Driveway Design In Gaithersburg, Md

Have you been contemplating a custom driveway design for your Gaithersburg, Md as an upgrade to your existing driveway? If so, you’re certainly not alone. The simple truth is that most builders don’t put much time or thought into the driveways they build. They’re designed to be purely functional, and to their credit, they do their job well enough, but they’re not much to look at.

A well-designed driveway is not only functional, but great-looking too, and it can make a dramatic statement on its own, or serve to tie together other landscaping elements you have in place. The sky really is the limit, but there’s a problem: Some people struggle with the particulars. They know they want a custom driveway design for their Gaithersburg, Md property, but struggle to see it clearly in their mind’s eye.

If that describes you, then we encourage you to spend some time browsing the extensive collection of photos we keep elsewhere on our site. Doing so will not only give you a chance to see the quality of our work, but you’re sure to come away with a ton of great ideas for your own landscaping projects, including a number of specifics you can include in the custom driveway design for your Gaithersburg, Md property.

One thing to consider though, is this: If your landscaping ambitions extend beyond just upgrading your driveway, it’s well worth taking the time to build a master landscaping design document. This document allows you to capture all of your landscaping goals and ideas under a single umbrella, which provides you with a number of tangible benefits.

First and foremost, it allows you to spot projects with dependencies. If a given project requires the completion of some other as a pre-requisite, you can spot that and prioritize them accordingly. That’s very helpful, and saves you both time and money.

Second, it allows you to spot those big, budget busting projects that are quite likely lurking in your list, and break them into smaller, more budget-friendly components that won’t break the bank.

Finally, having all of your landscaping ambitions under a single umbrella allows you to look at them as a whole and ensure that all the pieces mesh together seamlessly to form a great-looking whole that will utterly transform your property, turning it into the showplace you always dreamed it could be. This is far superior to waiting until you actually start spending money, only to realize that the element you’re adding clashes horribly with work you’ve already done and causing you to tear out elements and replace.

If you need help creating your master landscape design document, we’re happy to assist, and either way, when you’re ready to get started, help is just a phone call away.

Driveway Design In Bethesda, Md

The driveways found on most properties, all across the country are things that tend to get taken for granted. They’re almost always pure function over form. It doesn’t have to be that way though, and a good, innovative driveway design for your Bethesda, Md property can absolutely enhance the value of your home, which will translate into higher resale value if and when you decide to sell.

If you have other landscaping ambitions, a good driveway design for your Bethesda, Md property can help tie all of your other landscaping elements together to create a cohesive, aesthetically pleasing whole

Depending on exactly how much landscaping work you have in mind on your property, you may be well served by taking a more strategic view. If all you want is a sharp looking, custom driveway and perhaps a walkway to compliment it, that’s one thing, but if you have extensive landscaping plans, then before you jump in and begin your first project, it would almost certainly be beneficial to take the time to create a Master Landscape Design Document.

On the face of it, this is simply a list of all the landscaping you want to do on your property, captured under a single umbrella. It’s actually quite a lot more than that though, and there’s more power than you might think in having a unified project list.

For one thing, having such a document allows you to spot project that depend on the completion of other projects and order them accordingly. For another, it allows you to identify big, budget busting projects and break them into smaller, more budget friendly components.

In addition to that, having all your landscaping ideas in one place allows you to make sure that all the components mesh together to form a cohesive, eye-pleasing whole. If you spot anything that clashes with other elements you have planned, it’s a whole lot easier to make adjustments on paper than it is to spend money to put something in place that will detract from the whole, only to have to rip it out and make changes later on.

Whatever driveway design you have in mind for your Bethesda, Md property, by inserting it into the design document, you’ll be able to ensure that the design you have in mind will blend well with your other landscaping goals and ambitions, and if you need help putting the document together, we’re more than happy to provide that assistance.

So whether you’re just interested in making a few cosmetic tweaks around your property or are interested in a top to bottom transformation, help is just a phone call away. When you’re ready to stop dreaming and start doing, give our office a call!

Driveway Design In Beltsville, Md

It’s easy to see why so many homeowners think about a custom driveway design for their Beltsville, Md property. After all, drive down any residential street in the city and most of the driveways you’ll see are purely functional, with little, if any attention paid to form.

There’s nothing inherently wrong with that but if you’re looking for a simple way to make an eye-popping change to your property and increase its resale value, then an upgrade to your current, boring driveway belongs on your short list of options to consider.

If you’re interested in a custom driveway design for your Beltsville, Md property but you don’t know exactly what you want, it pays to spend some time browsing through the extensive collection of photos we keep elsewhere on our site.

Taking the time to look through them will not only give you a chance to see the quality of the work we do, it’s also sure to give you lots of great ideas for your own landscaping projects, your driveway included.

Before you get too far long in the planning stages of that project, however, it pays to think about the other changes and improvements you want to make to the property. If all you’re looking for is an upgrade to your driveway, and perhaps a custom walkway to match, that’s one thing, but if you mean to do quite a bit of landscaping over time, then it’s well worth taking the time to create a master landscape design document before any work actually begins.

If you’re not familiar with the term, it’s simply a single document where all of your landscaping goals and ambitions live. Far from being a laundry list of projects though, it actually provides you with a number of compelling benefits, including:

  • It allows you to spot projects that have dependencies, allowing you to properly prioritize your landscaping initiatives.
  • You can also easily identify larger projects that might strain your budget and break them into smaller components before any work begins. This allows you to make steady, consistent progress toward the achievement of your landscaping ambitions, rather than being bogged down when you hit one of those big, budget-busting projects.
  • Finally, it allows you to look at your landscaping as a cohesive whole and ensure that all the elements hang together to create a seamless, pleasing aesthetic. If any of the elements clash, you should be able to spot these on paper and make adjustments as needed.

The bottom line is simply this: Whatever the scope and scale of your landscaping ambitions, from a custom driveway design for your Beltsville, Md property to a top to bottom transformation of your property, help is just a phone call away.

My Wheaton Md Backyard Floods. Will A Retaining Wall Help The Yard Drainage?

My Wheaton MD backyard floods. Will a retaining wall help the yard drainage? That, or questions very similar to it, is something we get asked on a fairly regular basis from the clients we serve. Unfortunately, a fair percentage of properties in the area suffer from drainage issues of one kind or another, so it’s easy to see where the question comes from.

After all, even if you’ve got water pooling at what you consider to be a safe distance from your house or other buildings on your property, it’s still a problem and still an eyesore that detracts from the amount of yard space you can use on a regular basis.

More troubling though, is when the water is pooling right up next to your house. If that’s the case, and you don’t take decisive action immediately, it will seep into your foundation where it will cause considerable damage, leaving you with staggering repair bills.

Whatever sort of drainage issues you’re having, if the question above has been on your mind, you’re in luck. In this article, we’ll not only answer the question, but explore some related issues that surround it. Let’s take a closer look!

My Wheaton MD Backyard Floods – Will A Retaining Wall Help The Yard Drainage?

The direct answer to the question above is yes, but…

Yes. In the overwhelming majority of cases, a well-placed retaining wall can play a pivotal role in solving whatever drainage issues you’re having, but there are more factors to consider than just that.

The first consideration is this: Do you plan to do any other landscaping on your property, besides solving for your drainage issues? If so, then before we get to work on that problem, it pays to take the time to create a Master Landscaping Design document.

Don’t let the fancy sounding name throw you off. In its simplest form, it’s just a document you use to capture all of your landscaping ambitions in a single location. The real value though, is what such a document allows you to do. You can:

1) Spot projects that have dependencies, and arrange your list of landscaping goals in order of priority.

2) Identify projects that are too big for your budget, and break them into smaller components that will allow you to steadily advance through your list of landscaping goals.

3) And view all of your landscaping plans as a cohesive whole, which will allow you to make sure that all the pieces form an aesthetically pleasing whole. It’s much better to find that out on paper before you start building, because if one element clashes with others and you build it, you’ll spend money you don’t need to!

This document has another important benefit as well. If we know what your other landscaping ambitions are, we can take them into account and plan around them as we design and build the solution to your drainage issues.

Another thing that many people don’t realize is that there are actually several different types of retaining walls. They are all broadly similar, sure, but there are also some key differences between them. Here’s a quick overview:

Wooden Walls – These types are retaining walls are among the most common. Once you start thinking about adding one to your property, you’ll start noticing them all over the place.

They tend to be somewhat shorter than other types of retaining walls, 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 – This type of retaining wall is an ideal choice if your wall needs to be built in a confined area and provide support for loose soils that shed water fairly quickly. They’re almost always made from steel or wood plank, and about two thirds of their height are buried, with only the top third visible.

Gravity Walls – The largest type of retaining wall, these hefty structures rely on sheer 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.

Which one is right for your property depends on a number of factors including your personal preferences of course, your budget, and the particulars of your land and the composition of your soil.

How Retaining Walls Help Solve Your Drainage Problems

Now, let’s get down to the particulars. Retaining walls, whatever type you build, provide a number of benefits to you that work together to solve your drainage issues.

First and foremost, it turns those annoying steeply slopes areas of your yard into flat terraced spaces you can use for outdoor entertaining or planting. Not only does this give your more usable space overall, but it helps combat erosion. That’s a very good thing because long term, erosion will only serve to make your drainage problems worse.

Second, anything you plant behind the wall on the terraced space will help to develop a more robust root structure, which will also serve to keep the soil firmly in place.

Finally though, every properly constructed retaining wall has a robust drainage system built in. This is what actually diverts the water. Where it goes is ultimately up to you. We can send it to a drainage ditch on the edge of your property, into a stream if you have one, or we can divert it to a dry well or swale. The sky’s the limit where that’s concerned.

As you can see then, the answer to the question ‘My Wheaton MD backyard floods. Will a retaining wall help the yard drainage?’ is a little more complex than it first appears, but at the end of the day, yes. A retaining wall can absolutely play a major role in solving your issue.

My Silver Spring Md Backyard Floods. Will A Retaining Wall Help The Yard Drainage?

My Silver Spring MD backyard floods. Will a retaining wall help the yard drainage? It’s a common question because a surprising percentage of properties in the area suffer from drainage problems of one degree or another.

If you’ve got water pooling at a distance from your home or any other buildings on your property, it’s a nuisance but falls short of being a dire threat. It’s still a problem, to be sure, because it’s an eyesore and a potential breeding ground for mosquitoes and other pests, but it won’t cause any direct harm.

Contrast that to water pooling right up against your home, which can seep into your foundation and cause thousands of dollars’ worth of damage in short order. Wherever the water is pooling though, it’s a legitimate issue and one that still needs to be addressed.

If you’re facing drainage issues of any type and have been wondering how to fix it, you’re in luck. In this article, we’ll address the issue in detail. Let’s take a closer look.

My Silver Spring MD Backyard Floods – Will A Retaining Wall Help The Yard Drainage?

In the vast majority of cases, a well-placed retaining wall can play a pivotal role in solving for whatever drainage issues you might be having, yes. The question itself though, doesn’t tell the whole story. There are actually a surprising number of other factors to consider and take into account, so let’s take a closer look at those in order to answer the question more completely.

First, although the term ‘retaining wall’ gets used generically, there are actually several different types of retaining walls we can build, depending on your budget, personal preferences, and the particulars of your property. Here’s a quick overview:

Wooden Walls – One of the most common types of retaining walls, these 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.

Gravity Walls – The largest type of retaining wall, these rely on their sheer size and 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.

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.

Regardless of the specific type of wall built, all retaining walls basically work the same way. They hold back soil and divert water. Both are important.

Holding back earth helps solve for erosion issues, which is especially important if you have steep slopes on your property because erosion will only make your flooding issues worse over time.

In addition to simply holding the earth back, the presence of a retaining wall has the impact of smoothing out those steep slopes by creating terraced spaces you can use for planting or entertaining, giving you more useable yard space to work with. Also, any planting you do behind the wall will help to create a more robust root structure which will also help keep the soil in place.

All properly constructed retaining walls also create a robust drainage system that is used to divert water and prevent it from pooling or otherwise causing problems. There are lots of possible options where water diversion is concerned, including diverting it into:

  • A swale or dry well
  • A drainage ditch on the periphery of your property
  • A stream, if you have one running through, or immediately adjacent to your property
  • Or even a decorative pond if you decide you’d like to add one.

Mostly, this comes down to your budget and your personal preferences. Whatever you decide, we can help you design and build a system that will get the job done, solving the problem in the way you want it solved.

There’s one more thing to consider here. Simply asking the question ‘My Silver Spring MD backyard floods. Will a retaining wall help the yard drainage?’ does not take into account any other landscaping you may want to do on your property and that matters too. Here’s why:

If you have other landscaping ambitions, we want to be sure that the drainage solution we design and implement for you doesn’t interfere with those other projects you have planned for later. The best way to ensure this is to create a Master Landscape Design document which captures and prioritizes all of your landscaping goals.

If we know about your other projects upfront, we can include them in our planning process and ensure that the system we ultimately build for you won’t be in the way of the other work you want to do. If you’re a little intimidated by the process of creating a robust, complete design document and ordering your projects appropriately, we can help with that too. When you’re ready to get started, give our office a call and let’s get started!

My Rockville Md Backyard Floods, Will A Retaining Wall Help The Yard Drainage?

When it rains, do you find yourself dealing with pools of standing water that take days to dry out completely? If so, you’re certainly not alone. A disturbing percentage of properties in the area have those types of issues, and when we’re out at client sites, one of the more common questions we get is some variation of: ‘My Rockville MD backyard floods, will a retaining wall help the yard drainage?’

Drainage issues are no joke, and if you’ve got water pooling up near your house or one of your outbuildings, it can cause serious damage in short order as it seeps into your foundation. Even if the water is pooling at a safe distance from hearth and home though, it’s still a problem. In addition to being a general eyesore that reduces the amount of space you’ve got to work with in terms of planting and outdoor entertaining, it’s also a potential breeding ground for mosquitoes and other pests.

If you’ve found yourself asking a similar question, then you’re in luck, and this article was written with you in mind. Let’s take a closer look at the issue and everything surrounding it.

My Rockville MD Backyard Floods – Will A Retaining Wall Help The Yard Drainage?

In the vast majority of cases, the simple answer to the question is a resounding yes! That though, doesn’t go far enough, because we have to look at the larger context, which brings up another important question: Besides fixing your drainage issue, what other landscaping would you like to do, if any?

If you do have other landscaping ambitions, then before we address your drainage problem, it’s worth taking the time to develop a Master Landscape Design document, and we’d be happy to assist you with that.

On it’s face, it’s simply a document that captures all your landscaping goals and ambitions under a single umbrella, but there’s a lot more to it than that. Here are just a few of the benefits to building a robust document before we begin any work:

  • It allows you to prioritize all the projects you want to undertake, putting them in the order that makes the most sense.
  • Having a comprehensive list also allows you to spot any projects that have dependencies.
  • If there are any big, budget busting projects on your list, those can be identified and broken into smaller components that are more budget friendly.
  • It also allows you to look at all the elements you want to include so you can make sure that they combine to form a cohesive whole that’s aesthetically pleasing, which will save you money. It’s much better to see those kinds of things on paper than to spend money to build something only to discover that it clashes with other work you have planned and have to rip it back out. That’s a costly mistake.

In addition to all that, if we know going in what your other projects are and where that work will be done, we can take those things into account when we’re deciding on the placement of your retaining wall and building the drainage system that accompanies it. That way, those elements won’t be in the way of the other projects you want to eventually undertake.

It’s also worth mentioning that the question as asked, ‘My Rockville MD backyard floods, will a retaining wall help the yard drainage?’ doesn’t take into account the fact that there are actually several different types of retaining walls. Depending on your needs, the particulars of your property and your budget, one might wind up being a more appropriate choice than some other. Here’s a quick overview:

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.

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.

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.

As you can see then, there are lots of options. Whatever specific form your retaining wall takes, it will include a robust drainage system in its design and construction. This will allow us to redirect the water anywhere you’d like to put it. Again, there are lots of different possibilities where that’s concerned. Among other things, we could direct the water to:

  • A dry well or swale.
  • A decorative pond if you’d like to add one.
  • A stream, if you have one on, or adjacent to your property.
  • Or a drainage ditch on the edge of your property.

You let us know what your preference are and we’ll help you design, build and implement the perfect solution for you. Just give us a call when you’re ready to get started.

My Potomac Md Backyard Floods, Will A Retaining Wall Help The Yard Drainage?

My Potomac MD backyard floods, will a retaining wall help the yard drainage? We get this question on a regular basis from the clients we serve and it’s not hard to understand where the question comes from. Drainage issues can, depending on where you’ve got water pooling on your property, it can cause devastating damage in very short order. Not a happy situation.

If you’re suffering from any sort of drainage issue anywhere on your property and have been wondering the same thing, you’re in luck, and this article was written with you in mind. Read on, and we’ll answer the question in detail!

My Potomac MD Backyard Floods – Will A Retaining Wall Help The Yard Drainage?

The short answer to the question is yes. In the vast majority of cases, a well-placed retaining wall can be an integral part of solving for most drainage issues, because all properly built retaining walls have robust drainage systems built into their design. They have to, or the wall by itself wouldn’t be nearly as effective at keeping soil at bay and redirecting water.

What most people don’t realize though, is the fact that there’s not a single generic type of retaining wall. There are actually a number of different types of retaining walls, and depending on your specific needs, the lay of your land and the composition of your soil, one might be more appropriate than another. Here’s a quick overview of the different types of retaining walls we might build:

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.

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.

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.

As we said at the start though, a retaining wall, whatever form it ultimately takes, can play a pivotal role in whatever drainage issue you’re having the vast majority of the time.

At the end of the day, the question ‘My Potomac MD backyard floods, will a retaining wall help the yard drainage?’ is more complex than first meets the eye. Flooding is only one part of the issue. Granted, it’s the most visible and the most potentially damaging issue, but erosion control is important too, and long term, erosion on your property will only make your current drainage and flooding issues worse.

A well-placed retaining wall solves for both. Now that we’ve introduced you to the various types of walls we might construct on your property, let’s talk a bit more about exactly what they do.

My North Potomac Md Backyard Floods, Will A Retaining Wall Help The Yard Drainage?

Drainage issues are fairly common on properties in the area, and one of the more common questions we get from the clients we work with is some variation of: ‘My North Potomac MD backyard floods, will a retaining wall help the yard drainage?’

It’s an excellent question, and if you’ve been wondering the same thing and dealing with your own drainage issues, you’re in luck. We’ll answer it in full and provide you with a variety of related details just below.

Before we do that though, let’s talk a little bit more about why it matters. If you’re stuck dealing with water pooling in various places in your yard after a rain, you know what a problem can be. Of course, not all drainage issues are created equally.

If the water on your property is pooling at a safe distance from your home or any outbuildings you have, it’s more of a nuisance than a dire threat, but even so, it creates an unsightly mess that takes away from the amount of space you have available for planting and outdoor entertaining, and it can be a breeding pool for mosquitoes or other pests.

A much more significant problem though, is if the water is pooling right up against your house or other buildings on your property. Few things are more destructive than water, and if left unchecked, it will inevitably seep into your foundation where it can cause thousands of dollars’ worth of damage.

So now that we’ve talked about the why, let’s dig into the how.

My North Potomac MD Backyard Floods – Will A Retaining Wall Help The Yard Drainage?

The quick, pat answer is yes. In the vast majority of cases, a well-placed retaining wall can play a significant role in solving for any drainage issues you might be having. There’s more to it than that though. While it’s absolutely important to resolve those types of issues, it’s also important to look at the bigger picture.

In this case, the bigger picture takes the form of a question: Do you plan to do any other landscaping on your property? If you do, then it pays to press pause on fixing the drainage issue long enough to create a Master Landscape Design document.

In its most basic form, this is just a laundry list of all the landscaping you want to do on your property, all captured under a single umbrella. Properly used though, it can be much more than that. Here are some of the benefits of taking the time to build out your document:

1) It allows you to organize and prioritize the landscaping you want to do, including spotting projects that have dependencies and ordering them accordingly.

2) You’ll be able to spot those big, budget-busting project and break them into smaller components which will allow you to make steady progress on your landscaping goals, whatever they might be.

3) You’ll be able to look at all of your ideas at a high level, which will allow you to ensure that the various pieces hang together to create a cohesive, aesthetically pleasing whole and that none of the elements clash. Finding that out on paper is much less expensive than building something, only to have to tear it out later when you realize it just doesn’t work with everything else you want to do.

If you need help putting your design document together, we’d be happy to provide assistance, and once the document has been built, we can take your other landscaping ambitions into account when planning, designing and building the drainage system on your property.

Here’s another factor to consider: Many people don’t realize it, but there are actually several different types of retaining walls. Exactly which type we build depends on a number of factors, including your budget, personal preferences and the particulars of your property. Here’s a quick overview:

Wooden Walls – One of the most common and ubiquitous types of retaining walls in the area, these 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.

Whichever type best meets your needs, all retaining walls are built with robust drainage systems, by design, which brings us full circle.

My North Potomac MD backyard floods, will a retaining wall help the yard drainage? Absolutely, but there are a lot of details that lie behind the question, and there are a number of other considerations to take into account. When you’ve had enough of the water pooling on your property and you’re ready to get started, we are just a phone call away!

My Kensington Md Backyard Floods. Will A Retaining Wall Help The Yard Drainage?

My Kensington MD backyard floods. Will a retaining wall help the yard drainage? This question comes up a lot, and it’s not hard to understand why. A great many area properties suffer from drainage and flooding issues of one type or another. It’s a problem, no doubt, but depending on where the water is pooling, it may not be a dire threat.

If you’ve got water pooling well away from your home, garage, or other buildings, it’s still an issue because it’s an eyesore that detracts from the amount of yard space you can actually use on a consistent basis, and it could play host to mosquitoes and other backyard pests, but it won’t cause any serious damage.

On the other hand, if you’ve got water pooling right next to your house, it’s a much more serious issue. In this case, if something isn’t done to address the matter quickly, the water will seep into your foundation where it will cause tremendous damage, leading to catastrophic repair bills.

If you’re suffering from either problem, you’ve likely asked the same question that we led with, and if so, this article is for you. Below, we’ll take an in-depth look at drainage problems and how to deal with them.

My Kensington MD Backyard Floods – Will A Retaining Wall Help The Yard Drainage?

The short answer is, most of the time, yes. A retaining wall can play a powerful role in addressing many types of drainage issues. Unfortunately, the question in that form doesn’t capture the full context of the question, so we’ll take a closer look.

One of the things you don’t want to do is to solve one problem and create another, so it’s important to ask if you have any other landscaping you’d like to do on your property, above and beyond solving the current problem.

If you do, then it pays to take the time to create a Landscape Design Document before any work begins on any front. Haven’t heard the term before? Not to worry, it’s just a document that allows you to collect all of your landscaping ambitions under a single umbrella.

Taking the time to do so nets you a number of powerful advantages. Among other things, it lets you:

1) Organize and prioritize your projects in order of importance, as well as spot projects that have dependencies.

2) Spot big, expensive projects and break them into smaller parts so you’ll be able to make steady progress toward your landscaping goals without breaking the bank.

3) And make sure that all of the elements you have planned mesh together well to form a cohesive, aesthetically pleasing whole before you spend any money on them.

From a practical perspective where your drainage issues are concerned, if we know and understand what other projects you want to undertake and where the various elements will sit on your property, we can plan around them and design your drainage system accordingly.

Another important consideration is the fact that there’s actually not a single generic type of retaining wall. There are several different types, and depending on your preferences, your budget and the lay of your land or the composition of your soil, one might be more appropriate than another. Here’s a quick overview:

Wooden Walls – These types are retaining walls are incredibly common. Once you start thinking about adding a retaining wall on your own property, you’ll start seeing them just about everywhere.

They tend to be somewhat shorter than other types of retaining walls, 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 – This type of retaining wall is an ideal choice if your wall needs to be built in a confined area and provide support for loose soils that shed water fairly quickly. They’re almost always made from steel or wood plank, and about two thirds of their height are buried, with only the top third visible.

Gravity Walls – The largest type of retaining wall, these hefty structures rely on sheer 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.

As you can see then, there are actually a number of interesting and important considerations related to answering what seems, on the surface, to be a simple, straightforward question: My Kensington MD backyard floods. Will a retaining wall help the yard drainage?

Yes, absolutely. But there are other factors at play that should be taken into account.

Now, let’s get specific. All retaining walls, regardless of type, are designed and built to include robust drainage systems. The wall itself is responsible for holding back the earth, which limits the effects of erosion, and the drainage system associated with it diverts the water.

There are a number of options where diverting the water is concerned. If you have a drainage ditch on the edge of your property, we can route it there. If not, a dry well or swale might be a better option. We’ll work with you to design the best system for your particular situation. Just give our office a call when you’re ready to begin!

My Hyattsville Md Backyard Floods. Will A Retaining Wall Help The Yard Drainage?

When we’re working on client sites, we frequently get asked a variety of questions. One of the more common ones is some flavor of ‘My Hyattsville MD backyard floods. Will a retaining wall help the yard drainage?’

It’s easy to see where this question comes from. After all, an unfortunate percentage of properties in the area suffer from drainage issues of one type or another. Not all drainage problems are dire threats, however.

If you have water pooling at quite some distance from any of the buildings on your property, it’s an eyesore. It detracts from the amount of useable space you have to work with, and it can be a breeding ground for mosquitoes and other bests, but it’s not an existential threat. It still needs to be fixed, of course, but it’s not a direct threat to hearth and home.

On the other hand, if you have water pooling right up next to your house, that’s a major issue. If left unchecked, the water will seep into your foundation where it will cause tremendous amounts of damage leading to staggering repair bills.

Whatever type of flooding issue you’re dealing with and whatever its severity, you may have been wondering if a retaining wall is the way to fix it. If so, you’re in luck. In this piece, we’ll not only answer the question but explore it fully.

My Hyattsville MD Backyard Floods – Will A Retaining Wall Help The Yard Drainage?

The simple answer is yes, most of the time. Unfortunately, that’s not a very satisfying answer because it’s incomplete. The problem lies in the fact that the question doesn’t capture all the facets of the issue, so we’ll explore a little more deeply here.

The first thing to consider is what other landscaping ambitions you have for your property, if any. If your landscape is just how you want it, save for the drainage problems, then there’s nothing to do on this front, but if you want to do other landscaping in addition to solving the current issue, then it pays to take the time to develop a Master Landscape Design Document before any work begins on any front.

If you’ve never heard the term before, a Landscape Design Document is an ordered, prioritized list of all the projects you’d like to undertake. There’s enormous power in having such a list at your fingertips. Among other things, it allows you to:

1) Spot projects that have dependencies.

2) Arrange your list in order of priority and tackle them accordingly.

3) Identify large projects that are too much for your budget to bear all at once, and break them into smaller, more budget-friendly components so you can make steady progress toward your ultimate landscaping goals.

4) And see how all of your ideas mesh together. The hope is that they’ll create a unified, aesthetically pleasing goal, so if you spot something that conflicts with the aesthetic you have in mind, it’s easy enough to make changes before you get to the project in question.

From a practical perspective as it relates to solving your drainage issues, if we know all of the other projects you have in mind, we can design and build the drainage system for your property taking those future endeavors into account.

Another thing that often gets overlooked when phasing the question: ‘My Hyattsville MD backyard floods. Will a retaining wall help the yard drainage?’ is that there are actually a number of different types of retaining walls.

While it’s true that all retaining walls have robust drainage systems built into their design, the particulars vary slightly from one type of wall to the next. Here’s a quick overview of the types of retaining walls we might consider:

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.

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.

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.

Now that we’ve covered some of the issues related to the central question, let’s talk a bit about exactly how retaining walls can help. They actually perform three different functions, all of them important.

First, they help to smooth out the steeply sloped areas of your property, turning them into terraced spaces which gives you more yard space for planting and outdoor entertaining. Second, they help control erosion. That’s key because over the longer term, erosion problems will make your flooding issues worse.

Finally, the drainage system that’s built into the design of whatever type of retaining wall is the best fit for your property, budget and particular situation will allow you to redirect the water that was formerly pooling in your property to some other location; a drainage ditch or nearby stream perhaps, neatly solving the problem.

As you can see, there’s a lot more to answering the question than first meets the eye, but don’t worry. We’ve been in the business for decades, and no matter how severe your drainage issues might be, we’ve got you covered. Give us a call today.