Base Preparation is the Foundation of a Beautiful and Long-Lasting Hardscape
Base preparation for a front walkway
Everyone loves the look of a nice stonewall, patio or walkway. There are some great hardscape materials to use, no matter what your style or budget may be.
But did you know that 80% of the work that goes into installing those walls, patios and walkways is underground?
The excavation piece of those hardscape projects is actually the hardest part. Preparing the base of the hardscape design – what’s underneath your patio or walkway – is crucial to endurance.
Creating a hardscape for your yard is a lot like building a house. You start with a good foundation and build up. With a solid foundation, that house will last a long time. It’s the same with a patio, wall or pathway in your yard. The base preparations made in the very beginning of the project will help the finished project last for a long time.
The finished walkway
Cutting corners in the installation will only cost you money in the long run. There’s a lot to take into consideration when approaching these landscaping projects, including:
- Depth and underlayment of the gravel base
- Geosynthetics, for soil separation and stability
- Proper backfill material (and enough of it)
- Compaction equipment, to eliminate settling
- Accurate grading
Whether you are doing it yourself or hiring a professional landscape company, you want to make sure the proper installation methods are being used. If you don’t know what the above bullet points mean, you probably want to hire professionals. It may seem more expensive at first, but you’ll save money in the long run.
Here at M. J. Storey Landscape Construction, all of our staff is certified by SRW and ICPI standards. Certified work makes a difference in longevity, which is particularly important in Maine because of the clay in the soils and the extreme freeze – thaw cycles we endure.
The most important work done for your hardscape is the work that people don’t see. There are serious implications for longevity and your investment if you ignore the base preparations.
April Showers Bring Attention to Drainage Problems
April showers bring May flowers. These showers also bring attention to the drainage problems in your yard.
With all the recent rain we’ve been having here in Maine, you know if you have a drainage problem right now. Constant puddles and wet, mucky areas in the yard. Standing water. Flooding of walkways. Saturated grass that’s too wet to mow, even after the rain has come and gone.
If you wait for the grass to dry or the big puddles in your yard to evaporate, the problem will never go away. In fact, it might get worse. And all that water can damage the nice landscaping you have in place.
Late winter / early spring (now!) is a good time to take care of drainage issues because you can call someone like us out to take a look at the problem while it is obvious.
Call us when the moisture is noticeable, and we can come up with some solutions for you.
The good news is that there are some simple, affordable solutions to help fix your drainage problems. Solutions that don’t include a big, ugly drain spout that only shifts water to a different location.
At M. J. Storey Landscape Construction, we install
- Gutter drains – an underground piping system that catches gutter water and removes it from your property
- French drains – where we fill a trench with crushed stone in a saturated or standing water area, giving the water a place to go
- Drainage Swale and Grading– designed to manage water runoff
If you’re in Maine, and you can’t mow or can’t walk through your yard because it’s too wet and mucky, contact us now. We can see where your problem is and help you come up with the best solution for your drainage problem.
