Over time your home’s yard can come out of grade. Numerous things are factors in this, including settling and erosion. But it’s not a difficult fix; it’s a job you can perform easily on your own, in one afternoon (depending upon the size of the yard on which you intend to reset the grade). The grade of your yard should slope away from your home’s foundation. The slope should be at least two inches per every ten feet. That’s the minimum. If the grade is either level or up-sloped of your home’s foundation, water will runoff toward the home and could damage your home’s foundation, your basement, etc. The maximum grade should be twelve inches per ten-foot distance, and anything beyond that should be held up by a retaining wall.
A small job
Walk around your home’s foundation to check the slope of the grade. Oftentimes you will find trouble areas that have developed over time. Take a shovel and knock down these high areas. Knock down any high areas near the foundation, places where water could be sent toward the home. Then, look for any low spots. Fill the low spots with topsoil, or even the dirt now available to you after bringing the home up to grade.
The big job
For those of you with big grading jobs, call Rocky Mountain Compost today. You will want fill dirt in an amount calculated for your yard’s square footage, and then you will also want a layer of topsoil, ground where you can grow grass, shrubs, etc. The biggest jobs may require the use of heavy machinery, maybe even a contractor if the job is overwhelming, however to do it by hand, again dig out all the high spots, fill the low spots, use a rake (something with thick metal teeth) to level everything, then add-in fill dirt where needed, and then add your layer of topsoil as the final grade. It’s easy, and Rocky Mountain Compost can assist you on the amount of dirt you will need, as well as transporting any heavy loads of dirt to your jobsite.
