Erosion control near foundation

134 Views 4 Replies 2 Participants Last post by ChasTL, 14 d ago

ChasTL

Discussion Starter · 15 d ago

I have fairly steep grades on the sides of my house (we have a walkout basement). I'd like to control weeds and erosion in the 1-foot strip between my foundation and the pads for my AC units.

A former landscaper suggested river rock, landscaping fabric, and soil, topped off with mulch, all graded away from the foundation. Do these materials and ordering seem correct? I want to be careful not to create even worse drainage issues right next to my foundation. If I wanted a more maintenance-free bed with a top layer of rock, would this advice change?

Edging could also be interesting since our fence returns to the corner of our foundation, essentially mid-slope. I need to retain the bed material at the fence line while not interfering with the flow of water shedding from uphill. Any thoughts or suggestions?

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corneliani

· #2 · 15 d ago

Hard to picture what you described …

ChasTL said:
river rock, landscaping fabric, and soil, topped off with mulch

Generally speaking your grade is typically set with compactable soil, and then topped with any number of material choice to control erosion. So if you have any current erosion of existing grade them you must fill that back in with compactable soil first. Compact it well, creating the right slope, after which you can top it off with mulch or gravel or pavers or whatever you prefer. (Fabric can work but also makes it hard for rock to dig into that soil and not slide off the slick surface.)
On most of my builds I have the landscape beds encircle the AC units, as best I can. On my personal home I have pea gravel on that entire 8’ section of the house.

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ChasTL

Discussion Starter · #3 · 15 d ago

corneliani said:
Hard to picture what you described …

Generally speaking your grade is typically set with compactable soil, and then topped with any number of material choice to control erosion. So if you have any current erosion of existing grade them you must fill that back in with compactable soil first. Compact it well, creating the right slope, after which you can top it off with mulch or gravel or pavers or whatever you prefer. (Fabric can work but also makes it hard for rock to dig into that soil and not slide off the slick surface.)
On most of my builds I have the landscape beds encircle the AC units, as best I can. On my personal home I have pea gravel on that entire 8’ section of the house.

Thanks for the info! I took a couple of pics, now that I'm home, that can hopefully clear things up. (Yes, those are existing river rocks haphazardly dropped near the AC pads - I'm cleaning those out or maybe reusing them. I'm not so sure they haven't caused some erosion from being left that way.)

I don't have a ton of side yard to extend the bed out into, but wanted to run it behind both pads at least. I want to keep any weeds from growing behind the AC units too. I had someone suggesting a plastic drop cloth(!) instead of weed fabric under rocks/gravel to "eliminate weeds and channel the water". I'm... not so sure on that one.

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corneliani

· #4 · 14 d ago

The pics don't look too bad, I was picturing worse. Heck, I've seen much worse!! Frankly i'm not really seeing where your erosion issue is. As for that swale that is between your AC units and concrete wall (it looks like the backfill settled to below the natural grade?) the only way to get water to not want to follow that path is to raise it up with compactable fill dirt, thus keeping it flowing down and away from the house. Also find out where the water is coming from and divert it away from that area.
SO....... Rake up those pebbles into a pile, get rid of whatever that plastic is underneath it, and add fill dirt to the point where it's higher than the nearest spot. Compact it back real good and topdress it with gravel again. I would tell you not to mess with plastic or fabric.

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ChasTL

Discussion Starter · #5 · 14 d ago

corneliani said:
The pics don't look too bad, I was picturing worse. Heck, I've seen much worse!! Frankly i'm not really seeing where your erosion issue is. As for that swale that is between your AC units and concrete wall (it looks like the backfill settled to below the natural grade?) the only way to get water to not want to follow that path is to raise it up with compactable fill dirt, thus keeping it flowing down and away from the house. Also find out where the water is coming from and divert it away from that area.
SO....... Rake up those pebbles into a pile, get rid of whatever that plastic is underneath it, and add fill dirt to the point where it's higher than the nearest spot. Compact it back real good and topdress it with gravel again. I would tell you not to mess with plastic or fabric.

My original intent was to eliminate any grass or weeds behind the AC units. I think the haphazard rocks may have started the erosion I see - it's directly downhill of each of the two rock piles. Not horrible, but enough that it's starting to undercut the corner of the top AC pad.

I like your thoughts on layering. It sounds like rocks are good enough for weed/grass control? I'll get the existing rocks evened out, grade up with backfill, compact, and top-dress and add some edging. On the downhill edge next to my fence, should I edge or leave it open for drainage? Will the top layer of rock need any compacting to give it bite into the soil if I leave that open?

Appreciate your advice!

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