Keyword Search

Found 20 results for the keyword(s) ‘Landscaping’

• Article

  OVERVIEW: Spring Flooding of Basements

  Every spring basements get flooded with water and I get flooded with letters about basements turned into swimming pools. Although there is a lot of information on this site about the problem, let me summarize and link it together.  For solutions, see PREPARING FOR  A FLOOD The spring thaw is the...
• Article

  Know what's below. Call before you dig.

  Many utilities are buried just underground on residential properties.  --- Water supply pipes --- Water drain pipes --- Gas pipes --- Electrical supplies --- Telephone, TV and Web Cables --- And sometimes even more as neighborhoods move more and more away from overhead wires.  Some of the...
• Article

  Avoiding common errors with paving stones & Asphalt driveways

  It is frustrating when walkway or driveway paving stones heave with frost, or drop with erosion. If properly built, this doesn't happen. Actually what I have written here about paving stones applies to asphalt driveways as well.   A GOOD COMPACT SUBSTRATE IS ESSENTIAL IN A COLD CLIMATE You nee...
• Article

  BASEMENT: INTERIOR OR EXTERIOR INSULATION?

  It is always better to insulate on the outside of basements and crawl spaces, but usually more expensive and more trouble. Brick or field stone foundations must not be insulated on the inside for much more than one foot below ground level. The poor quality of the mortar in these foundations dete...
• Article

  Trench drains for drainage in the yard and around the house.

  Simon from Surrey, BC has an absolutely flat backyard and the kids have to wear boots just to walk across the grass.   If it is perfectly flat you will have to do some landscaping, although not too much. In fact you could pull back the grass and simply put some soil under the grass to change th...
• Article

  Basement Perimeter Drainage and Leaking Foundations

  This article deals with walls below grade, foundation walls.  For insulating above grade cinder block walls see How do you Insulate a Brick and Block construction as well as Insulating an Above Grade Block Wall from the Inside. The best way to prevent water from leaking into the basement is not ...
• Article

  Retaining Walls and Frost

  Hi Jon,  I have a driveway retaining wall that continues to be pushed by the ground, even though it is backed by gravel and drained to "nothing under the driveway" except crushed gravel. I realize proper drainage affects this somewhat, however would prefer not to cut open my driveway, sidewalk a...
• Article

  Weather Restrictions: Concrete - site mixed or delivered.

  Connect to your favourite weather forecaster and look for the following conditions:   Category: Concrete     Product: All site mixed or delivered concrete Temperature Limitations: Use above +2 C (+35 F) Rain Limitations: No rain until surface is firm -- several hours Wind Limitations:  n/a ...
• Article

  A crumbling basement wall

  We visited an old poured concrete basement that had one wall that was literally falling apart -- the others were fine. We tracked down roof and yard run-off that just feeds water to this wall all the time. This kept the wall completely saturated and although there were no obvious leaks, the fact ...
• Article

  Overview: Soil and the Spring Thaw

  You have all seen highway signs indicating the period of spring thaw and reduced truck loads throughout the northern US and all of Canada -- or walked across grass that is just beginning to thaw from the winter making deep footprints or tire marks that would never sink like that during a stro...