that, they can play a pivotal role in the landscape drainage system on your North Potomac MD property.

One thing many people don’t realize, however, is the fact that there are actually several different types of retaining walls. That’s a very good thing, because it gives you a number of options on that front, including:

Gravity Walls – These are the very largest types of retaining walls and tend to be quite resource intensive and built with the heaviest and most durable construction materials. They feature very thick bases, are thinner toward the top, and reply on their sheer size and mass to hold back earth and water.

Cantilevered Walls – Nearly as large as gravity walls, cantilevered walls are much less resource intensive and can be built with fewer materials because they feature a concrete base that extends deep into the soil. Cantilevered walls are also angled back slightly against the earth they support.

Wooden Walls – One of the most ubiquitous types of retaining walls out there, these tend to be shorter and have about 40% of their height beneath the surface. Wood Plank Walls are supported by steel support beams behind them and are anchored into the soil, providing additional support.

Sheet Pile Walls – The retaining wall of choice for tight, constructed areas and to support loose soil that sheds its water quickly. They’re usually made from either steel or wood plank and have up to two thirds of their total height buried.

Determining which of these is right for you will be one of the first things we do when we survey and assess your particular situation. Whatever your landscaping ambitions, when you’re ready to start building, give our office a call!

Let’s talk about landscape drainage on your Kensington MD property. If you’re like many people, you probably love the home and property you bought, but there are a whole list of improvements you’d like to make one day.

If you’re having to contend with pools of standing water in your yard after every heavy rain, attending to the drainage issues of your property is almost certain to be somewhere on your list of improvements, and probably fairly high up on that list. After all, few things are more damaging to home and property than water, and if you’ve got standing water near the foundation of your home on a regular, or even semi-regular basis, doing nothing could lead to significant damage and staggering repair bills.

Even if you don’t have pools of standing water collecting dangerously close to hearth and home, pools of water anywhere on your property are still problematic because they’re an ideal breeding ground for mosquitoes and other pests and they reduce the amount of usable yard space you have to work with.

Even so, before you jump in and start spending money on landscape drainage on your Kensington MD property, it pays to take a moment to take stock of your other landscaping plans. The best way to do that is to create a master landscape design document.

This is simply a document used for collecting all of your landscaping ambitions in one place, but the master design document is much more than a simple laundry list. By collecting all your projects and goals under a single umbrella, it gives you the ability to look at the big picture.

You can start prioritizing projects. You can spot projects that depend on other projects being completed first and arrange them accordingly. You can identify big, budget busting projects and break them into smaller chunks that you have a realistic chance of accomplishing without draining your bank account. Those are all good things.

Here’s an example of how a master design document can save you time and money. Let’s say you need some time of landscape drainage system on your Kensington MD property, but you know you want to do some other landscaping as well.

Knowing that, and knowing where you want to build retaining walls or do some strategic planning will help determine the layout and position of whatever type of drainage system you design to deal with the standing water issues. That’s far better than forging ahead with the plan of installing a landscape drainage system on your Kensington MD property, and then having to rip it up later because it’s in the way of other work you want or need to do.

Here’s another thing to consider: If your property has steeply sloped areas, one of the best things you can do to create more usable space on your property is to build one or more retaining walls to terrace those slopes.

This gives you more space for outdoor entertaining and strategic planting, but in addition to that, a retaining wall is built to include a drainage system and its presence may well solve the drainage issues you’re having.

Many people are surprised to learn that there are actually multiple types of retaining walls. There are, and depending on your needs, one type may be much superior to another. Here’s a quick overview:

Wooden Walls – Tend to be shorter and usually have about 40% of their height beneath the surface. They feature support beams spaced a minimum of one foot apart and are anchored into the soil itself for additional support.

Sheet Pile Walls – An ideal choice for a retaining wall that needs to be built in a confined area and provide support for loose soils that shed water fairly quickly. These are usually made of steel or wood plank, and about two thirds of their height are buried, with only the top third visible.

Gravity Walls – Rely on their mass to hold back the soil and water. These tend to be resource intensive and constructed of heavier materials, being much thicker at the base and gradually thinning out near the top of the wall.

Cantilevered Walls – Structurally similar to gravity walls, but they require less material to construct because they feature a concrete base which extends deep into the soil.

Whether you want or need a retaining wall of some kind, the most common and most widely utilized drainage system is the French drain. It’s time tested technology that hasn’t changed much over the years. Essentially, a trench is dug. A perforated pipe is placed in the trench and then covered with gravel that allows water to percolate down through it and into the pipe where it can be redirected to some other area.

There are lots of possibilities here. If you have a stream either on or adjacent to your property, you could redirect the water there. The drain empties into the stream and the stream carries the water away; problem solved.

Another approach would be to redirect the water to a dry well or a decorative pond, or if you have a drainage ditch on your property that carries the water off to a county or municipal treatment plant, that works too. Mostly, it comes down to the particulars of your property, your budget and your personal preferences.

Whatever your landscaping goals and ambitions are, help is just a phone call away. Give our office a call and let’s talk about the possibilities.

Do you find yourself dealing with pools of standing water in your yard after a heavy rain? If so, you’re certainly not alone. It’s a more common problem than you might think and a sure sign you’ve got a drainage issue. A well-designed landscape drainage system on your Gaithersburg MD property can fix the issue, but there’s a rather significant catch.

If you have other landscaping goals on your wish list, before you spend the money to have a landscape drainage system installed on your Gaithersburg MD property, it pays to step back and take a more strategic view. That’s best done by creating a master landscape design document.

We’ll talk more about that in just a moment, but first, we want to underscore the importance of proper drainage in general. It matters because even if the water is pooling at a safe distance from your home and any outbuildings on your property, it’s still a breeding ground for pests and it reduces the amount of yard space you have available for planting or entertaining.

If the water is pooling up close to your house or some other building, it can be a major problem because if left unchecked, that water will cause tremendous damage to the foundation of your home.

Now, back to that master landscape design document. The problem with rushing right out and having a landscape drainage system built on your Gaithersburg MD property is that if you have a long list of other improvements you’d like to make, then you might wind up installing the drainage system in such a way that it will interfere with those other projects.

A master landscape design document is a handy place where you can collect all the projects you want to undertake in one place but it’s much more than a simple laundry list of projects. It is that, of course, but it also allows you to:

• Spot big projects that would bust your budget and break them into smaller ones that are easier to manage, which allows you to make steady, consistent progress.
• Make an action list that allows you to order your landscaping goals in a way that makes sense, including spotting projects with dependencies and ordering them appropriately.
• Check all of your projects to ensure that when the last one is dropped into place, they will collectively create a pleasing aesthetic that sees all the elements hanging together to form a cohesive whole.

And of course, by having a clearly defined map of the various things you want to do, you’ll be able to design and build the landscape drainage system on your Gaithersburg MD property, taking all the other projects into account so you won’t have to rip anything out later to make room. That’s valuable. That’s important.

Here’s another question: Do you have steeply sloped areas anywhere on your property? If you do, a well-placed retaining wall could be an integral part of solving for your drainage issues. Most people are under the impression that all retaining walls are essentially the same, but they aren’t! In fact, there are a number of different varieties, including:

• Gravity Walls – These tend to be massive structures and the largest type of retaining wall you can build. Crafted with the heaviest and most durable materials, these walls rely on their sheer mass to hold the earth and water at bay. They are quite thick at their base, and a good bit thinner at the top.
• Cantilevered Walls – These are functionally similar to gravity walls, but they don’t require as much material to build and can be constructed with lighter materials. They maintain impressive strength, however, because they feature a concrete base that extends deep into the soil.
• Wooden Walls – Probably one of the most common retaining walls, these structures tend to be shorter and less expensive to build since they rely mostly on wooden planks. They usually have about 40% of their height beneath the surface and feature steel support beams placed a minimum of one foot apart, and are anchored into the soil itself for an added layer of support.
• Sheet Pile Walls – These are a great choice if you need to build a retaining wall in a confined area or to provide support for loose soils that shed water quickly. They’re typically made from wood plank or steel and about two thirds of their height exist beneath the surface.

So which type of wall is best for you? That depends on a number of factors and we won’t be able to give you a definitive answer until we’ve had an opportunity to come out to survey and assess your property. If you decide to work with us, that will be our first objective.

Once we’ve had a chance to survey the situation, we’ll be able to provide you with a professional recommendation, along with a free, no obligation estimate so you’ll have a clear picture of exactly what it will take to solve the drainage issues on your property once and for all.

If you need help putting that master landscape design document together, we’re happy to lend a hand with that too, and in fact, we may be able to help you stretch your landscaping budget farther than you realize by recommending lower-cost alternatives that accomplish the goals you have in mind without requiring as much outlay. If that sounds good to you, give our office a call today!

It’s something you may not have notice when you first bought your property, but you probably discovered it not long after the first hard rain, when you saw pools of standing water. If that describes your experience, you have a drainage issue.

They’re no fun to deal with, but they’re not insurmountable problems either, and as the area’s top rated landscape design company, we can help! We’ve been proudly serving the region for years, and nobody knows more about landscape drainage in Bethesda MD than we do.

The first thing we’ll want to do if you decide to work with us, is to come out and survey and assess the situation for ourselves. Once we’ve done that, we’ll be able to make a formal recommendation as to the best way to proceed, and give you a free, no obligation estimate so you’ll have a good understanding of what it will take to install a robust landscape drainage system on your Bethesda MD property and put the issue behind you for good.

Before we do that though, here’s another important question: What other landscaping do you want to do on your property?

If you don’t envision doing much beyond installing a landscape drainage system in Bethesda MD, then no extra planning is needed, but if you have other ambitions, you could benefit greatly from creating a master landscape design document.

Don’t let the formal name of the thing throw you off. That’s just a fancy way of saying you’ll be collecting all your landscaping goals, ambitions and project ideas under a single umbrella. When you do so, you’re accomplishing much more than creating a simple wish list. Here are a few of the big advantages associated with such a document. It enables you to:

• Prioritize your projects in a way that makes sense
• Spot any projects that have dependencies and order them accordingly
• Spot any projects that don’t make sense or clash with the overall vision you have. It’s much better to spot those kinds of things on the list than it is to realize after you’ve spent the money that a certain element just doesn’t fit as well as you thought it would with your overall vision
• Identify any huge, budget breaking projects and break them down into smaller, more budget friendly chunks
• And get a feel for the overall aesthetic of your project and how it will all hang together once everything is in place

It’s also good information for planning the landscape drainage system on your Bethesda MD property, because knowing what other landscaping you have in mind will enable you to locate the drain appropriately and plan around other landscaping you haven’t gotten to yet.

Do you have steeply sloped areas on your property? If you do, then a retaining wall is probably going to figure prominently into your landscaping and drainage plans.

Retaining walls are fantastic because they help turn steeply sloped areas into flat terraced spaces you can use for outdoor entertaining or strategic planting. Either way, you wind up with more usable space in your yard than you had before.

Many people are under the impression that there’s a single type of ‘generic’ retaining wall, but that’s actually not true! They come in a variety of forms, and depending on your specific needs and the lay of your land, one might wind up being more appropriate than some other. Here’s a quick overview:

• Gravity Walls – These are massive, resource intensive structures that rely on the sheer weight and mass of the wall to hold back soil and water. They’re constructed with the heaviest of materials and are much wider at the bottom than they are at the top.
• Cantilevered Walls – Structurally, these are quite similar to Gravity Walls, but they require less materials to build because they feature a concrete base which extends deep into the soil and are angled back against the mass of soil they’re holding in place.
• Sheet Pile Walls – An ideal choice for a wall that must be built in a confined or constructed area to provide support for loose soils that shed water fairly quickly. These are usually made of steel or wood plank, and about two thirds of their height are buried, with only the top one third visible.
• Wooden Walls – These tend to be relatively short and generally have about 40% of their height beneath the surface. They feature support beams spaced a minimum of one foot apart and are anchored into the soil itself for additional support.

Whatever for your retaining wall ultimately takes, the good news is that they all come with rather robust drainage systems that may solve those pesky standing water issues you’re having.

Whether you need a retaining wall or not though, the most common type of drainage solution for properties in the area is a French drain. If our assessment reveals that it’s a viable solution for you we can built it and direct the unwanted water just about anyplace you’d’ like to put it. A few of the more common options include:

• A dry well
• A decorative pond
• A drainage ditch on your property that ferries the water either to a nearby river or a county or city sewage system
• Or a stream if you’ve got one on or adjacent to your property

Whatever your landscaping and drainage needs are, we’ve got you covered. Give our office a call today.

Could you benefit from a landscape drainage system on your Beltsville MD property? The short answer is: In many cases, yes. When it rains, do you find yourself dealing with pools of standing water that collect in various places in your yard, sometimes lingering for days at a time? If you do, it’s a sure sign that you’ve got drainage issues on your property.

In some cases, it’s not that big of a deal, especially if the water is pooling at a safe distance from your home and any outbuildings you might have. Sure, it’s a nuisance. Sure, it’s a breeding ground for mosquitoes and other pests and is an eyesore that detracts from the aesthetic of your property and reduces your usable space, but if you can live with those things, it’s not awful.

On the other hand, if the water is pooling up against your house, it’s a very big problem indeed. Few things are more destructive to hearth and home than water, and if left unchecked, that standing water can cause thousands of dollars in damage to your foundation.

Before you pull out your checkbook or credit card and have a landscape drainage system installed on your Beltsville MD property, it’s important to ask if you have any other landscaping plans in mind? If you’re like many people, you’ve got a fairly long list of improvements you’d like to make one day. If you do, then before you start, it pays to take the time to create a master landscape design document.

Don’t let its fancy name fool you. At the root, it’s just a document that captures all of your landscaping ambitions in one place. When you do that, you get a lot more than just a wish list of your goals and ideas, however. Among other things, you’ll be able to:

• Spot big, budget busting projects and break them into smaller sub-projects that are easier on your budget.
• Identify projects that have dependencies, and order them accordingly.
• Create an ordered list, whether projects have dependencies or not.
• Examine all your planned projects to make sure that all the pieces hang together to create an aesthetically pleasing whole, and tweak or change any project that doesn’t really fit with the overall picture you’re trying to create.
• And identify holes in your current landscaping ambitions.

In addition to that, you’ll also see where it make the most sense to insert the landscape drainage system for your Beltsville MD property, building it when and where it makes the most sense to do so, so that it doesn’t interfere or get in the way of the other plans you’ve got.

Do you have steep slopes on your property? If so, then you’re probably at least somewhat lacking in usable space and steep slopes make drainage issues more likely. If you do, have you considered building one or more retaining walls as part of your plans?

Retaining walls are fantastic because they turn steeply sloped areas into terraced areas, which gives you more space for planting or outdoor entertaining. In addition to that though, they’re fantastic at diverting, holding back and redirecting water because all well-constructed retaining walls come with robust drainage systems built in. As such, a well-placed retaining wall could be a critical component of the landscape drainage system on your Beltsville MD property.

One thing you may not realize is that there’s not a single, generic type of retaining wall. They actually take a variety of different forms, including:

• Sheet Pile Walls – These are an ideal choice if you need a retaining wall built in a very confined space and are looking for a way to provide support for loose soils that shed water very quickly. They’re generally made from wood plank or steel, and about two thirds of their height are buried beneath the surface, with only the top-most third of the wall visible to the naked eye.
• Wooden Walls – These are ubiquitous. You see them just about everywhere you look, and for good reason. They tend to be shorter and are relatively inexpensive to build compared with some of the other types of retaining walls. They feature support beams that are spaced about a foot apart and are anchored into the soil itself for an additional layer of support.
• Gravity Walls – These tend to be the largest of the retaining walls and are usually built with the heaviest, most robust materials. They rely on their sheer size and mass to hold back water and earth and are substantially thicker at the bottom than they are at the top.
• Cantilevered Walls – Very similar to gravity walls, the cantilevered wall is somewhat lighter and less resource intensive because part of the support of a cantilevered wall comes from its base which extends deep into the soil. These walls are also angled back slightly, against the earth they are providing support for.

Gaining an understanding of which type of retaining wall is most appropriate for your property and your particular needs is one of the first tasks we’ll focus on if you decide you want to work with us. We’re happy to sit down with you to help you construct your master design document, survey and assess your property to see if a retaining wall could help you achieve your goals, and provide you with a free, no obligation estimate so you’ll have a firm understanding of what it will take to turn your landscaping dreams into a reality. Give our office a call today!