Dangerous Property Conditions Due to Erosion

How Landscapers Can Save Money For a Home Owner

Erosion is a serious challenge to overcome and affects every home owner differently. Melting snow in the spring along with rain will usually reveal problem areas of each property. Rain gutters are designed to channel run-off water from the roof away from the main structure, but does not help with any other part of a home owner's property or landlord's apartment complex. Proper grading, landscaping and retaining walls can be the best solution.

Key areas to examine for erosion and potentially expensive or hazardous situations are along driveways, walkways or stairways. Despite gutters directing some of the rain or melting snow away from the building's foundation, the water run-off will follow the easiest and most direct path to lower elevations. Soil underneath the edges of a driveway or stairway being carved out and washed away is a very common occurrence.

Unfortunately many property owners will attempt to backfill the voided area, which in effect is treating the symptom, but not the source of the problem. Proper grading is of major importance when originally developing a parcel of land. Many jurisdictions will place limits on the grading of land in efforts to preserve the nearby ecosystem. In many situations where erosion is a problem, re-grading the land may not be a feasible option. Should this be the case landscaping using retaining walls, plants and trees will often be the best and only solution.

While many property owners are able to perform basic gardening tasks, tackling a large project, such as a retaining wall, is best left to the professional landscaper. There are several reasons for hiring a landscaping company aside from the obvious fact that stones are very heavy and difficult to move into place. Depending upon the size of the retaining wall, the wall will need to be properly reinforced and supported in order to eliminate the potential for toppling over and causing serious injury or death.

There is one trap in which the property owner will usually fall when attempting to correct an erosion problem. Rather than coming at the problem head on and fighting nature, incorporating the natural flow of water and land into the overall landscape design will usually lead to a more inexpensive and better result. Even experienced landscape contractors and builders will fail to recognize this tendency. Of course budget will almost always be a major factor in the options presented to the home owner.

Occasionally, however, working with nature may not be a realistic possibility. While home owners enjoy more freedom of artistic creativity with their own landscaping, commercial properties can be more limiting with the overall design. Relying on the experience and knowledge of an established landscaping company will be necessary in order to minimize the costs of any landscaping installation.

For more information on landscaping, irrigation and property maintenance visit Advanced Irrigation of Albertville, MN. Article independently authored by Dan Elliott. The content herein may or may not reflect the views and opinions of Advanced Irrigation. Click for search engine optimization and search engine marketing or visit WebDrafter.com's Blog.