Settles Point-Steps Completed

The steps turned out well. Actually more of a series of landings that conform to the grade-and curved due to the gate placement. New driveway/parking pad will be poured right up to the top timber.

Settles Point-Drain Pits & Steps

On Saturday my son helped me dig some pits in the back yard which were then lined with jute erosion fabric and surge stone-then we dug trenches from the pits to the creek and filled them with surge stone as well. The reason we were doing all of this is that one corner of the back yard filled with water every time it rained-the privacy fence would get silt built up around it's base and act as a dam. The pits are designed to collect the excess water and give it a place to drain under the fence then into the creek. We had heavy rain on Sunday and it seems to have worked like a charm. Yesterday and this morning were very wet from that Sunday rain, so I didn't get back out until this afternoon-and I started the structure for the steps that will provide easier access to the back yard. The treads will be filled with pea gravel.

Week 1 Progress-Settles Point..

Almost 600' of 4" ADS drain line laid from Tues-Fri this week. Luckily it is very wide open in places and I was able to do about 70% of the trenching with a machine-the other 30% either too tight, too muddy (got the trencher stuck 3 times on Tues) or too many big roots. I'm pleased with the progress up to this point. Tomorrow I start work on a surge stone project to help drain the rear of the property-next week will be doing timber steps.

Suwanee-Settles Point

This is a pretty large job that I started over the weekend with the timber planter installation and continued today with trenching and installing drain lines. This job will end up with around 500' of 4" drain line. Still to come: Catch basins, surge stone drainage pits, and more timber work-steps filled with gravel adjacent to the planter.

Marietta Drainage/Erosion Control/Grassing

Was able to finish this a few days ago. Brought in soil and regraded the side/front to redirect water away from the house-used jute erosion control fabric in areas that have been subject to erosion and seeded with a fescue/bluegrass mix.

Marietta Drainage/Erosion Control/Grassing

This site has a heavy volume of water crossing their property-most coming from adjacent yards. The combination of that and the water from their downspouts is causing problems on the side of their house with erosion and some flooding inside the structure. Today I took care of the downspouts, next on tap is a load of fill dirt that will be used to re-sculpt the side yard, fill in a large depression, and repair the erosion issues. I will then be laying down some jute erosion control fabric and planting fescue seed.

Tree Pruning in Dunwoody-

Very manic Monday..a lot of running around getting materials for the week, meeting a delivery, etc. I did work in a pruning job this afternoon though. Red Tip Photinias were a very popular landscape plant back when I started doing this in the 70's. They were overplanted, almost all developed a fungal leaf disease, and most of them are gone. There are a few remaining-and the ones you do see here and there are now huge. This client in Dunwoody has a survivor and didn't really know what to do with it. The plant was taking up too much space and blocking the view of their house. I suggested we limb it up or "treeform" it to expose the inner branch structure and take all that bulk out of it that was just using up space.

Saturday Drainage Project-Marietta

I love one day jobs like this. Nice to start and finish on the same day. This little project involved redirecting the water that was flowing directly into the front foundation and causing some issues. I installed a catch basin and formed a collection area around it, built the soil level up around the foundation, piped a downspout into the catch basin, then ran a 6" ADS corrugated line from the catch basin around to a rip rap drainage swale between the houses. All went well and it was really nice working in a t-shirt for a change!

Briarlake-Planting and Stepping Stone Installation Complete

Finished up the planting and stepping stones here today. Turned out nicely. Used Cherokee flagstone from Atlanta Landscape Materials to match some existing older stones on the property. The Mondo Grass was removed back in January and stockpiled for later use..I divided into 4-5" clumps, trimmed off the old leaves, and planted the clumps about 12-16" on center.

Briarlake...Plants!

I've been holding off on a good bit of planting, trying to get past this perpetual winter we have been having. Now that March is here, I'm ready to install some plants. The Briarlake job has been going on in phases throughout the winter. I've done a good bit of drainage work here and had to disrupt and repair in the process.... now I'm doing the planting phase and adding some stepping stones. The design behind the screened in porch is anchored by a nice Monrovia grown Mountain Laurel in the corner and a informal Sarcococca (Sweetbox) hedge. Autumn Ferns and some Hosta add interest and color. The other back area has a nice grouping of Variegated Pittisporum with a repeat of the ferns and hostas adjacent to the dry creek bed that was part of the initial drainage project.