How do you know if your Chevy Chase MD property is having drainage and erosion control issues? It’s a fairly common question, and fortunately, the signs are easy to spot. Here are the major ones:
- Various areas of your lawn are soggy, or have plainly visible standing water for days after it rains
- Wind and rain cause visible soil erosion. You can literally see the buildup at the bottom of hills, and it’s slowly changing the lay of your land.
- You get streams (and sometimes rivers) flowing through your property during heavy rains
- There’s soil buildup on your driveway, sidewalks, and walkways after a thunderstorm
- Any mulch you have in place around your property keeps getting washed out
- Standing water tends to collect on your patio, driveway, and walkways after a rain storm
- You start seeing cracks in the walls of your basement and/or notice water seeping into the basement
- Cracks begin forming in and along your foundation
The last three items on this list are especially problematic. It’s one thing if water is standing in your yard a safe distance from your home. That’s annoying but not a direct threat, but if the water is seeping into your basement or your foundation, over time, it will inevitably cause major damage, which is going to lead to expensive repair bills.
You don’t want that, and we can help. The first step in our process will be to come pay you a visit and assess the severity of your Chevy Chase MD property’s drainage and erosion control problems. There are no cookie cutter solutions where these kinds of issues are concerned, and depending on how bad the problem is, the solution might be simpler and more straightforward than you think.
For relatively minor Chevy Chase MD drainage and erosion control issues, simply planting the right kind of ground cover, in the right areas could be all it takes. Where that is concerned, you’ve got lots of options. Broadly speaking, they fall into three categories: Ferns, flowing creepers, and shrubs. The list below is hardly comprehensive, but here are a few of the alternatives we could use:
Ferns
- Christmas Fern
- Cinnamon Fern
- Lady Fern
- Wood Fern
- And Royal Fern
Flowering Creepers
- Great Blue Lobelia
- Virginia Bluebells
- White Wood Aster
- Woodland Phlox
- Violets
- Joe Pye Weed
Don’t let the fact that the word “weed” appears on one of the items on the list. It’s a very attractive plant and provides tremendous protection against erosion.
Shrubs
- Red Chokeberry
- Black Chokeberry
- Ninebark
- Silky Dogwood
- And Elderberry
If some type of ground cover can be made to work, then there’s usually a wide degree of latitude in terms of what specific plant is used. In most cases, it comes down to personal preference, because each provides a different aesthetic.
While it’s true that some Chevy Chase MD drainage and erosion control issues can be solved with nothing more than the addition of strategically placed ground cover, that’s not true in every case. Sometimes, a more robust solution is required. Should that prove to be the case, we’ve got you covered there too.
The next step up we can consider is the addition of a well-placed retaining wall. Simply put, the retaining wall prevents erosion by serving as a brake, physically preventing the soil from making its way downhill.
While a retaining wall by itself can certainly serve to redirect the flow of water, sometimes that’s not enough. In those cases, a retaining wall combined with some type of drainage system will get the job done.
Drainage systems come in two basic flavors: Aboveground and below ground.
Aboveground drainage systems can be as simple as a trench designed to collect runoff and shunt it to a safe location. Below ground systems like a French drain accomplish the same basic goal, but are less visible to the naked eye, depending on how they’re constructed. Both can be made to work, but here, it mostly depends on the particulars we find on your property.
Once we’ve assessed the particulars of your Chevy Chase MD drainage and erosion control problem, we can draft a project plan and provide recommendations if and where ground cover is necessary. Our project plan will include a no-obligation quote so you’ll have a firm understanding not only of the exact basket of technologies we’ll use to solve the problem, but also precisely how much it will cost to remedy the situation.
Assuming you’re comfortable with everything, our next step will be to arrange a time to come out to your property and solve the problem for you.
The bottom line is, nobody likes having to deal with drainage and erosion problems, but it’s even worse to have to deal with the inevitable fallout that occurs by not dealing with the problem and hoping for the best. That’s never a good strategy, and fortunately you don’t have to.
We’ve been proudly serving the region since 1997 and have literally decades of experience dealing with drainage and erosion issues of all shapes and sizes.
Whether your landscaping needs range from the purely practical (solving for the aforementioned problems) or incorporate other elements in addition to these for purely aesthetic reasons, we’ve got you covered.
Since the day we first opened our doors, we’ve built our reputation by exceeding the expectations of each and every customer we serve, and we can’t wait for the opportunity to work with you.
