Replaced water/sewer lines now we're left with a mess! Need a vision
We just had to have our water and sewer lines replaced in the front yard and it's a mess! Our front yard has a pretty steep slope and I've always wanted to put in steps to the front door (people complain about walking up our driveway and I do worry about older relatives that make that climb). I envision steps up the steep slope then possibly a sitting area and then a few steps up to the front door but can't get a good picture to share with anyone. Also, any ideas for landscaping update? I'm including some before and after photos
Comments (9)
PROYardvaark
4 years agoLandscaping, especially a major project like the approach walk to the front door, considers the entire front yard site, not just a tunnel view of it. Return to where the last picture was taken. Flip the camera 90* to 'portrait mode'/vertical format. Take a series of slightly overlapping pictures (all from that same location while the camera pivots). Show from far left to far right, 180*. We need to see how the driveway intersects with the street and how the front, right side of the lawn interfaces with the public walk ... so that is basically everything a person could see of each corner of your yard while standing at that spot. This might be a half dozen pictures or so. You only need to overlap each picture by 15% or so. Don't substitute a computer/phone generated panorama as it is shrunk much too small.
For this project, you need to be working on creating a base plan. It's going to be difficult or impossible to show information back to you based on only photos or words. You need a simple base PLAN. One looks similar to this except shows the front yard of your property:
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Water and Sewer Woes (Very Long)
Comments (8)Anne,I know exactly how you feel. We had our basement flood twice with sewage when an new sub division was built and hooked up to our old sewer system. I was terrified every time it rained! After a neighbour got it really bad she went down to city hall and took the mayor a gift in a mason jar! Soon after that they fixed our problem. Even now though with new sewers we still get a small wet spot on our carpet in the rec room after a heavy rain. We went down yesterday and picked up anything we could because we heard about heavy rains coming. We never did get them, yet.It has taught us to keep the basement clean though! Sure hope you are done with it and all is now well!...See MoreNeed instructions/advice on 2 water line projects
Comments (8)Thank you for your input & advice. Okay, ramdon thoughts: Actually, I was planning on me & the kids doing it ourselves with the father-in-law & husband 'supervising'. I am not trying to cut corners too sharply or be cheap, it's just I don't think we can afford to hire someone professionally, although I am going to call around & have 2 or 3 guys come out & give me quotes. I thought I could save some money for starters by buying all the materials needed myself. Thanks for reminding me about calling the other utilities, I had forgotten about that. I live out in a rural area & alot of people around here do this type of job themselves. The town I live in only has about 300 people in it so I would have to get someone from the next town over, about 25 miles away. There's always the hassle of finding someone who is willing to come this far out & there's usually an extra fee. I know it's not the same thing, but I feel like if my son & I can handle a tiller, we should be able to do this, or at least some of it. Actually, I am the one who came up with the idea to rent a ditch witch, not my father-in-law. I'll have to check first, but as far as I know, the only utility lines is telephone. We're on butane but that runs from the back of the house. Electrical lines are above ground, not below. Sewer is a septic tank & is behind the house. The house has 2 bathrooms but one isn't used because that's where the washing machine is & it's a tight squeeze between the washing machine & toilet (has a shower only). Eventually, I want the washing machine out because I don't like it in there anyway. About 5 feet from my back door is an efficiency apartment that my son uses for his bedroom. The previous owners ran a water line between the houses when they had the apartment built. It is actually the back of this apartment that the back outside faucet is located. All around the main house is a concrete walkway including the area at the faucet. Sooo, I am thinking we probably won't replace from there & into the house unless absolutely necessary. I don't know for sure, but I think the inside lines are the old copper ones. If those have to be replaced then that will be done by a professional & at a later date. Right now we are having to turn the water on & off at the meter so hopefully the bill won't be too bad....See MoreSewer Line To Replace it or not
Comments (5)There are systems that reline the existing pipe, coating it somehow. Not sure how well it would work but might be a consideration. I understand how you feel about it, I'd hate to be waiting for it to back up again....When I build my carport we were putting in over $10k in concrete (long driveway) and had clay drains under, I was adamant we should replace the drains at least where the drive ran, plumbers may say "oh we have ways of getting around whatever" but those ways cost, I went to the trouble of digging down to existing pipe to find the cleanout (in Australia the cleanout's usually outside) to my pleasant surprise the pipe was in perfect order....to save money we left it and put the carport over it, but we did run an extension to the cleanout so we had a nice little screw-down pvc cover/inspection plate that I ran flush with the paving, so it was there if we needed it. It's my ex-wife's problem now ;) but as far as I know, there's been no problem. In your case with known weed issues, you do need to do something. Here's one example of what I'm talking about in terms of relining: Here is a link that might be useful: Sewer pipe reline...See MoreRooter companies all want to re-line my sewer pipe
Comments (20)you may not know but this pipe lining ws started over in europe the last 3 decades maybe 4? their infrustucture is way older than ours. where I am, it is all slab homes (no basements) mostly 1970's and 80ty's were made of cast iron. PVC started to make it way into the mainstream after that. These pipes are rotting away! when I say rotting I mean the base is gone.fractures are 1/2 inch and wider that are all over the place.sides,bottom, top, in lentghs that are in feet. Now you also have water lines in there.where? who knows. pipe bursting is not good because at every place a 2" or 4" pipe comes into the main line you have to dig up a section of floor to have a repair done et every interval. short of digging up the home and it had been done, pipe lining is the only real way to avoid a total rehab of the home. the co's that do this have a limited 50 year warranty on materials. it seals every joint,fracture all drains coming into the line and thats where they call reinstateting comes in. they have to open up all drains that where covered over by the material. so if europe started this,30 or 40 years ago and did all their streets (no digging up the streets all over europe) and I have not read anything bad happening I would not have any fears. like anything else,price and convience,where I am located sarasota fl this is the only way to fly! I am talking infustructure. if you had a cobblestone driveway the cost of lining would be cheaper than having someone come in to do the repair on top of the repair. also pipe pulling would in that case should be looked at too. BTW I also do this work...See Moremichelle Cole
4 years agoYou are absolutely right, I will need a professional landscape designer for sure. I live in Memphis, Tennessee. I have called a few to come out to give estimates for next week but they all want to know what I'm looking for. I'm having a hard time coming up with something or being able to visualize it. Here are more pics. I hope they help! Thanks to everyone for their responses.
You are r
PROBeth H. :
4 years agolast modified: 4 years agoif you just want some ideas, look online at Sloped front yards, or tiered front yards, just to get ideas
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Yardvaark
4 years ago"I have called a few to come out to give estimates for next week but they all want to know what I'm looking for." I presume you mean estimates for their design services ... not estimates for the actual construction work, since there's nothing designed yet to bid on. All things that are built are first designed, whether it's a car, a rocket ship or a walkway. (Designing is the "thinking through" portion of the construction process.) You're looking for a designer capable of creating steps and a walk approach to the home front entrance and integrating it with the surroundings. It's usually a balancing act, considering multiple factors -- such as routing, grade, tree roots, visual impact, etc. -- simultaneously.
Since the steps project got kicked off by the recent plumbing project, I sense that you are hoping the steps would do dual duty and heal the wound left by plumbers. After looking at your yard, I doubt that placing steps near the plumbing wound is the best overall approach. While it may create the most direct route, it would also be the steepest one. I would consider bank of steps, starting at the drive and a lesser one near the house, both including handrails. Along the path may be pairs or triplets of steps, as needed. A designer would work out the grade and how many steps were necessary. I'm just showing a likely route and scheme.
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