How Do I Get Rid Of Standing Water In My Columbia Md Yard?

How do I get rid of standing water in my Columbia MD yard? It’s a question we get quite often, because let’s face it, nobody likes having water pooling on their property. It’s an eyesore. It gives you less usable yard space, and if the water is collecting in an area too close to your house, it can cause serious damage to your foundation, leading to staggering repair bills. Not a happy situation.

Unfortunately, there’s no one simple answer to the question. A cookie-cutter solution won’t work, because there are so many possible causes. In this article, we’ll talk about the most common causes of standing water and the things you can do to fix those issues.

These types of issues can be broken into two basic categories: Habit-based and design-based. Habit-based issues arise from things you are doing that cause or contribute to the problem. Design-based issues are issues that arise from specific features or characteristics of your property. What you do or don’t do doesn’t really impact them.

Of the two categories, answering the question ‘how do I get rid of standing water in my Columbia MD yard?’ tends to be easier when dealing with habit-based issues. Simply change what you’re doing and the problem goes away. Where those types of issues are concerned, the two most common are overwatering and homemade decorative planting beds.

Overwatering is the easiest of the problems to resolve, but what about decorative planting beds?

The issue here is that often, people build these beds without thinking about drainage, so they don’t incorporate an adequate channel that allows excess water to escape the bed. The worst instances of these kinds of issues arise when people build decorative beds right next to their homes.

Often, the people who do this don’t take into account the downspouts connected to their rain gutters, which wind up emptying into their decorative beds. With no channel to allow the water to escape, the result is that you wind up with pools of water right next to your home, which is a disaster waiting to happen.

Again though, the solution is a simple one. Create a more robust drainage channel and angle your downspouts away from the beds, and that should be the end of it.

Now let’s talk about those design-based issues. Answering the question ‘how do I get rid of standing water in my Columbia MD yard?’ is more of a challenge in these cases, but certainly doable. Here are the most common types of issues you’ll see:

Clay

Soil composition is a very big deal. If the soil in part of your yard has a high concentration of clay, it’s going to be virtually impossible to water to drain from that area without help. The solution in these types of situations involves building a drainage system to move the water from wherever it’s collecting on your property to somewhere else, usually a drainage ditch, nearby stream, or a small decorative pond you’ve built, or will build for that specific purpose.

The wrinkle here though, is that before you install a drainage system to answer the question ‘how do I get rid of standing water in my Columbia MD yard?,’ you’ll want to spend some serious time thinking about the other landscaping you may want to do in the future.

If you have a long wish list of projects you’d like to undertake, you’d be well-served by taking the time to create a Master Landscape Design document, which captures all of your landscaping goals, putting them in one place so you can prioritize them and take them into account as you do your other work.

We can help you put that document together, and armed with the details it contains, we can make sure that we design and build the drainage system with your future landscaping initiatives in mind.

Poor or Improper Grading

This is another common issue. While it’s possible to call in heavy equipment and dramatically change the grading of your entire property, a drainage system is a simpler and more cost-effective solution. The same notes we made above regarding other landscaping you plan to do in the future apply here as well.

Thatch

This term describes the layer of organic material that is just under your grass, resting atop your topsoil. Over time, the thatch layer can become highly compressed and tightly interwoven, which makes it increasingly more difficult for water that falls on it to filter down to the topsoil.

In this case, the answer to the question ‘how do I get rid of standing water in my Columbia MD yard?’ involves removing the thatch layer and aerating your lawn. This solution requires the use of some specialized equipment but is generally something a diehard DIYer can do if they want to. If you’d rather not have to deal with it, we’ll be happy to take care of it for you.

Hardpan

In a nutshell, hardpan is a layer of tightly compacted soil just beneath the layer of topsoil covering your yard. It can occur naturally, or it can be created by the presence of heavy equipment passing over a given area.

The solution to this problem is to break up the hardpan, which requires specialized equipment and is usually a bigger job than even the most committed DIYers want to try and tackle on their own.

Whatever the ultimate cause of your standing water issue, we’ve got you covered. As the area’s top-rated landscape design company, our team has the skills and experience to diagnose the problem and propose the best and most cost-effective solution. Give us a call today.

Posted on Author adminCategories Drainage, erosion control

How Do I Get Rid Of Standing Water In My College Park Md Yard?

As the area’s #1 landscape design company, we field lots of questions from the clients we work with. Among the most frequently asked is the question ‘how do I get rid of standing water in my College Park MD yard?’

It’s easy to see where this question arises from. After all, nobody likes having pools of water in their yard that can often linger for days on end. Unfortunately, there are no quick and easy answers because there are so many different possible causes. In this article, we’ll discuss the most common of those, and the optimal solutions for each case.

Broadly speaking, there are two categories of issues to consider here. Those that are habit-based, arising from specific things you’re doing or not doing, and those that are design-based, which arise from specific characteristics or features of your property.

As you might expect, answering the question ‘how do I get rid of standing water in my College Park MD yard?’ tends to be easier and more straightforward when dealing with habit-based issues, so let’s take a look at those first.

The two most common habit-based issues are overwatering and issues relating to the design of homemade decorative planting beds.

Overwatering is the simplest issue to correct, and any time you see areas of standing water around your plants, the first thing you should try is watering them less. Odds are excellent that doing so will eliminate the problem.

The most common issue where homemade decorative planting beds are concerned is that the homeowners who build them often fail to build adequate drainage channels into their designs. This problem is compounded if the beds are built up against your house, because quite often, no consideration will be given to the downspouts connected to their rain gutters.

Any time it rains, these will wind up emptying into the decorative beds, and absent an adequate drainage channel, the water has nowhere to go, so it pools there. This is especially dangerous because when you’ve got water pooling right next to your house, it will invariably begin seeping into the foundation of your home, where it can cause considerable damage leading to expensive repair bills.

The answer to the question ‘how do I get rid of standing water in my College Park MD yard?’ in this instance is two-fold. First, make sure any decorative planting beds you create have an adequate drainage channel and second, angle your downspouts well away from those beds, so that the water isn’t draining into them.

Now, let’s talk about those trickier design-based issues. Here are the biggest and most common ones you’re likely to see:

Thatch

Thatch is the layer of organic material that sits just out of sight under your grass, resting atop your topsoil layer. Over time, this layer will become increasingly tightly woven and ultimately, the day will come when it’s so thick and so tightly woven that it’s all but impossible for water to filter past it to get to your topsoil layer where it can drain away.

In this instance, the answer to the question ‘how do I get rid of standing water in my College Park MD yard?’ involves removing the thatch layer and aerating your lawn. This requires the use of some specialized equipment but is a project that a committed do it yourselfer could handle on their own. If you’re not a DIYer, or you just don’t have the time to deal with it, we’re more than happy to assist.

Hardpan

Hardpan can be a manmade issue, created by moving heavy equipment over a section of your yard, or it can occur naturally. Basically, it’s a layer of soil beneath your topsoil that’s so compacted that it’s almost impossible for water to pass through it, which makes it quite similar to the thatch issue we described above.

In this case, the answer to the question ‘how do I get rid of standing water in my College Park MD yard?’ revolves around breaking up the hardpan. Unfortunately, that’s a much bigger job than removing the thatch layer and is beyond the capabilities of most DIYers.

Improper Grading

This is far and away the most serious of the design-based issues. If your properly wasn’t graded properly, or time has significantly changed the lay of your land, anytime it rains, water will collect in the lowest-lying areas on your property and will have no place to go.

While it’s possible to bring in heavy equipment and completely transform the lay of your land, changing the grading of your property, in most cases, the simpler and more cost-effective solution is to install a drainage system, most often a French drain. This will redirect the water away from that area and into a drainage ditch, a nearby pond, or the like.

In this instance, before you have the drain installed, it’s important to look into the future, especially if you have other landscaping you’d like to do on the property. The best way to do that is to create a Master Landscape Design document which captures all the landscaping initiatives you’d like to undertake, allowing you to prioritize them.

We can help you create the document, and armed with that information, we’ll be able to position the drain such that it accommodates the future landscaping plans you’ve got.

Whatever the case, and whatever your needs are where the landscaping on your property is concerned, we’ve got you covered. Call our office today.

Posted on Author adminCategories Drainage, erosion control

How Do I Get Rid Of Standing Water In My Bowie Md Yard?

We get a lot of great questions from the clients we work with. One of the more common we hear is: ‘how do I get rid of standing water in my Bowie MD yard?’

It’s an excellent question, but one for which there’s no easy answer. Since the particulars of each situation and property are different, there are no cookie cutter solutions to be found. In this article, we’ll take a closer look at possible causes and solutions in the hopes of providing a comprehensive answer to the question ‘how do I get rid of standing water in my Bowie MD yard?’

Broadly speaking, standing water can be traced to one of two root causes. We’ll refer to these as habit-based and design-based issues.

Habit-based issues are, as the name indicates, things that you’re doing or not doing that may be contributing to the issue. For example, it may be the case that you’re simply watering your plants too much. If you’re giving them more water than they need, and more than the soil can absorb, it’s going to just sit there, creating an unsightly mess and providing a breeding ground for mosquitoes. Not good.

Fortunately, the solution here is simple, and the very first thing you should try is to simply water your plants a bit less and see if the issue goes away.

Another possibility here is that you’ve created a decorative raised bed but haven’t built in drainage channels to allow the water to escape. In that case, when you water the plants in the bed, the roots and the soil will soak up what they can, but the rest will just sit there.

The worst instance of an issue like this occurs if you’ve constructed a decorative bed next to your house, and the downspouts connected to your rain gutters are emptying into it. That’s going to virtually guarantee you’ll have standing water pooled right next to your house, which, if not addressed quickly, could cause serious damage to your foundation.

As we said though, in cases involving habit-based issues, answering the question ‘how do I get rid of standing water in my Bowie MD yard?’ tends to be simple and straightforward.

Design-based issues are significantly more of a challenge to address, but there are viable options in every case. We’ll cover those next. Here are the most common culprits:

Thatch

Thatch is the layer of organic debris that exists between the grass you can see and your topsoil.
When this layer gets too thick, it will prevent water from trickling down to your topsoil and draining away. If this is the root cause of your issue, answering the question ‘how do I get rid of standing water in my Bowie MD yard?’ is as simple as removing the thatch layer and aerating your lawn.

Hardpan

Hardpan is created when the layer of sub-soil that exists beneath your topsoil becomes incredibly compacted. This can occur naturally or be caused by the presence of heavy construction vehicles moving repeatedly over an area. The problem here is that hardpan is so tightly compacted that it’s virtually impossible for water to filter through it, which leads to the creation of pools of water on the surface above it.

If this is the root cause of your issue, answering the question ‘how do I get rid of standing water in my Bowie MD yard?’ is a bit more involved and requires the use of specialized equipment. Experienced do it yourselfers are likely to be able to get it done, but if it’s a bigger project than you’d care to undertake on your own, we’re happy to help.

Clay Soil Or Poor Grading Issues

We’re grouping these two together because the solution to both problems is the same. Soil quality and composition can vary widely from one property to the next, and even in different areas on the same property.

If you’ve got extremely dense soil or clay on one portion of your land, the water’s just not going to drain very well without help. The same is true if your land is improperly graded. While it’s certainly possible to bring in heavy equipment and radically alter the grading of your property, the easier solution in this case is to install some type of drainage system.

There are lots of possibilities here, but the most common solution is the deployment of a French drain, which can redirect the water to some other area such as a swale, a decorative pond, or a nearby stream or drainage ditch.

If this is the solution needed, it bears thinking about any other landscaping you may want to do in the future so that when the drain is installed, its position doesn’t run afoul of any future landscaping plans you might have.

The best way to do that is with the creation of a master landscaping design document, which we can help you create. It’s a document that captures and prioritizes all the landscaping initiatives you ultimately want to undertake. Building that document first will ensure proper placement of the drainage system we ultimately install.

As you can see then, resolving standing water issues is a lot more complex than first meets the eye, because there are so many possible causes to the problem. Whatever the case though, help is just a phone call away. Give our office a call, and we’ll identify the root cause for you, and propose a solution that will solve the issue once and for all.

Posted on Author adminCategories Drainage, erosion control

How Do I Get Rid Of Standing Water In My Bethesda Md Yard?

We get lots of great landscaping-related questions from the clients we work with. One of the more common ones is this: ‘How do I get rid of standing water in my Bethesda MD yard?’

It’s much more than just an aesthetic issue. Pools of standing water reduce the amount of useable yard space you have, can be a breeding ground for mosquitoes, and in cases where the water is pooling quite close to your home, it can seep into and damage your foundation where it can cause significant damage.

Unfortunately, there are so many different possible causes that there’s no one quick and easy answer. In this piece, we’ll explore the issue more thoroughly, identify some of the more common causes, and fill you in on the solutions in each of those cases.

Before we do that, we’ll start by saying that generally speaking, standing water issues can be divided into two categories: Habit-based and Design-based.

Habit-based issues are issues that arise from things you’re doing or not doing on your property. Answering the question ‘how do I get rid of standing water in my Bethesda MD yard?’ in these cases is pretty straightforward. Make some basic changes to how you’re doing certain things and those types of issues go away.

Where habit-based issues are concerned, the two biggest ones we see are:

Simple Overwatering

This is one of the most common issues we see. If you’re giving your plants more water than they need, and more than the topsoil around the plants can absorb, the water is going to pool and collect until it has time to percolate down through the soil. In this case, the solution is to simply water less and the problem will go away on its own.

Decorative Planting Beds

Lots of people like to build decorative beds to plant their favorite herbs and flowers in. Unfortunately, many of these homemade designs don’t incorporate a sufficiently large drainage channel that will allow any excess water to escape the bed.

The problem is made worse in cases where the decorative beds are built right next to your house, and the downspouts connected to your rain gutters empty straight into the bed.

Here, the answer to the question ‘how do I get rid of standing water in my Bethesda MD yard?’ involves creating a more robust drainage channel so excess water has an easier route out of the bed, and to extend and redirect your downspouts to ensure that they’re not emptying into the bed itself.

Those are the easy issues. The design-based issues we’ll talk about next tend to be a bit trickier, but in every case, are still solvable problems. These issues arise because of characteristics that are specific to your piece of property. What you’re doing or not doing has no real bearing on them. Here are the most common things you’re likely to run into:

Hardpan

Hardpan can be either manmade, by the presence of heavy equipment passing over a given area, or it can be naturally occurring. It’s a condition where the layer of soil just beneath your topsoil becomes so compacted that it’s virtually impossible for water to filter through it.

In this case, the answer to the question ‘how do I get rid of standing water in my Bethesda MD yard?’ involves bringing in specialized equipment to break up the hardpan. It’s a big job, and something that all but the most committed do it yourselfers will probably want help with. If that sounds a bit daunting to you, we’ll be happy to take care of your hardpan issue for you!

Thatch

Thatch problems are similar to hardpan issues, but generally easier to resolve. Thatch is the layer of organic material that’s under your grass and resting atop the topsoil. Over time, the thatch layer can become highly compacted and so tightly interwoven that water has difficulty filtering down past it and into the soil.

Answering the question ‘how do I get rid of standing water in my Bethesda MD yard?’ involves removing the thatch layer and aerating the soil beneath it. While this requires the use of some specialized equipment, it’s generally easier to deal with than hardpan issues, and serious DIYers should be able to handle it on their own.

If, for whatever reason, you’d like to delegate the task, again, we’re more than happy to assist. As the top-rated landscape design company in the area, we’ve got the skills and experience to make short work of your drainage issue, whatever the root cause might be.

Don’t let standing water ruin the aesthetic of your lawn, reduce the amount of useable space you’ve got, and potentially cause serious, much more damaging problems. Help is just a phone call away.

We’ve built our reputation by exceeding the expectations of each and every client we serve, and we’d love to add you to our growing family of satisfied clients.

Whether you simply want to solve this one issue, or you’ve decided to start making your landscaping dreams come true, we can help. If you know you want to do some additional landscaping, but you’re struggling to come up with specific ideas, be sure to spend some time browsing the photos on our website.

Not only will this give you an opportunity to see the quality of the work we do for yourself, but you’ll also come away with tons of great landscaping ideas for your own property. When you’re ready to get started, just give us a call.

Posted on Author adminCategories Drainage, erosion control

landscaping drainage in Silver Spring MD

Drainage issues are one of the more common problems that property owners face. It’s also one of those problems that’s not readily apparent when you’re looking at houses to buy, so it may not be something you’re aware of until after you’ve lived in your home for a while. Typically, you’ll have one or more of the following:

  • Signs of erosion as water surges uncontrolled from the higher elevations to the lower. Over time this will transform the lay of your land.
  • Areas of your yard that are persistently soft, soggy, or spongey when you walk on them.
  • Patches of yellowish grass and unhealthy shrubs and trees suffering from excess water.
  • Or even areas of standing water that remain for days after a hard rain.

All of these are worse problems than you may think, but worst among them is the last one we mentioned, areas of persistent standing water, especially if that water is uncomfortably close to your home.

The simple truth is that few things are more damaging to your home than water, and if left unchecked, some of that standing water will seep into your foundation, causing serious damage.

Things get worse if yours is one of the many homes in the region with a basement. The presence of all that standing water means that the soil it’s sitting on has already absorbed as much moisture as it can, which greatly increases its total weight.

That, in turn, exerts tremendous pressure on the walls of your basement. If action isn’t taken quickly, you’ll start to see cracks appearing in the walls, and widespread leakages. Not long after that, the walls will begin caving in, resulting in staggering repair bills.

Even if the standing water is at a safe distance from your home, it’s still problematic for three reasons:

1) It reduces the amount of yard space you’ve got for planting, landscaping, and entertaining.

2) It’s a breeding ground for mosquitoes.

3) And it’s a breeding ground for a variety of bacteria which are harmful to your family’s health.

The good news is that all of those issues can be fixed by installing a landscaping drainage system on your Silver Spring, MD property.

Here’s something interesting though. Unless you had your home custom built, it’s possible that there’s already a landscaping drainage system on your Silver Spring, MD property. That’s especially likely if a former owner did some landscaping before you bought the place, but if that’s true, then it’s fair to ask how and why you’re having a drainage issue now?

It could be the case that the existing drainage system has simply become clogged or damaged. If that’s the case, then the solution is simple. We locate the existing landscaping drainage system on your Silver Spring, MD property, track down the source of the problem and fix it, and your drainage problem goes away.

We can’t know for sure if that’s the case until we send one of our experienced engineers to your property to survey and assess the situation. Whatever we find, we’ll give you a complete report and make a professional recommendation.

If there’s an existing system we can repair, fantastic! We’re happy to do that. If not, we’ll design and build a landscaping drainage system on your Silver Spring, MD property. Before any work begins, of course, we’ll give you a free, no obligation estimate so you’ll have a firm understanding of what it will take to put the problem in your rearview mirror.

This brings us to another, related issue. How much landscaping do you want, or plan to do on your property? If you’re like most people, you’ve probably got at least a few projects in mind, but be warned: Once you start making changes, you’ll probably get a taste for it and want to do more!

If you’ve got a laundry list of landscaping improvements you’d like to make, you’d benefit greatly from the creation of a master landscape design document.

This document captures all your landscaping ambitions under a single umbrella, which offers a trio of key advantages:

1) It allows you to compare each item on your wish list with all the others so you can make sure that everything you want to do works together to create a unified aesthetic that’s pleasing to the eye. There’s nothing worse than dropping the last piece of landscaping in place, only to find that it clashes with earlier work you’ve done, because that forces you into the position of having to rip something out to rethink, which costs you both time and money.

2) It allows you to prioritize your list and identify dependencies. Take our example above of installing a landscaping drainage system on your Silver Spring, MD property. It makes sense to put that in place before you start planting trees and shrubs strategically so there’s no chance of having to pull them out later to install the drainage system later on.

3) Finally, it allows you to break large, budget-busting projects into smaller sub-projects, which enables you to make steady, consistent progress as you march through the list of improvements you want to make.

Whatever your landscaping goals and ambitions are, we’d love to help make them a reality. Over the last twenty-five years, we’ve built our reputation not only by transforming ordinary yards into stunning showplaces, but also by exceeding the expectations of each client we work with, and we’d love to add you to our growing family. Give us a call today.

Posted on Author adminCategories Drainage

landscape design in Silver Spring MD

How happy are you with the “look and feel” of your property? There are probably plenty of things you like about it, but also, you’ve probably got a mental “wish list” of things you’d like to change. The problem though, is that most people don’t have a clear idea of where to start. As the top-rated landscape design company in Silver Spring, MD, we can help with that.

The first thing we’d recommend, before you sit down with us, is to break out a note pad (or word document) and make a list. Write down everything you’d like to add or change about your property. Just let your imagination run wild.

Do you want to turn your steep slopes into terraced areas for more planting or entertaining? Do you envision a “secret garden” somewhere in the back yard? A custom walkway leading to your front door? A decorative pond?

Whatever your vision is, just write every element down, even the ones you think are probably out of reach. Once we start working together, we may be able to find ways of making the items you think are too expensive more affordable. You never know until you try!

Once you’ve got your “ultimate landscaping wish list” put together, it’s time to start turning that into a master landscape design document for your Silver Spring, MD property. That’s where we come in. We can work with you to prioritize the list and beak each major element into smaller, bite-sized projects that won’t overwhelm your budget.

We’ll also work with you to make sure that all your landscaping elements fit together to form a cohesive whole, once the last piece of the puzzle falls into place.

Once the master landscape design document for your Silver Spring, MD property has been finalized, it’s time for the real work to begin.

We’ll start on the first item of the list as soon as you’re ready to begin, and at every step of the way, before we start doing the actual work, we’ll give you a no-obligation estimate so you’ll have a complete understanding of exactly what it will take to bring that particular piece of your landscaping puzzle across the finish line.

Then, assuming you’re comfortable with everything, we’ll start systematically turning your dreams into reality. Before you know it, working together, we’ll have made significant progress toward your landscaping goals.

Since the day we first opened our doors, we’ve built our reputation by exceeding the expectations of each and every client we work with, and we’d love to add you to our growing family. When you’re ready to get started, we’re just a phone call away. We can’t wait to hear from you!

Posted on Author adminCategories landscape design

landscaping drainage in Rockville MD

Have you been noticing any of the following in or around your property?

  • Areas of your property that are soft, muddy or soggy underfoot, more often than not.
  • Areas of yellow grass, or shrubs and trees with yellow, shriveled leaves.
  • Signs of erosion after a heavy rain.
  • Or pools of standing water that linger for days after the rain stops.

If you see one or more of those, then it sounds like you’ve got a landscaping drainage issue on your Rockville, MD property.

Although all of the above are problematic, the worst, by far, is standing water, especially if it’s pooling quite close to your home.

In those cases, you can bet that some of that water is seeping into your foundation. Ultimately, it will lead to cracking which will cause you no end of trouble and lead to expensive repair bills, but that’s not the worst of it.

If your home has a basement, as many in the area do, then the soil all around your foundation is supersaturated with water and exerting tremendous amounts of pressure on your basement walls.

In the medium term, that will lead to cracks in your basement walls and leaks. Longer term, if the problem isn’t addressed, it will cause your basement walls to start caving in, and at that point, the repair bills will be staggering.

Don’t think you’re out of the woods if the water is pooling at a safe distance from your house though.

If you’ve got a septic system, and the water is collecting in or around your drain field, it will cause your home septic system to malfunction and could lead to raw sewage backing up in your house. Not a pretty sight.

Even if that’s not the case though, standing water is a breeding ground for mosquitoes and bacteria that poses health risks to your family.

Fortunately, all of those problems can be avoided by installing a robust landscaping drainage system on your Rockville, MD property.

Note that unless you had your home custom built, you may already have one and not realize it. It’s possible that one of the home’s former owners did a bit of landscaping and had a landscaping drainage system installed on the Rockville, MD property as part of the work he did.

If that’s the case, the reason you’re experiencing trouble now is likely that over time, the system has become clogged or damaged. Those are easy problems to fix. We locate the existing landscaping drainage system on your Rockville, MD problem, isolate the source of the clog or damage, repair that, and voila! Your problem goes away.

We can’t know that for sure until we send one of our seasoned engineers out to your property to inspect it. Rest assured though, that whatever we find, we’ll give you a full report and a professional recommendation, and if needs be, can draft plans to design and built a landscaping drainage system on your Rockville, MD that will fix the problem once and for all.

Of course, our formal recommendation will include a free, no obligation estimate so you’ll have a clear understanding of exactly what it will take to put the problem behind you once and for all.

This, however, brings us to another, related topic. How much landscaping do you see yourself doing on your property?

If you’re like most people, you’ve probably got at least a few ideas in mind, and that’s the funny thing about landscaping. It’s addicting! Once you start, you may not want to stop. The more ideas you have on your wish list, the more you could benefit from the creation of a master landscaping design document.

First, by having all your landscaping goals in one place, you can compare them to each other to make sure that none of the individual elements clash with each other, aesthetically. That’s important because it keeps you from installing landscaping features that don’t mesh well, only to have to rip them out later and rethink.

Second, it allows you to spot projects with dependencies, like our drainage system installation example described above. It just makes sense to do that first, before you get busy planting and making other improvements.

Finally, it allows you to spot large projects that would be budget busting, and break them into smaller, more budget-friendly sub-components, which allows you to make steady progress toward your goals.

Once you sit down and start putting your wish list together, you may find that you can’t visualize some of the particulars. It’s a common problem, and we can help too. If you’re struggling with that part of it, spend some time checking out the extensive photos section on our website. Not only will it give you tons of great ideas for your own project, but it’ll also give you an opportunity to see the quality of our work for yourself.

We’ve been proudly serving the region for more than twenty-five years, and we’ve built our reputation by exceeding the expectations of every client we work with. We’d love to add you to our growing family, so when you’re ready to begin, just give us a call. Let’s start turning your dreams into reality!

Posted on Author adminCategories Drainage

landscaping drainage in Potomac MD

Are you experiencing any of the following?

  • Erosion problems
  • Areas of you yard that are persistently soggy
  • Areas of your yard where the grass, trees and shrubs are yellowed, or showing signs of being waterlogged
  • Or pools of standing water anywhere on your property?

If so, then it’s a clear sign that you’ve got a drainage issue. It’s a bigger problem than you might think, especially if you’ve got pools of water collecting somewhere that linger for days after it rains.

The issue there is that if the water is pooling close to your house, then you can bet that some portion of it is seeping into, your foundation. Few things are more damaging to home and property than water, and it won’t be long before you’re looking at serious damage that could cost thousands of dollars to fix.

Things get even worse if you have a basement, and many homes in the area do. The problem there is that the water is pooling because the soil has already absorbed as much as it can. All that water in the soil adds immensely to its weight, which means it’s exerting vast amounts of pressure on the walls of your basement.

Over time, that’s going to lead to cracking and leaking, and if you don’t take immediate action, it will ultimately cause your basement walls to start caving in. At that point, you may be facing staggering repair bills!

Even if the water is collecting and lingering a safe distance from your home though, it’s still a major problem because it:

  • Reduces the amount of useable lawn space you have for landscaping and entertaining
  • Is a breeding ground for mosquitoes and other pests
  • And is a breeding ground for a variety of microbes, most of which are harmful to human health

Not good. Fortunately, all of the problems described above can be fixed with the installation of a properly designed landscaping drainage system on your Potomac, MD property.

Note that unless you had your home custom built, it’s possible that some former owner did some landscaping work, and/or had a landscaping drainage installed on the Potomac, MD property you now own, but over time, that system has become clogged or damaged, leading to the problems you’re seeing now.

If that’s the case, the solution is a simple one. We locate the drainage system, find the point of failure and fix it. Problem solved. If you’re not sure whether or not you have a landscaping drainage system on your Potomac, MD property, we can send one of our experienced engineers out to your home to survey and assess the situation.

If it turns out you don’t have one, we can design a landscaping drainage system for your Potomac, MD property and install it for you. Before any work begins though, we’ll give you a free, no obligation estimate so you’ll have a firm understanding of exactly what it will take to put the problem behind you once and for all.

Here’s another thing related to the above. If you plan to eventually do quite a bit of landscaping, you definitely want to install a landscaping drainage system on your Potomac, MD early on, probably as your first order of business. That way, you won’t have to worry about having to rip out additions that come later to attend to it.

This brings us to the topic of the master landscaping design document, and its importance.

If you’re only planning a smaller landscaping project, then a master design document won’t be of much benefit, but if you’ve got a long list of improvements you’d like to make on and around your property, then it becomes incredibly valuable for a number of reasons.

First and foremost, by putting all of your landscaping goals and ambitions in one centralized place, it allows you to spot dependencies like the one we described above.

Second, it gives you the opportunity to compare your various landscaping components with everything else on your list so you can make sure that none of the additions you have planned will clash with each other, creating an aesthetic that’s not pleasing to the eye.

Finding that out before the work begins will save you both time and money, and greatly simplify the process.

Finally, it allows you to better prioritize your list of landscaping projects, and break them down into smaller, bite-sized sub-components that are more budget friendly. This will enable you to make steady progress on your landscaping goals and approach the problem in a logical, systematic manner.

We can help you put the document together and offer our expert opinion and advice about the initiatives you’d like to undertake. It may well be the case that there’s a more cost-effective means of doing some of the work you have in mind. We can help identify those opportunities, which will save you money.

If you know you want to turn your property into the showplace you’ve always imagined it could be, but you’re struggling to express your vision, not to worry. Our website is filled with photographs showcasing the work we’ve done for your friends and neighbors. Spend some time checking it out and you’ll not only get tons of great ideas for your own project, but it will give you the opportunity to see the quality of our work for yourself.

When you’re ready to begin, we’re just a phone call away!

Posted on Author adminCategories Drainage

landscape design in Potomac MD

Do you need a master landscape design document for your Potomac, MD property?

Unless you’re just planning to make one or two minor, cosmetic changes, then the answer to that question is almost certainly yes!

Landscaping can be a tricky business. It can be hard to know where to begin. For example: Let’s say you have a property with steep slopes and you want to create more useable space. At the same time, you’ve got plans for a custom walkway leading to your front door. Which of those should come first, and why?

A design document can help answer those types of questions!

A master landscape design document for your Potomac, MD property is more than a mere “laundry list” of changes you’d like to make. It is that, sure, but it’s also a prioritized list that helps you understand how to tackle your overall landscaping goals, and it breaks down larger goals into smaller, manageably sized projects that won’t stretch your budget to the breaking point.

In addition to that, by having all your goals and objectives in a single location, you can check the various elements you have planned against each other to make sure that once all the pieces are in place, your landscaping will form a cohesive, seamless whole and not a jarring mess that actually detracts from the aesthetic of your property.

We’ve been in the business a long time, and have worked hard to become the #1 landscape design company in Potomac, MD. We’d love the opportunity to put our years of experience to work for you and exceed your expectations.

We’ll help you turn your simple “landscaping wish list” into a comprehensive design document, help you prioritize the various items on your list, and then break those down to the granular level so you’ll be able to make steady, consistent progress toward your landscaping goals.

Whatever the scope and scale of your landscaping ambitions, we can help you get to where you want to go, and slowly transform your property in to the private paradise you always knew it could be.

If you know you want to make changes but are struggling to make sense of your vision, be sure to spend some time on your website. Our extensive photos section will not only give you the opportunity to see the quality of the work we do for yourself, but they’ll give you plenty of ideas for your own landscaping initiatives.

When you’re ready to get started, we’re just a phone call away. We’ve helped scores of families in the area turn their landscaping dreams into reality and we’d love the opportunity to do the same for you and exceed your expectations.

Posted on Author adminCategories landscape design

landscaping drainage in North Potomac MD

You wouldn’t have purchased your home if there weren’t a number of things you loved about it. Unfortunately, some problems aren’t readily apparent until you’ve lived on the property for a while. One of those issues is drainage. It’s a fairly common problem, resulting from the lack of a properly functioning landscaping drainage system on your North Potomac, MD property.

Typically, you’ll know you have a drainage issue if you see any of the following:

  • Tracks worn into the ground marking the flow of water running downhill
  • Soil erosion
  • Areas of yellow grass, unhealthy trees and plants that are getting much more water than they need
  • Areas of your yard that are often soggy and squishy underfoot, even when it hasn’t rained in a while
  • Pools of standing water that linger for days after a hard rain

All of these are bigger issues than you might think, but of course, pools of standing water that linger for days are the worst of the lot, especially in cases where the standing water collects quite near your home.

If that’s the case, then you can bet that some of that water is seeping into, and causing serious damage to your foundation, which will ultimately lead to a repair bill that sets you back thousands of dollars.

It gets worse if you have a basement, because standing water means that the soil around your house has already absorbed as much moisture as it can, which means that the soil pressed against the walls of your basement is significantly heavier than it otherwise would be.

That, in turn, means that it’s exerting tremendous amounts of pressure on the walls of your basement. Left unchecked, it will eventually cause cracks in your basement walls and leaking, which will get worse over time until the walls start caving in. At that point, your repair bills will be astronomical!

Of course, even if the water is pooling some distance from your home, it’s still a problem because:

  • It reduces the amount of usable space in your yard, which means less room for landscaping, entertaining and outdoor enjoyment
  • It’s a breeding ground for mosquitoes
  • And it’s a breeding ground for a variety of microbes which are hazardous to the health of your family.

A well-designed landscaping drainage system on your North Potomac, MD property will fix all of that.

Note that it’s entirely possible that you already have a landscaping drainage system on your North Potomac, MD property, especially if a previous owner did any landscaping work before you bought the place.

If that’s the case, it may be that over the course of time, that system has become clogged or damaged, resulting in the drainage issues you’re seeing now. That’s a simple fix. We just find the existing system, isolate the problem and fix it. Problem solved.

Sometimes though, a previous owner may have added landscaping elements without attending to the drainage issues. In those cases, it may be possible for us to design a landscaping drainage system for your North Potomac, MD property that can be installed retroactively, with minimal impact to the existing landscaping.

It may be the case, however, that such a solution is impractical or unworkable. Either way, after we survey and assess your situation, we’ll let you know what we find and map out the options for you so you can decide the optimal approach to take.

Here’s another point to consider: How much landscaping work do you plan on doing?

If you have a long list of improvements you’d like to make to your property, then you would almost certainly benefit from the creation of a master landscape design document. We can help you create it.

In simplest terms, it’s a document that captures all your landscaping goals and ambitions under a single umbrella, but there’s more to it than just that.

Once you’ve got your document fully fleshed out, you’ll be able to break your landscaping goals into smaller, budget-friendly sub-projects that will enable you to make steady progress toward your goals.

In addition to that, you’ll be able to compare each landscaping element you’re interested in adding to all the others so you can ensure that everything you want to add or change hangs together to create a cohesive whole that’s aesthetically pleasing.

Absent this document, we’ve seen many instances where home owners dropped their last piece of landscaping into place only to discover that it some other element clashed horribly with it, requiring them to have to strip it out and rethink. Not good, and a problem that’s easy to avoid!

Finally, and perhaps most compellingly, the document will allow you to spot dependencies, which is to say, projects that depend on the completion of other projects on the list. For instance, if you know you want to do some planting in an area that’s currently persistently waterlogged, it makes sense to start by designing and installing a robust landscaping drainage system on your North Potomac, MD property.

In other words, it allows you to better prioritize your list and march toward your goals in a systematic, methodical way.

Of course, if you only plan to make a few minor cosmetic landscaping additions, then such a document will be of limited value, but if you’re like most people, once you get started making improvements, you’ll get the fever for it and want to do more.

Whatever your landscaping ambitions are, we’re just a phone call away. Give us a call when you’re ready to get started.

Posted on Author adminCategories Drainage