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!