Need help on landscaping around shop and backyard

[ive]

Hi everyone!

Looking to do some landscaping in the backyard and and behind my little shop.

We moved into a new home. Unfortunately the backyard slopes to the house and we had water damage. When we took possession of the house we changed the grade of the backyard as we finished the basement and did t want the water coming back in.

Now spring is rolling in and I need to start landscaping in the back. There’s a area behind the shop that’s gonna be used for firewood storage. This is where o want to start and work my way out.

I was thinking of putting down pavers and a wood retaining wall. Any suggestions for this area?

A concern of mine is water drainage. Any recommendations?

Pics are coming.

Thanks so much as always.

 

[NorthNjWK]

Definitely would be easier with some pictures.

 

[ive]

I’m gonna move this wood out. Then plan a pad and a wood retaining wall where the ground drops out.

Good idea? What about water?

 

[ive]

Indeed North

 

[Lynden]

Hire a landscape architect. If you're going to do the work yourself, you don't need detailed plans and specs.

 

[ive]

Another pic

 

[ive]

I’m looking to do it myself.

 

[ive]

Another picture of the yard

 

[ive]

Here’s another one

 

[CombatNinja]

It looks like you live in a swamp or something. I can't tell what is going on from those pictures. Why would you buy a hose that sustained water damage?

 

[K'ledgeBldr]

You got one helluva mess there!

At the least, you need a grading contractor. He/they can use a transit and shoot the grade(s) and establish a good water management "system". You don't want to use walls, pavers, French drains, or other water controls unless absolutely necessary. Controlling runoff with either swales or sheetflow is maintenance free.

A landscape architect will give you the above AND a plan for plantings. Using native plantings is always the best- but I certainly don't know how much variety there is in the Great White North.

 

[ive]

Thanks for the advice gentlemen. Gonna get a contractor to look and take it from there.

Thanks

 

[machsnell]

Your idea of wall outside paver area is spot on.

This allows you to 1- put wall higher than your grade which slopes towards your house and 2- create slope away from your house.

It looks like you started excavating next to house already.

You dont need an ldscp architect to solve water issues if you are reasonably competent which it seems you are.

Build wall with space you want for firewood and walking space and make it higher in the backside to block water from coming over wall. Make sure you have plenty of stone or even a catch basin style drain behind wall if there is a lot of water flow to reduce pressure on wall and evacuate water.

Then plant some easy to care for ground cover to control erosion and shrubs if you like. Keep it simple.

With a little common sense you can do it.


Sent from my SM-G960U using Tapatalk

 

[TractorJeff]

That Bank behind the Garage, can you cut that back 6 feet, then build the retaining wall?

 

[yeldogt]

I’m gonna move this wood out. Then plan a pad and a wood retaining wall where the ground drops out.

Good idea? What about water?

How much further back does you property go ? If you have space --- cut that back so you have some air back there.

Also -- I'm not sure why people always think walls. Obviously -- if you need a flat grade all the way up to a given point to save space .. a wall is necessary. It's easier and much cheaper to simply slope the ground and do proper planting to stabilize ... even cheap wild grass works very well. It's much more natural looking -- especially since so many walls today are fake building blocks.

The best advise I always give is refrain from foundation planing all around a structure.

 

[K'ledgeBldr]

Your idea of wall outside paver area is spot on.

This allows you to 1- put wall higher than your grade which slopes towards your house and 2- create slope away from your house.

It looks like you started excavating next to house already.

You dont need an ldscp architect to solve water issues if you are reasonably competent which it seems you are.

Build wall with space you want for firewood and walking space and make it higher in the backside to block water from coming over wall. Make sure you have plenty of stone or even a catch basin style drain behind wall if there is a lot of water flow to reduce pressure on wall and evacuate water.

Then plant some easy to care for ground cover to control erosion and shrubs if you like. Keep it simple.

With a little common sense you can do it.

Retaining walls are used to retain soil- not water.
Failed walls are usually due to too much water behind the wall. Retaining walls should be built to a height that when backfilled the slope is higher. This allows water to run over and down the face of the wall.

Even though well constructed walls have gravel and drain tile behind them- it's not intended for storm water management. It's just a means of mitigating groundwater pressure on the wall.

 

[3onthetree]

This allows water to run over and down the face of the wall.

False! Stop saying this in threads. You do not design retaining walls to have a waterfall on the face. Unless it is a flash flood, sheetflow water only becomes itself once the ground is saturated. So if you have that much water still traversing down a hillside, you need to address it before it gets to the wall.

Fortunately, it looks like the OP does not have this situation.
Whatever you do, you need the grade to slope away from the shop, and you need clear air space not only around the shop, but the woodpile too. Especially if having a wood retaining wall.

 

[drivesitfar]

ALL: I don't have time to read it all at the moment, but it looks like maybe you need some terracing or a grade put in your backyard. you can terrace with the big or small cement blocks you can buy at home depot and look for low areas that might need addition drains or piping to move the water.

that said it's good exercise and I bought these 85 pound Keystone blocks to add to an existing 3-4 foot retaining wall and just moving them to the back yard by hand was a workout. I like these big keystone blocks cause they have fiberglass pins.

good luck and keep posting up questions and pictures if you'd like to do this yourself.

also i didn't notice what if any skills you have so list those you have, those you'd like to learn and those you'd prefer to hire out and maybe we can help you more.

good luck