Landscaping Advice on D.I.Y Project

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1

Anyone have experience with landscaping? I decided to take on a project at home, and want to run it by someone. I had a shed built a few years ago. The person who built the shed told me that I’ll need to put some gravel or something down around it, because if I don’t, the rain will fall from the roof, onto the ground, and dirt will splash up on the bottom of the shed. I don’t want dirt and moss growing on the bottom of the shed. So, I put gravel down, but didn’t use a base, so it’s time to something that will last longer.

I’m thinking of digging up the grass that’s there, putting down crushed stone, a layer of landscape fabric, then paver stone, and then a layer of sand on top to get in the cracks. That’s the plan so far…any thoughts, or recommendations otherwise?

I figure someone on here must have done something similar before. :wink:

2

Personally I would just do a concrete slab, your idea is solid, only issue I could see would be the possibility of roots from trees if you have any around. Also, have you tried roof drainage? Sometimes all you need is a drop down off the roof that leads into an in-ground drain leading out of the yard, just a thought.

3

Hmmm. I never thought of using concrete, but I’d need enough for this project, and it might get too heavy. My yard is clear from trees, except some bushy types I planted on my own as a privacy screen, but no large maple type trees or anything in the yard. I never thought of a drain for the shed, but that sounds beyond my capabilities. I know what you mean though, because I could channel the water where I want it, rather than where I don’t.

4

Exactly, Plus, drains are really easy to install, they’re light, and most of the time quite affordable. One of the trouble I see with pulling grass up is some settling after digging, I’m not sure where you live, but doing that might just upset the water table and cause a worse problem then before. Here is a link for home depot gutters, I would definitely check around local hardware stores as well, sometimes they’re cheaper, for all supplies.

http://www.homedepot.com/webapp/catalog/servlet/Search?storeId=10051&langId=-1&catalogId=10053&keyword=gutters&Ns=None&Ntpr=1&Ntpc=1&selectedCatgry=Search+All

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5

They do look awful cheap. I’m going to dig only enough into the ground to get at the grass roots. Then, I’ll replace enough dirt to level it out. I’ll let that set for a few days, and add a few inches of that crushed gravel…then the landscape fabric, then the paver stone, then sand. I’m going to take a look at the gutters while at the hardware store today. :wink:

6

Snaggle was kind enough to give me some tips. I figured I’d post how this came out. I just did this a few days ago. I was working around my busy schedule, rain, and frankly just feeling lazy when none of that was going on. So, here’s the finished product:

First, I dug a hole several inches deep, maybe about 3", and set up some paver stones around the edges as a border. Basically, they will help hold in the gravel, and gives me a relatively straight line to work with.

Well, remember…I said “relatively straight.” :smiley:

Then I put a few inches of crushed gravel in there. It was a heavy load carrying all that gravel and putting it in my car, but I filled five 5 gallon buckets and made 2 trips:

I forgot to snap a photo after the next step, but you can see that I put a layer of landscape fabric, and a layer of sand.

I got even lazier with taking photos, and the next two steps were that I laid my stones out where I wanted, and put sand on the top.

Then, I swept the sand into the cracks and crevices of the stones, and got this:

The last step, was that I wet it a little, but this photo was before I wet it with the hose.

All done…

It rained already. When water comes off the roof of the shed, it hits that layer of stone closest to the shed. I’m glad I did this, because I think this will last some years before I have to mess around with it again. If I could do one thing over again, I would probably take the time to measure my lines straighter. I’m happy with how it came out. I’m still considering the drains, but will likely have someone else do that for me. I knew I could do this stone thing…it’s like playing with blocks. Should hold me for awhile :slight_smile:

Thanks again Snaggle.

Tools used:

Rakes
Hoe
Tamper
Scissors
Mallet
Shovel
broom

Supplies:

Stone
Gravel
Landscape Fabric
Sand

7

That looks good. Should last quite some time.

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