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Had a garage built at my new building. Now there's a ditch around 3 sides of the concrete foundation that needs to be brought up to sidewalk height. What do I fill it in with?
Thx . . .
If your thinking about getting loam and making plant boarders, I suggest having them deliver you garden loam. They sell it at some nurseries around here. Basically, loam with mixed in compost. I also had a load dumped in my garden, plants and grass loved it.
Dave
If you want beds around the garage you better install gutters on the garage fascia or the rain water coming off the roof will wash out your flower beds. One possible alternative is permenant plantings which are covered with landscape fabric and the stone on top of that. This will protect the soil from errosion.
So, what if I did soil, some robust plants that can take a little water like Hosta maybe, and then put one layer of something or other on top-- would that keep it from washing out?
hoa_rd, I don't think many contractors would do "extras" if it wasn't in the contract/bill. They build new homes all the time down here with no gutters. We added some when we realized the problem oldgrowth just mentioned. LOL, it was a site. But adding gutters shouldn't be too hard on a 1-story building. Good luck with it!!! Plants would look great!
Sorry to take so long to get back you. You have a hip roof so you'll need gutters on all four sides and I would suggest at least two drops (downspouts) with a splash block at the bottom to channel the water away from the building. If you want to plant something like hostas, that's all good and well but you really need to get the water away from the building so if does not get under the concrete slab. That will cause cracking, uneven settling, heaving, etc. Remember, the cold temperatures you and I experience causes the water to freeze and expand. The frost in the ground will heave your concrete and crack it. So it is important to get the water away from the building as well as stopping it from washing out your beds. And, to answer your question, Building is a very competative buisiness. If the contractors do not include gutters in the quote, you don't get them. Why don't they include them? Because most people shop for the lowest price, and if they do not realize that they need the gutters, they don't ask for them to be included in the quote. The lowest bidder wins and the owner losses! "You get what you pay for"! You can probably get a gutter crew to come to the job, run off the gutters on their gutter machine mounted right in the back of their truck and install them for about $3.00 a foot or less.
If I want gutters I don't foresee a problem-- the guy who did my roof does great gutter work.
Just a bit worried about them getting stolen at ths location. Would more than likely attempt to collect the water in a barrel. Great info about keeping the water away from the foundation, thanks.
What would happen if the gutters were only on 3 sides, not the alley side?
-h'
HAVE A SIMILAR QUESTION, THIS WILL BECOME A REAR COURTYARD PAVERS OR STAMPED CONCRETE SHOULD I FILL IT UPWITH CONCRETE OR TEAR IT ALL OUT AN STONE IT IN PRIOR TO PAVING DIMENSIONS ARE 30X 25
Well, Mosesdowg, how much money and time do you have for the project? Also, would you be doing this, or contracting the job out? We are just now completing a brick walkway and small courtyard area. It looks great but there are numerous steps to prepare the base correctly. You are in the approx zone that I am in, so you should consider the freezing/heaving issues when preparing the base.
