Thanks Yardvaark, the retaining wall is definitely my number one priority at this time since it is going to cause a lot of issues down the road if not handled now. I will create a plan view in sketch-up maybe this weekend in my downtime and post it.

If as Yardvaark suggested, you will be adding some retaining walls and raising the grade, you most likely want to consider fencing on top of the walls or something else for safety since that's quite a drop and you appear to be in a suburban neighborhood.

I love your walkway!

Quite a bit of your erosion is because you have nothing yet growing on the dirt. Looks like you have lawn started, right?

Thanks for the compliment on the sidewalk. The first time it rained the erosion occurred because the downspout was just dumping down without a base. I would like to hook a black pipe up to the downspout and run it underground potentially coming out under a new part of the retaining wall. Ill post a sketch of what I mean when i post the house bird eye view. I haven't done that yet due to moving this weekend. been pretty chaotic, who said this was fun?

Ultimately, I don't think the underground pipe will give you anything but a short-term advantage and the potential of a long-term hassle.There are other ways.

Yardvaark,

What do you suggest? I don't think its going to be feasible to add onto the brick veneer retaining wall. I can raise the level of soil to just under 2" or so below the edge of the retaining wall, it will help in the rapid water flow to an extent to that location, but i need to figure out how to get the water down and into the driveway or wherever else.

While I've found a little drawing program good enough to let me scratch out some plantings, it's not good enough to draw the hardscape kind of things you need. I'm still waiting to get home where I can use MS Paint.

When you say "add on" do you mean height or extend the length of wall? You did not explain why one of these things is not feasible. I'm thinking that you need to extend the length of the existing wall, but that it must have a "return" as well. I'm also thinking that a second tier, not connected with the existing wall, will be needed to raise grade at the left side of house, so that it is level across the front of the house. This is what will permit you to keep the water running along the ground surface without erosion.

Yes sorry, adding onto the height of the brick wouldn't be very easy. To my knowledge im unsure of what rebar/thickness wall lies under the brick veneer. My concern with adding height onto the wall is adding more lateral force which could cause a crack or toppling. I would like to add a secondary retaining wall but i dont know how to match the brick with it. I will try and get the bird eye knocked out tonight.

I agree about not adding height per se, but if you want the whole picture to be upgraded, you might consider adding on a fancier cape which also give you the opportunity to tie the new and old together with a common feature. I think you should add a little length to the existing wall -- enough such that it looks finished and contains a return. This also adds the potential to make it much stronger, depending on the construction details.

The plan will help. Keep it simple .... footprint of house (heaviest line weight) & porch, walk, drive, wall, city walk & don't color anything in.

This drawing is only useful as a vague, general concept. The subject needs to be approached in the plan view. The downspout is erased because it is subordinate to the conditions around it. Those conditions need to be figured out and then the downspout adapted to them. Blue lines are two potential paths for roof drainage.

Here we go, i know its not that detailed as far as dimensions go but i can add them if need be. The back part is the deck, side walk and driveway are shaded.

For me to see it, you must upload the drawing :-)

for some reason it wont let me upload the png or jpg file.... Ill have to share a link to it externally when i get home.

It might be a temporary Houzz oddity. All my drawings are .png.

This is the plan view of the concept I was trying to illustrate above. Wall "A" is an extension of the existing wall, matching the elevation. Rather than compromising it, it could be made to add strength/bracing to it, Wall "B" is a low wall that allows the grade across most of the front of the house to be leveled. Blue line is the drainage path. Water does not run to the walls but from them. The plan view "toes" of the wall (if each is a foot) terminate at grade. They are not raised above it.

Perfect i like both the retaining wall ideas, also i am going to utilize your idea with moving the downspout to the driveway level. Now for the planting, i would like to utilize some fern trees maybe in the area that divides my neighbor and i on the left. There is sort of a ditch there for water to run into from my yard and theirs. i need something that will break that up as well as absorb the runoff.

In most cases and as it is in yours, the gutter is part of the trim so should remain white. The downspout however, you may want to paint the same color as brick so it is camouflaged. Moving it to the driveway spares the lawn a fair amount of runoff.

If you want some advice on the foundation planting, you'll need a set of photos that allows for feedback. For outlying plantings (farther from the house than the foundation plantings) you may need other photos. For the foundation planting, position the camera in line with the front door. Stand far enough from the house that you can see the top of roof and a little sky (but not much) and also so that you can capture about 20' of lawn in front of the house (but not more). Begin by aiming the camera to show beyond left of house. Pan the camera rightward, taking slightly overlapping photos until you have captured beyond the right of the house. Post the photos individually, not as a panorama. For planting at the swale at left of drive, stand in line with the center of drive, at the curb, and take a similar battery of slightly overlapping photos that shows the swale area, including to the right and left of it.

Here you go, Sorry for the delay.

The first picture shows another house that has an alternative...

Not trying to be unnecessarily critical of your photographs as they useful for seeing information about your site. But because the photographer moved to different locations between the pictures, they cannot be reassembled without a lot of disjointery, so are not useful insofar as giving graphic feedback back to you. Too, since we're looking primarily at the foundation planting area, it would be better if they were not from quite so far away. The area I've X'd out below the blue line could be eliminated by moving the camera closer to the house. Still want to see everything else and the scenic spread is just right.

Will this work?

If not i have these too.

Those pictures work.

As I've mentioned previously, I would definitely do a return leg on the retaining wall, such that the grade no longer created an open end, inviting washing and erosion from behind the wall. Exactly how the layout goes would be something to figure out in plan view. From the front angle it doesn't looks as much like it's necessary to add a separate second wall above the first. An on site evaluation could determine just what's needed, but I wouldn't be adding retaining walls unless they were necessary.

While it's commonplace as all get out, I consider it a shame when a nice house has a majorly underwhelming entrance area. Here, the steps are undersized. They ought to be at least as wide as the doorway assembly including the side lights. They would be dramatically upgraded if they were flanked by a blocky pair of cheekwalls that correlated with the column configuration. That necessitates widening the walk as it approaches the steps. But I think all the fuss and bother is worth it for elevating the entrance status and creating a dramatically more inviting one.

In my planting scheme I'm suggesting only two shrubs (one per window), two small trees, the rest being perennials, with annuals flanking the steps, and groundcover linking everything up. If you wanted to busy up the planting scheme a little there's generally room for a little of that without making a mess of things, but subdividing and adding more is something that you'd figure out on a PLAN. I can only draw so much before too many things become covered up. I would imagine there is a high likelihood that two street trees (and maybe one at the left side of the drive if there's room) would be useful, but that would be determined from a picture taken at a distance that shows everything from the curb and back.

Wow! That is exactly what I'm looking for. I love the front stair idea, i too thought it was odd when all the houses had such a small step. Should i plant the ground cover to the left around that tree and down the retaining wall near the driveway?

This is not a fully developed planting plan but gives a rough idea of how the main features would be arranged.