If that photo is representative of the area in question, then I'd reconsider using this extremely tight space for "outdoor living". And unless I am missing something, that slope is not very severe. Even if leveled, I doubt this area would be congenial to lounging outdoors or utilizing as a patio, etc. Too exposed and too restrictive and without sufficient space to develop any kind of green privacy screening. I'd consider just a mixed shrub buffer between you and the neighboring property, perhaps with a meandering pathway connecting it to more usable areas of your property. Unless that photo doesn't reveal the true slope of the area, I'd say no terracing or retaining walls are necessary or even practical. Can you post photos of other areas of your garden that may be more conducive to outdoor living/entertaining? I still think this is a situation where engaging a professional for an hour or two can be helpful - it is difficult even from the photo to get a good visual and a true sense of exactly what you are dealing with.

Karin, I think the OP found offense with my post, not yours. I hesitated to make that reply since it held no value to him. I'm really speaking to those who might read this thread and avoid the mistakes in their future projects. If I was harsh, it was to make the point that the entire property should be considered before home construction begins. Actually, I liked the video slide show presentation. I let it run through the first time and I quickly saw a thumbnail of the material covered. The second time through I hit the pause button on each photo to get a more in-depth picture of the situation. Most of you don't live in a climate like North Carolina or Arkansas where I live. So you may not understand the significance of what was said. "Construction in our area does not include basements due to the water table being high." The same is generally true for Arkansas. Ground that is bone dry during part of the year can have a substantial underground spring in wet periods. And in warm climates wet basements or crawl spaces can result in dry rot or termites. There is not a single competent homebuilder in my area that will build a hole in the ground basement. The exception to this is a walk out basement on a lot where protective drainage can surround the home and be discharged to an area lower than the house foundation. This usually requires a down sloping lot of 8 to 12%. In the upper south, a walk out basement cuts the energy costs for heating and cooling on a per foot basis. Per foot construction costs of the home are also often reduced. For this reason, down sloping lots typically sell for about 10 to 20% more than flat or up sloping lots. What I saw here seemed to be a miss-match of house to lot. On placing the garage / driveway on the high side of the lot ... Here in Arkansas, and I suspect in North Carolina, the top 18 inches of soil never develops the level of compaction of deeper soil that has not been disturbed for millions of years. Thus below 18", you will usually find soil to have a greater load bearing capacity more suitable to garage slabs. Put the garage on the high side with a cut to hard soil, and the step-up to house finished floor gives the needed height above ground for the crawl space on the lower side of the lot. Do the reverse and you must either do an expensive compacted fill for the garage slab or make a substantial excavation to create a crawl space, one that is well below natural grade (not good). So for the house presented, there is the neighbor's water flowing to the foundation where the crawl space is at a much lower grade than the outside grade. Drive through subdivisions here and for lots with more than a 1 foot side slope, it will be the rare exception to see a garage on the low side of the lot. It is much cheaper to anticipate and prevent drainage problems than it is to fix drainage post construction. And it's much cheaper to build walls to avoid the slopes that homeowners grow to hate if done before or with foundation construction. It's a big mistake to begin construction without a detailed grading and drainage plan done by someone that knows what he/she is doing.

The truth of the matter is that the nursery and landscape industries are heavily dependent on undocumented immigrant labor to fill the demand. Firms that do not hire undocumented labor must charge a much higher hourly labor rate to cover their business expenses I don't know how it is in the rest of the country, but here in northern California in urban areas the going rate for casual day laborers is $10 an hour, which is better than the minimum wage. One rarely sees any anglos/documented laborers looking for daily work at the pick up points, which are readily known by anyone seeking workers or seeking work here in California. Having used underemployed American workers and undocumented workers in the past, I would have to concur that there is no comparison in general, the generally Mexican or Guatemalan undocumented workers just work harder with less grief, (consistently show up every day, on time, are willing to work overtime, and are respectful to clients as well as employers). For anyone who does speak English fluently and does not have document issues, and wants to work in the landscape/nursery industry; my advice would be that you can't compete at the lower wage levels within the industry. You simply have no excuse if you don't avail yourself of getting more training/education to make yourself more valuable to employers in the industry. At the very least, you should be thinking in terms of knowing how to schedule workers and supplies, knowing your plants and how to use them in your conditions, be bilingual in spanish/english, work on your people skills to be able to get new clients and sell the design/installation, etc, etc. You also need to be able to sell yourself to future employers, by having a good resume, portfolio of completed work, and good client recommendations. None of this is specifically taught in high schools these days, but are minimum requirements to advancing in the field. Also, it wouldn't hurt to have better written english skills, because even if you have the most talent within a batch of potential employee hires, you will still be judged on your written and oral english skills. As to the dearth of landscape workers in other parts of the country, it does seem strange to me that there is not a local pool of underemployed Americans who might be willing to fill the void. I can only assume that the wages on offer and job conditions are simply not attractive enough to compete with unemployment/welfare benefits in your area, or people just aren't hungry enough for work. The only similar complaints here in California revolve around agricultural work, which pays vastly less than landscape/nursery work and is also much harder and more seasonal. Even these California agricultural jobs would get filled if the pay were to rise enough to make it more attractive, but food prices would also need to rise as well. Go out and look at who is doing the gardening/nursery/agricultural/landscaping work in your part of the country and tell me that your area is also not greatly dependent on immigrant labor to get the job done. It is what it is, and there is no going back, and we the public have spoken that we don't value these industries sufficiently to be willing to pay more, and at least here in urban California, these industries would collapse without immigrant labor. You could also make the same case for hotel/restaurant/construction/convalescent home workers, which are also all low paying, and often unskilled at entry level positions. This same trend is world wide, also occuring in Europe, Japan and Australia, and even in the better off countries within South America and Africa. Labor migrates to meet local demand...

Thanks for taking the time to find that link enduring. I think that I'm leaning towards the mud bed vs the SLC + kerdi pan. The "tinny" sound of the kerdi pan had me worried (my wife is picky about things like that) lol. The article you linked was a good read and it pushes me further toward the mud pan route. I finally got all of the wonderboard hung today so I will have to make a final decision in the morning when these beers wear off :-) Unfortunately, I messed up hand cutting the kerdi curb so I will have to make a trip to the store in the morning for the materials to do a traditional 2x4 curb. Above: the curb lines up fine on the top plane...just like the 2x4 template I made Below: Unfortunately, i guess I cut the curb at a pretty severe angle...guess this is why I don't do this for a living ;-) I was going to try to cut a wedge or fill in the gap with the dry-pack or something but since this will essentially be load bearing (shower glass door) I feel like that isn't a good option. I figure I will just grab a couple of the curb perfect kits...it seems like the "for dummies" version of shower building so hopefully I cant mess that up...I am so tired of going to the tile store lol.