The project started with a simple problem: water damage to the front stairs and railing. When looking that over, Kevin (contractor; former home inspector) also noted that the grade of the yard was too high. Dirt was up on the sills of the garden-level basement windows, and up against the mud sill on top of the foundation. More potential for dry rot. We couldn’t just lower the grade near the house — that would create a slope towards the house. We decided to lower the grade of the entire yard. With the yard coming out, we decided to lose the lawn, lose the ivy, and redo the landscaping from scratch. We also decided to replace the front concrete stairs that go from the sidewalk to yard level. They’re broken and uneven and would now be at the wrong grade. And since we’re now doing concrete work, we decided to replace the driveway retaining walls — one was leaning badly. And while we’re fixing the driveway, let’s widen the garage door from 7 to 8 feet and re-pour the driveway too.
Work started in early November. The yard came out first — about 40 yards of dirt. Next was the ivy. The driveway retaining walls have been re-poured and the garage door opening has been prepped for the new door coming Monday. And the landscaping for the yard is mostly done. We’ll just fill in around the concrete stairs and driveway after work is complete. Here are some in-progress pictures!
Yard from the north:
Yard from the southwest:
From the west:
New driveway retaining walls and larger garage opening. New door comes Monday.
