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.

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

One of the more common questions we get from the clients we serve has to do with drainage problems on their property. It’s usually some variant of: ‘My Gaithersburg MD backyard floods, will a retaining wall help the yard drainage?’

We love questions like these because it shows that our clients are proactive and interested in getting out in front of drainage issues and we’re always happy to not only answer client questions but work with them to create innovative, effective solutions.

The question is an important one because even if the water pooling in your yard after it rains is a safe distance from your home or outbuildings, it’s still an eyesore that detracts from the amount of usable space you have for planting or entertaining.

If you have a similar problem and have been wondering the same thing, you’re in luck. In this article, we’ll explore that issue further!

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

The short answer is yes, in the vast majority of cases, a well-placed retaining wall is an important element in solving drainage issues, but there’s more to the story than just that.

First and foremost, many people don’t realize it but there are actually a number of different types of retaining walls, so depending on your needs and the particulars of your situation, we might recommend building one type over another. Here’s a quick overview of the different types of retaining walls we can utilize:

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.

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 – These are the most common types of retaining walls and what most people tend to think of when they hear the term. Generally, they’re relatively short and 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.

How Retaining Walls Help Solve The Problem

First and most obviously, the retaining wall holds back the soil and the water. When it rains, it won’t be able to get past that barrier, but there’s more to it than that. Retaining walls also help to smooth out steeply sloping areas of your property, turning them into terraced spaces you can use for planting or outdoor entertaining.

Anything you plant on the terraced space will put down roots, which will help keep the soil in place, in addition to the protection offered by the wall itself, putting an end to any erosion issues you might be having.

As for the water, all properly constructed retaining walls come with robust drainage systems that redirect the water, diverting it to a location where it won’t do any harm. There are all sorts of possibilities on this front, so mostly it depends on your budget and your personal preferences.

In simplest form, the question becomes, ‘what do you want to do with the water?’ Here are a few of the possibilities:

  • If your other landscaping ambitions include the creation of a decorative pond on your property, we can divert the water there via a French drain, feeding the pond.
  • If you have a drainage ditch on the periphery of your property, we can send the water there.
  • Is there a stream running through, or immediately adjacent to your property? If so, that’s another simple, effective option.
  • If none of those work for you, then perhaps something like a swale or a dry well would be more appropriate?

There are tons of options and possibilities here, and we’re more than happy to work with you to find the solution that works best for you. There’s another important angle to consider though: What other landscaping do you want to do on your property, if any?

If you do have other landscaping ambitions in mind, then before we build a retaining wall and drainage system, it pays to press pause long enough to develop a Master Landscape Design document.

Don’t let the fancy sounding name fool you. Essentially, it’s an ordered, organized list of all the landscaping projects you’d like to undertake. By having access to a high-level view of your overall landscaping goals, we can take those goals into account when building the wall and drainage system, ensuring that those elements don’t run afoul of or work at cross purposes to other initiatives you have planned.

As you can see then, the question ‘My Gaithersburg MD backyard floods, will a retaining wall help the yard drainage?’ actually unlocks a whole host of other related issues, making it more complex than it might first appear.

The bottom line though, is simply this: Whatever your landscaping goals, ambitions and needs are, from fixing simple drainage issues to completely transforming your yard, we’ve got you covered. When you’re ready to get started, just give our office a call.

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

We get lots of great questions from the clients we work with. One of the more common is some variant of ‘My College Park MD backyard floods, will a retaining wall help the yard drainage?’

Unfortunately, many properties in the area suffer from drainage issues of one sort or another. They can range in severity from minor annoyances to dire threats to hearth and home, but whatever the severity, it’s a legitimate problem so it’s easy to see where the question comes from. After all, even if you’ve got water pooling at a ‘safe’ distance from your home or outbuildings, it’s still an eyesore that detracts from the amount of usable yard space you have, and it could be a breeding ground for mosquitoes and other pests.

If you’re suffering similar problems and have been wondering much the same thing, this article will answer that question, and more. Let’s take a closer look at the issue.

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

The short answer to the question is yes – in most cases, a retaining wall is an excellent way to help deal with drainage issue. That simple answer though, doesn’t capture the complexities of the issue. Although solving for whatever drainage issues you’re having is important, it’s also important that as we do that, we don’t muck up or interfere with whatever other landscaping plans you may have, so, the question: Do you have other landscaping you’d like to do?

If you do, then it pays to press pause on the drainage issue solution long enough to take the time to develop a Master Landscaping Design document. Don’t let the fancy name fool you. At the root, it’s a prioritized list of all the landscaping projects you’d like to undertake.

If the thought of sitting down, creating the list and properly prioritizing everything seems a little daunting to you, we can help with that too, and once we have a clear, high-level view of everything you’d like to accomplish, we’ll be able to take those other projects into account and plan around them to make sure the work we do to solve your drainage issue doesn’t interfere with your future projects.

It’s also worth mentioning that the question ‘my College Park MD backyard floods, will a retaining wall help the yard drainage?’ doesn’t take into account the fact that there are actually a number of different types of retaining walls we can build. Most people don’t know that, but depending on your needs, budget and the particulars of your property, one type of retaining wall might be a better fit than some other. Just to give you a quick overview, here are the possibilities:

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.

How Retaining Walls Help Solve Drainage Issues

This brief overview in hand, let’s talk a little bit about how retaining walls help solve the problems we’ve been talking about so far. First and foremost, drainage issues aren’t just about drainage. They’re also about erosion, which, over time will make the flooding problems you’re experiencing even worse.

Erosion problems are worst in areas of your property that are steeply sloped. By building a well-placed retaining wall, we can smooth out those steep slopes by created terraced spaces, which has the happy side effect of giving you more usable yard space to work with. You can use it for planting, outdoor entertaining, or anything else that strikes your fancy.

When it rains, the mass of the wall will physically hold back the soil and water, and any planting you do on the terrace will help build a healthy root structure that will help keep the soil even more firmly in place.

All properly constructed retaining walls also have robust drainage systems which we can use to redirect the water, so then it becomes a matter of deciding where you want it to go. There are all sorts of possibilities here, so mostly this comes down to your budget and your personal preferences. You could, for example, route the water to:

  • A drainage ditch on the edge of your property
  • A nearby stream
  • Or even a decorative pond if you decide you want to add one.

We’ll be more than happy to make a professional recommendation and work with you to find the ideal solution. If that sounds good to you, give our office a call when you’re ready to begin!

Landscape Drainage In Silver Spring Md

What does your yard look like after a heavy rain? Does it resemble a pond or even a small lake, depending on how much acreage you’ve got? If it does, then it’s probably small consolation, but know that you’re not alone. Drainage issues are one of the more common problems area homeowners face.

In terms of severity, they can range anywhere from being a minor annoyance to being an existential threat. If the water is pooling out some distance from hearth and home, yes, it’s an eyesore. Yes, it detracts from the amount of useable space you have to work with or entertain in, but aside from that, it’s not an issue that’s going to wind up costing you in any real, tangible way.

It’s still a problem of course, and still something you’ll probably want to get fixed, but it doesn’t have to be a big rush or priority.

On the other hand, if the water is pooling right next to your house or any of the outbuildings you have on your property, that’s a big deal. Few things are more damaging to buildings than water. It’s insidious and if you don’t deal with the problem, it’s going to work its way into your foundation where it will cause major damage and leave you with staggering repair bills. You don’t want that. Nobody wants that, and a well-designed landscape drainage system on your Silver Spring MD property can correct the issue.

Before you spring into action, checkbook or credit card in hand though, here’s an important question: Do you have any other landscaping you want to do on your property, besides just fixing the drainage issue? If you do, then you’d be well-served by taking the time to create a master landscape design document.

Don’t let its formal-sounding name fool you. That’s just a fancy way of saying build a document that you use to collect all of your landscaping goals and ambitions in. It’s a to-do list of landscaping, but it’s a lot more than just that. Having all of your project ideas collected under a single banner gives you some pretty powerful insights. Here are a few of the advantages associated with building the document:

1) It allows you to see the big picture and see exactly where it makes the most sense to insert a robust landscape drainage system for your Silver Spring MD property on the list. Maybe it’s the first thing that needs to go in place. Maybe it makes more sense to put it in last. Armed with your list, you’ll have a firm, clear answer.

2) Gives you the capability of identifying massive landscaping projects and breaking them into smaller sub-components that are easier on your budget. Many a homeowner’s landscaping dreams have died early deaths for no other reason than they encountered a project that was simply too big for their budget to handle. That’s unfortunate and totally avoidable!

3) It also allows you to spot projects that depend on the completion of other projects and arrange your list accordingly.

Finally, in addition to all of the above, it gives you the opportunity to look at all of your landscaping ambitions at a high level and visualize how all the pieces fit together. When the last piece is dropped into place, does the whole thing create an aesthetically pleasing look, or do certain elements clash? If there are clashing elements and you don’t find that out until you put them in place in your yard, that can be an expensive mistake to correct. When it’s on the list, it’s fast, simple and painless.

We can really talk about the ideal landscape drainage system for your Silver Spring MD property without at least mentioning retaining walls. After all, a big part of what they do is hold back earth and water and divert the flow of water.

A well-designed retaining wall comes with a robust landscape drainage system for your Silver Spring MD property built in, and if you’ve got a steeply sloped area on your property it might be a great fit. We won’t know that until we’ve had an opportunity to come out and have a look for ourselves, so if you decide you want to work with us, that will be our first order of business.

We’ll send one of our experienced estimators out to survey and assess your situation. Once we’ve done that, we’ll be able to give you our professional recommendation along with a free estimate so you’ll have a firm idea of just what it will take to solve for whatever drainage issues you’re having. Then, assuming you’re comfortable with our estimate, we’ll send one of our veteran build crews to your property and get to work. We can even get involved earlier than that if you decide you need a hand putting your master landscape design document together.

The bottom line is simply this: Whatever your landscaping ambitions are, we’ve got you covered. As the area’s top rated landscape design company, nobody knows more about the art and science of transforming an ordinary yard into a delightful pocket paradise for you and your family to enjoy. Over the years, we’ve helped scores of your friends and neighbors transform their properties, and we’d love to add you to our growing list of satisfied customers. Give us a call today and let’s build something amazing together.

Landscape Drainage In Rockville Md

Would you benefit from having a landscape drainage system installed on your Rockville MD property? The short answer is, possibly. When it rains, do you have any water pooling up, anywhere on your property? If so, then that possibly becomes a yes!

Drainage issues are a surprisingly common problem, and even worse, it’s not the kind of issue you normally have any way of finding out about until you’ve lived in your home for a while. After all, unless your realtor took you to see your current home on a rainy day, how would you know? But of course, once you signed on the dotted line and got your stuff moved in, if there were any drainage problems, you found out after the first bad thunderstorm.

The severity of the issue depends in large part on exactly where the water is pooling. If it’s quite a distance from your house, then it’s definitely an eyesore and an inconvenience, and depending on how bad the problem is, those pools of standing water might serve as a breeding ground for mosquitoes, but it’s something that at least some people can live with.

On the other hand, if you’ve got water pooling up very near your home, that’s a big problem. If you don’t take action in the fairly near term, that standing water could cause serious damage to the foundation of your home. Nobody wants to deal with that.

Even so, before you crack open your savings account or break out the credit card to have a landscape drainage system for your Rockville MD property put in place, it pays to press pause and look at the bigger picture.

Do you have any other landscaping you’d like to do? Most people have at least a few improvements they’d like to make on that front. If you do, we recommend taking the time to sit down and create a master landscape design document. Don’t let the formal sounding name intimidate you. At the root, it’s just a document used to capture all of your landscaping wishes, goals and dreams under a single umbrella.

It might be tempting to see this as nothing more than a landscaping to-do list, but it’s actually much more than that because it affords you the opportunity to gain some valuable insights, including things like:

  • Spotting massive landscaping projects that would break your budget if you attempted to do them all in one go – this gives you the opportunity to find ways of splitting the biggest projects into smaller component parts. Doing that allows you to make consistent progress toward your landscaping goals.
  • Identifying projects that depend on the completion of other projects and ordering them appropriately. For instance, if you decide that you want or need a retaining wall as part of the landscape drainage system on your Rockville MD property, and you want to plant on the new terrace the wall will create, then obviously the wall has to come first. No wall, no terrace, no planting.
  • Being able to take a look at the big picture and get a sense for how all of your landscaping projects hang together. That’s critical in terms of ensuring that the pieces all work to create an aesthetically pleasing whole.

In addition to that of course, having the list handy also allows you to figure out where it makes the most sense to have the landscape drainage system for your Rockville MD designed and put into place and how it fits into the list as a whole.

We can’t really talk about drainage though, without at least giving a mention to the trusty retaining wall. They’re designed with robust drainage systems woven in, and do a great job at holding back earth and water and preventing erosion.

If you decide you’d like to work with us, the first thing we’ll do is send one of our experienced estimators out to survey and assess your situation so we can make a professional recommendation. We won’t know if some type of retaining wall is a good solution to your drainage issues until we’ve had a chance to have a look for ourselves.

Once we’ve done that, we’ll give you that recommendation along with a free, no obligation estimate so you’ll have a clear understanding of what it will take to put your drainage issues behind you for good. Then, assuming you’re comfortable with our estimate, we’ll get to work!

You can even call us before you’re ready to begin any landscaping work if you need a hand putting your master landscape design document together. We’ll be happy to help you map out your vision and organize your list. We may even be able to recommend some lower-cost alternatives that will accomplish some of the same things you want to achieve but at a price that won’t be quite as much of a strain on your budget.

If some type of retaining wall would be a good fit in terms of helping you solve the drainage issues you’re having, we’ll recommend the type we think will be best suited to the job. Yes, you read that correctly. There are several different types of retaining walls.

Not to worry, when we get to that point, we’ll explain the pros and cons associated with the various options on that front and help you settle on something that will get the job done at a price you can afford. If that sounds good to you, give our office a call today!