I spent the weekend smoothing dirt and laying 2 pallets of sod. I didn't get any pictures once I was finished, but this is the aftermath of a torrential down pour we had here all this morning.
Any ideas how I can prevent this from happening again? I realize it's fresh dirt and sod, but I can't help to think this is a drainage problem.
Today marks the tenth anniversary of a freak storm we had here. We had gale force winds measured in excess of 120mph for 30 minutes. It was dubbed 'Hurricane Elvis' as I live on the outskirts of Memphis, TN, which is the home of Elvis Presley. We didn't get the bad winds this time, but we did get the rain. The streets looked like rivers as I was driving down them.
Anyway, hope someone out there has some insight on what to do about this. Thanks!
Oh, nevermind the eyesore you see in one of the pictures. That is from my lazy ass neighbor. I would love to one day just make his house disappear.
That's fair amount of slope you have there. Sod would have been my choice as well, as grass is one of the best erosion control measures. There really isnt much you could have done if it was just laid. Once the grass starts to root in, you should not see much of any wash from under it. Using sod staples will help hold them in future rains until it roots, but nothing will really stop the washout from under it until that happens. Once you re-grade the slope & set the sod back down, you could use some hay or pine straw bales where the grass meets the concrete. Run them the entire length & drive some rebar through them into the ground. This will dam the water so it doesnt rush under the new sod. Put as much of the bale on the concrete as possible & still leave enough to get the rebar through. That way it wont kill the grass. Just be sure you dont flood another area with the bale dam. In a few weeks the grass should be rooted & you can remove the bales. Sorry for the long reply. Hope this makes sense.
Scott
Better compaction of the soild would have been your best bet since it was just spread. Agreed the grass will help once it roots, however you may want to have some rip rap or other water slowing measure to help if this is frequent. I have had great success with North American Green's products on larger project. They will work on a small scale as well.
We had about 4 or 5 inches of rain in 3 hours this morning. The soil around here is sandy, so I'm not sure if the soil were packed down would have prevented this. My main concern is if once the grass takes root, will I still have drainage problems? I'm afraid of building a dam as that would divert the water to another fill area. The guys that did the concrete work were suppose to have taken care of all this, but they disappeared once the concrete was finished. Funny how that happens. Damn people. I'm in construction too, but I never not finish my work. Thanks guys for the replies.
The amount of rain this morning is rare, so hopefully I can get this fixed and it not happen again. Looks like I'll be spreading a dump truck load of dirt with a shovel
That's just a case of rotten luck. A couple weeks to get rooted in and you would have been fine.
We had our place hydro-seeded a few years back and this was mid-summer, hot as hades. Took them several days to get the whole property done (about five acres) and the last thing the guy said was "you better pray for rain if you want this stuff to take off". A day later it started raining... didn't stop for three days. Buy the time it was all said and done, about 75% of it washed out the back of the property into the drainage ditch. We literally watched our money float away.
Jeff-
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