When you bought your home, there were undoubtedly lots of things you loved about it.  Unfortunately, there were also probably a few things you didn’t, and even worse, a few hidden problems that you didn’t become aware of until you’d lived there a while.  It’s possible that your Rockville MD property has drainage and erosion control issues, but how do you know?  Below are some of the more common signs:

• Your ground is soggy, and stays that way for days after it rains
• Streams seem to form spontaneously at various points around your property during thunderstorms
• Soil or mulch (if you use mulch) collects on sidewalks, your patio, or your driveway after a heavy rain
• Soil tends to wash downhill during heavy rains, collecting in noticeable piles at lower elevations
• Cracks begin appearing in your basement walls (if you have a basement, of course) or on your foundation
• Water seeps into your basement

While none of these are especially good, the last two are particularly worrisome, and speak to a serious issue.

If you see any of these signs, give us a call immediately, and we’ll come assess your property to gain an understanding of the scope and scale of your Rockville MD drainage and erosion control problem.

In mild cases, it may be possible to solve the problem with the creative application of the “right” kind of ground cover.  There are lots of great options here, but broadly speaking, they fall into three categories:  Ferns, Creepers, and Shrubs.  Here are some examples of each you may want to consider:

Ferns

• Royal Fern
• Wood Fern
• Lady Fern
• Cinnamon Fern
• And Christmas Fern

Creepers

• Joe Pye Weed
• Violets
• Woodland Phlox
• White Wood Aster
• Virginia Bluebells
• And great Blue Lobelia

Shrubs

• Elderberry
• Silky Dogwood
• Ninebark
• Red Chokeberry
• And Black Chokeberry

Unfortunately, not every Rockville MD drainage and erosion control issue can be solved so simply, but don’t worry.  If your problem turns out to be more serious, it’s still fixable, although it will require the addition of a well-placed retaining wall and/or a drainage system.

Those are, of course, a bit more expensive, but still much cheaper than letting serious drainage issues fester and worsen.

In any case, we won’t know which approach is optimal until we perform a thorough assessment of your property, which is our first step.  Armed with a better understanding of the severity of the issue, we’ll be able to make a formal recommendation, and develop a detailed project plan, which will include a no-obligation estimate so you’ll have a complete understanding of how much it will cost to fix the problem once and for all.

Then, assuming you’re comfortable with everything, we can dispatch one of our veteran crews and deal with the issue decisively.  Give us a call when you’re ready to get started.  We’ll have you fixed up in no time!

If your Potomac MD property has drainage and erosion control issues, that’s not something you can leave untended and hope it will get better on its own.  It won’t, and if you’ve got water building up close to your house, it could cause tremendous damage to your foundation and your basement (if you have one).  That could lead to thousands, or even tens of thousands of dollars in damages.  Not good.

Fortunately, there’s a simple answer.  We’ve been proudly serving the region since 1979, and in that time, have solved Potomac MD drainage and erosion control issues of all shapes and sizes for hundreds of clients.  No job is too big, and no detail is too small for our veteran crew.

The first thing we’ll do is come pay you a visit and assess the scope and scale of your Potomac MD property’s drainage and erosion control issue.  Once we understand the severity, we can make a formal recommendation about how best to fix it, and draft a project plan, complete with a no-obligation quote so you’ll know exactly how much it will cost.

In some cases, the issue is fairly mild and can be solved with the strategic application of the right kind of ground cover.  There are lots of great options on this front, including things like:

• Elderberry
• Silky Dogwood
• Ninebark
• Red/Black Chokeberry
• Violets
• Joe Pye Weed
• Woodland Phlox
• White Wood Aster
• Virginia Bluebells
• Great Blue Lobelia
• And a variety of ferns

To a point, which of these we use comes down to personal preference and what aesthetic you’re going for, but soil composition and other factors do play a role and may skew our recommendation toward a particular species.

If the issue is more severe than ground cover alone can solve, there are other solutions we can bring to bear on the problem, including retaining walls and drainage systems.  That is, of course, a more expensive solution, but it’s still much less expensive than repairing your basement or your foundation.

It’s worth mentioning at this point that if you have other landscaping projects you’d like to do that go above and beyond fixing your drainage and soil erosion problems, the development of a master landscape design document is of great value.

That’s a document that captures your entire landscaping wish list under a single umbrella, prioritizes the list and breaks your landscaping projects into bite-sized chunks that can be tackled iteratively, as your budget allows.  It also ensures that all your landscaping efforts will hang together and form a cohesive whole.

Even if you have no interest in a master landscape design document, we’re still more than happy to help you solve your drainage and erosion control issues.  Give us a call and let’s get started!

If your Kensington MD property suffers from drainage and erosion control problems, there are a multitude of solutions available.  The first question though, is how do you know?  There are a number of signs, including:

• “Squishy Yard Syndrome,” which keeps your ground soggy for days after a thunderstorm
• Evidence of soil buildup at the bottoms of hills, on driveways, patios and walkways, especially after rains
• Streams of running water at various points around your property during a thunderstorm
• Constantly having to replace mulch, because it keeps getting washed away
• Standing water on your patio, driveway, and/or sidewalks
• Cracks in basement walls or foundation
• Water leaking into your basement

Once you know what to look for, the next logical question is why does it matter?  The answer lies in the last two items on the list above.

Cracks in basement walls or your foundation are extremely worrisome and if left unchecked, will only get worse with time.  Eventually, you’ll be facing extensive, expensive repairs.  That’s not something you want, and that’s not something we want for you.

We’ve been proudly serving the area since 1997, and over the years, we’ve solved Kensington MD drainage and erosion control issues of all shapes and sizes for hundreds of clients, and we’d be happy to make your issue a thing of the past.

To do that, the first thing we’ll need to do is come to your property and assess the severity of your Kensington MD drainage and erosion control issues.  In some cases, the solution might be as simple as strategically planting the right kind of ground cover.

Where that’s concerned, there are tons of great options, so it mostly comes down to what direction your tastes and preferences run to.  Broadly speaking, there are three basic options:  Shrubs, colorful creepers, or ferns.  Here are a few possibilities to consider in each category:

Shrubs

• Elderberry
• Silky Dogwood
• Ninebark
• Or Red or Black Chokeberry

Colorful Creepers

• Joe Pye Weed
• Violets
• Woodland Phlox
• White Wood Aster
• Virginia Bluebells
• Or Great Blue Lobelia

Ferns

• Royal Fern
• Wood Fern
• Lady Fern
• Cinnamon Fern
• Or Christmas Fern

It’s awesome when we can solve your Kensington MD drainage and erosion control issues with something as simple as well-placed ground cover, but it doesn’t always work out like that.  Sometimes, something more is needed.

Not to worry.  There are plenty of other things we can do.  The next step up from a simple ground cover solution is a strategically placed retaining wall.  They’re so common in this part of the country that your eye probably just passes right over them without noticing, but if you start looking for them specifically, you’ll see them just about everywhere.

They do two important things for you.  First and most obvious to the eye is the fact that they prevent soil erosion by serving as a physical barrier that prevents it from moving downhill.  Second, and somewhat less obvious, the presence of the wall itself serves to redirect water so that it’s not running down straight to your house, where it can damage your foundation.

Sometimes though, even that’s not enough to completely solve your Kensington MD drainage and erosion control problems.  As good as retaining walls are, they’re even better when working in tandem with some kind of drainage system.

Generally speaking, drainage systems come in two flavors:  aboveground and below ground.  Both work the same way, which is to say that they collect water and shunt it to a safe location in your property, well away from anything it could potentially damage.

Whatever the severity of your issue is, a survey and assessment of your property is the first step.  Once we’ve got a good handle on the scope and scale of the problem, we can make recommendations about how best to fix it and gain an understanding of your preferences where ground cover is concerned.

Armed with that information, we can develop a detailed project plan that includes a no-obligation estimate so you know exactly how much it will cost to fix your drainage and erosion control problems.  Assuming you’re comfortable with everything, we can put the plan into action and before you know it, those problems will be a thing of the past.

Most people have a long list of landscaping they’d like to do to improve the aesthetic of their property.  Fixing these kinds of problems definitely falls into the category of “must have” rather than “like to have,” but if you’re planning to have that kind of work done, it’s worth mentioning that there’s tremendous value to take the opportunity to have a master landscaping design document drafted.

This document captures all your landscaping goals and puts them under a single umbrella.  The unfortunate reality is that most people can’t afford to do all the landscaping they’d like to do in one go.  The master design document allows you to sub-divide your wish list into bite-sized projects that can be prioritized and tackled incrementally.  Its true value lies in the fact that it ensures that when the last piece of the landscaping puzzle falls into place, all the elements hang together to create a cohesive whole.

While fixing drainage and erosion control problems definitely tops the list, you’ll want to make sure that any future landscaping work you do blends seamlessly with the work you’ve already had done, and we can help with that too!  Give us a call when you’re ready to begin.  You’ll be very glad you did.

If your Hyattsville MD property is suffering from drainage and erosion control issues, that’s not something you can afford to leave unchecked, especially if you’ve got water seeping into your basement of cracking your foundation.

Few things are more damaging to a home than water, and if left unchecked, could lead to simply staggering repair bills in the long run.

Fortunately, help is just a phone call away.  We’ve been proudly serving the region since 1979, and in that time, there’s not much we haven’t seen.  If you’re worried about the damage your Hyattsville MD drainage and erosion control problems might do to your home, we can pay a visit to your property and assess the situation for you.

Once we understand the scope and scale of the problem, we can make a formal recommendation and give you an estimate so you know exactly what it will take to solve the problem once and for all.

In some cases, if your Hyattsville MD drainage and erosion control issue is relatively small, it may be possible to solve it with clever use of ground cover.  If that’s the case, there are a wide variety of ferns, creepers and shrubs we can use to remedy the situation.  We’ll know for sure once we complete the assessment.

Unfortunately, sometimes ground cover alone isn’t enough.  Not to worry, that’s by no means the only option.  If and as needed, we can add a well-placed retaining wall and/or a drainage system, which will solve the problem decisively.

Whatever the case, if you plan to do additional landscaping above and beyond what’s necessary to solve the drainage issues you’re having, it would almost certainly benefit you to have us work with you to create a master landscape design document, which is a fancy way of saying that your complete landscaping wish list is compiled together in a single document, and broken into smaller, manageably sized projects in a prioritized list so it’s easy to keep track of everything.

The big benefit to you is that such a document ensures that all the landscaping work you want to do hangs together to form a cohesive whole and blends together seamlessly.

Since you’ll almost certainly want to address the drainage issues you’re having first, having the design document will make sure you select the proper ground cover and construction materials for the retaining wall so that it doesn’t clash with your future projects.

Even if you opt not to create a master landscape design document, we’re still more than happy to help solve your drainage and erosion control issues though.  When you’re ready to begin, just give us a call.  Since the day we first opened our doors, we’ve been exceeding the expectations of each and every customer we serve, and we’d love to add you to our growing family.

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.

Does your Gaithersburg MD property have drainage and erosion control problems?  It might, but how do you know?  Here are a few of the more common signs:

• Your yard stays soggy and/or has pools of standing water in it for days after a hard rain
• Mulch or soil tends to collect on your patio, sidewalks, and driveway after it rains
• Soil washes down the higher elevations to the lower when it rains, collecting at the bottom
• Cracks begin appearing in the walls of your basement and/or foundation
• You begin noticing water seeping into your basement

None of these are good news, but the last two are especially troublesome, because if your drainage issues are causing water to collect close enough to your home to cause those things, and the problem isn’t addressed immediately, it could lead to staggering repair bills for you.

If you see any of these signs, give us a call.  The first thing we’ll do is come visit you and assess the scope and scale of your Gaithersburg MD property’s drainage and erosion control problem.  Once we understand how serious the problem is, we can make a formal recommendation and write a detailed project plan that includes a no-obligation estimate so you’ll know exactly what it will take to fix the problem once and for all.

In some cases, if your Gaithersburg MD property’s drainage and erosion control issue is relatively minor, the problem can be solved via clever use of ground cover.

There are tons of great options here, but broadly speaking, they fall into three categories:  shrubs, ferns, and creepers.  Here are some examples in each category that will get the job done:

Shrubs

• Red or Black Chokeberry
• Ninebark
• Silky Dogwood
• Or Elderberry

Ferns

• Royal Fern
• Wood Fern
• Lady Fern
• Cinnamon Fern
• Or Christmas Fern

Creepers

• Joe Pye Weed
• Violets
• Woodland Phlox
• White Wood Aster
• Virginia Bluebells
• Or Great Blue Lobelia

Often, which type of ground cover you select comes down to personal preference and what aesthetic you’re going for, but in some instances, your soil composition and other details will cause us to recommend one over another.

Sometimes though, ground cover alone isn’t enough, and in those cases, we’ve got other options available.  A well-placed retaining wall will go a long way toward solving the issue, because it serves as both a physical barrier that prevents the movement of soil and because it serves to redirect water safely away from your home.

As good as retaining walls are though, they work even better when used in conjunction with a drainage system.  It’s a more comprehensive and expensive solution, but it will absolutely solve your issue.

In any case, once we make the assessment, we can recommend an approach that will get the job done.  Give us a call as soon as you’re ready!

Is your College Park MD property suffering from drainage and erosion control issues?  How do you know?  It’s an excellent question and one we get quite regularly from our customers, so we wanted to take a moment to post the answer here.  There are a number of common signs you’ve got drainage and erosion issues, including:

• Areas of your lawn that are soggy for days after a rain storm
• You get soil collected on your sidewalks, and driveway after it rains
• Pools of standing water on sidewalks, driveways, and patios
• Cracks in the foundation of your home, or in the walls of your basement (if you have one)
• Water seeping into your basement

While none of those are good, the last two are especially troublesome, and if left unchecked, could cost you thousands of dollars in the long run.

Fortunately, there are several good solutions to College Park MD drainage and erosion control issues, and we’ve got the experience to deal with yours, no matter how bad they might be.

The first step to fixing your problem will be pay you a visit at your property and assess the situation.  In some cases, where the problem is fairly mild, it’s possible to address it with well-placed ground cover.

There are tons of great options on that front, and broadly speaking they fall into three categories: Ferns, Colorful Creepers, and Shrubs.  In most cases, which one you pick comes down to personal preference and what aesthetic you prefer, but in some situations, the composition of your soil or other factors may make one plant species or type of ground cover a better fit.  We won’t know that for sure until we complete our assessment.

Sometimes, your College Park MD drainage and erosion control issues are severe enough that creative use of ground cover alone isn’t enough to get the job done.  That’s not a problem, there are other things we can do.  Of those other options, the most common is the construction of a retaining wall.

These work in two ways.  First, by providing a physical barrier that prevents the soil from moving down from the higher elevations on your property, and second, by serving as a redirect for water, guiding it away from your home.

While effective on their own, retaining walls are even better when used in conjunction with some type of drainage system that allows you more control over exactly where the water goes.  Again, we won’t know which of those is most appropriate until we complete our assessment.

Once we have, we can develop a detailed project plan, complete with a cost estimate so you’ll have a clear picture of what it would take to solve your problem once and for all.  Assuming you’re comfortable with everything, we can begin, and before you know it, your drainage and erosion issues will be a thing of the past!