"...should I have the men doing the backfill work, try to find the weep holes to make sure they are there?" Yes. If they're there and buried, that may be a simple fix to the problem. "Would it be ok to use a double layer of burlap or would that be too porous? will the regular weed-blocker landscaping cloth be ok?" That depends on how you would be using the fabric. Generally, jute mesh (or sometimes burlap) is used in conditions where slopes that are to be planted with grass are extreme, and the likelyhood of any rain eroding the slope is high. The fabric is normally rolled out on the ground and held in place with long hand installed staples. The rolling is done down the slope, not across the slope. The open weave nature of the fabric and it being biodegradable allows for grass to germinate and under the fabric and grow up through it. In places where the grass will not be mowed, the biodegradable fabric can be left in place to rot. In areas where the grass will be mowed, leaving the fabric in place presents the likelyhood of the fabric being lifted by the mower and causing all sorts of problems. Jute mesh will degrabe faster than burlap, and it's weave is quite a bit more open...and it's usually less expensive. If your lot slopes 2 feet over a very short distance and the slope is steep, then using the natural fabric can help keep the topsoil and seed in place. If the slope is not steep, the fabric is probably not necessary. The black fabric should not be used at all on top of the soil if you're intent is to grow grass. Either way, mowing with the fabric in place will be near impossible, and pulling the fabric up after the grass has begun to grow will probably pull the grass up with it. The black weed fabric is used on the surface of the ground so that nothing will grow through it. It can be used to halt erosion, but if it's woven and has a tight weave, water will tend to run off faster than if it was a more open non-woven fabric. Again, if the slope isn't ateep, it may be a waste of money to use the fabric there. Erosion control fabrics, woven and non-woven, are usually used in a vertical fashion, stapled to stakes (essentially the same things as tomato stakes) with the bottom hem buried in the ground so as to catch and slow surface runoff. Normally, that sort of installation is used where required either by local or state code, or by site conditions such as steep slopes and open ground exposed to the elements without benefit and protection of turf or groundcover. On a quarter acre lot with shallow slopes, I'm not sure it would be beneficial, but then again, I can't see the lot, so local opinion and expertise may be a better option for you. Just get more than one opinion. Another use for fabrics is actually in the ground, separating different soil types. In the case of a wall like yours, it might be that the designer will call for such a fabric to be installed prior to placing the clean free draining gravel behind the wall. The fabric in this case would keep the gravel open and free draining by keeping the fine particles from adjacent native clayey or silty soils from infiltrating and blocking the voids in the gravel.In this case, burlap would not be used as it would degrade over time. There are many specialty fabrics for this use, and most are not available at your local nursery or big box vendor. Some weed block fabrics may be similar in weave and nature, some are not. Can't say whether yours is or not. If the soils behind the wal are removed and atrench prepared for gravel backfill, the fabric would normally be placed along the bottom of the excavation with 3-6 inches rising up agains the back of the wall. The rest would run up the excavation and be laid on theground away from the wall until the trench was filled with gravel and compacted. Then the remaining edge of the fabric would be pulled over the top of the gravel, back towartds the wall, covering the gravel before the topsoil or planting mix was replaced. This more or less creates an envelope around the gravel. I wouldn't bother putting anything against your neighbor, especially if they still have the timber wall. Understand that a fabric envelope like this isn't always part of the design. It really depends on the nature of the existing soils, groundwater, and the wall design. Your situation may not require it at all. Only local inspection can insure that you're not throwing money needlessly in a hole. I don't think I said anything about using fabric at all. What I did say was that each 'weep' hole in the wall should be covered by a 'screen'. That screen would only cover the hole and extend a few inches beyond the hole in each direction, on the back side of the wall. The gravel would lie up agains that screen, and groundwater would find it's way to the hole and through the screen. If the erosion is most visible where your wall meets your neighbors, remember that your wall may be acting as a dam, and any water building up behind it is seeking a way out. The junction of your wall with yuour neighbors would be that point, and the flow may be significant. Weeps through your wall would likely provide the necessary outlet to reduce the pressure forcing groundwater to find that junction and causing it to erode. I would stay away from constructing anything that looked like a berm on the creek-side of the wall. It wouldn't serve the purpose you think it might. It may only make flooding problems worse. And, you may be running afoul of local regulations having to do with wetlands. Good luck. And remember, this is only an internet forum. We can't see what you see, we can only read your words. Even pictures would serve as limited assistance. Your very best bet is to inquire locally, and get as many second opinions as you think necessary.

Skip the chips. Stick with grass. Grass is actually very low maintenance so long as your standards are low. I ran a dog boarding kennel for a few years and wood chips are a very bad idea. Our exercise yards were gravel and grass and bare dirt. Wood chips can harbor fleas, and some dogs will eat the chips, and others will refuse to walk on them. Would you, with bare feet? I wouldn't so why would they. Splinters and sharp pieces. Using cedar chips will not repel the fleas as the small pieces will volatilize all the repellant compounds rather quickly. My ideal, with my two medium sized active dogs, when I get my own place, will be to have a graveled dog run they can be confined in while I'm at work. No more tearing up the yard digging after moles and creating muddy race tracks where they tear around corners. Dogs like gravel pretty well, it doesn't harbor fleas, and it's easy to pick up off of. Concrete is low maintenance but most dogs don't like it all that much for lying around on. Then they can enjoy the 'lawn' when I'm home. Like yours, mine is lumpy and weedy. The lumpiness comes from having a lot of fescue and bluegrass in the grass, which form tufts, and the racing dog traffic wears away fine soil particles in between the tufts, leaving low spots in between tufts of grass. More irrigation in summer, and annual top dressing with organic material would help, but it's a rental. Bentgrass works pretty well with dogs as it's a running grass and knits itself together. Where there's a lot of bentgrass the lawn stays together except where they've dug after moles. If your dog is very small then choice of grass doesn't matter so much, but for medium sized and larger dogs, go with bentgrass if you can get it. I have to use a 5ft wire mesh fence with heavy T posts to keep my dogs out of the veggies and rhodie border. Not pretty but the 60 lber will haul herself over anything shorter. A stiffer fence could be shorter I guess, wood or chain link, or even better supported wire mesh, which means wood posts set in concrete. Don't use the cheap fencing stuff, unless your dog is tiny.

@Hollysprings- good point. I guess, to me, the wording choices seemed condescending and not contributory to an open discussion. We've actually had both a realtor and an appraiser out. They both came up with the same figure, which was actually a little higher than what I was expecting, so that was nice! However, I'm completely aware that this doesn't mean that it will sell for that.....or that the buyer's appraiser will come up with the same value. We called several realtors up and told them that we were going to attempt FSBO for a few months and would like to see if anyone wanted to help us out with pricing. I got a few calls back, and we finally picked a very successful local realtor. She came out and looked at the house, gave me FSBO advice and sent me my market value when she had it ready. She thought we wouldn't have any problem selling it. If, of course, we can't sell it, we'll be calling her up to employ her services. I don't feel like she was artificially inflating the price just so I would use her (or fail at FSBO). She's one of Dave Ramsey's ELPs, so she has a reputation to protect. And when the appraiser came back with the same figure, I felt confident with the amount. (One was not aware of the other.) I also really enjoy following the local market and take extra notice of what's selling and what's not. I am a little worried about having the sign in the yard too long. But I'm a little worried about LOTS of things! :) I guess I feel like, if we fail, we can just stay put for a few more months and then list it with our realtor. Hopefully by then, there will be a new set of buyers who won't remember our first attempt. And, we're not putting it on the MLS for our FSBO, so it won't show up with a ton of DOM. BUT, I hope even more, we'll sell it quickly and won't have to worry about this scenario!

Hi Popi, my family and I have been brewing for a while and we've found Tony Ackland's site Home distillation of alcohol informative on all aspects af home brew, wine making etc. If you have a brew shop close by you can buy wine making kits, the staff are always keen to talk to and teach people the finer points. Let your son know that the longer you leave it the better it is. Happy brewing, Ree Here is a link that might be useful: http://homedistiller.org/