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Exterior Landscape Design Design Dilemma

decomposed granite DG

2 years ago

Hi! We recently had a landscape guy put in DG in our side lard. He accidentally put loose DG in when we wanted stabilized so he used a product to stabilize it. But It doesn’t seem stabilized. I would love to get some advise on how we can fix the problem.

It recently rained and the rain from the side of the house made an inch deep pocket. We have a tamper- should I go over the area with a tamper by hand on the areas that are looser or that the rain affected?

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L A

2 years ago

Looks like you really need gutters with that kind of hardscape.

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Comments (9)

PRO
PPF.
2 years ago
What does your landscape guy suggest?

What is stabilized DG?
allicat6
Original Author
2 years ago
He put a product on it and rolled it as a way to stabilize it. But to my knowledge stabilized DG should be harder and not leave marks like you see in the pics. Loose dg is almost like sand- and stabilized dg has a chemical stabilizer in it that is suppose to make it bond together
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It's not that DG isn't stable. It's that it's sticks to shoes and is messy as Mayflowers says. If it was right next to the door, there'd be a lot of sand bits tracked into the house, and consequently regret placing it there. There is not a plan for me to draw over so I'm sketching on the photo. It's not a solution. It's an exploration. I could take a better look if you provide an actual plan. (Again, it will look straight down on the yard as opposed to viewing it from an angle. All you need to show is house footprint and perimeter wall ... both these things to a measured scale. If you draw and photograph it, please photograph it with the camera looking straight at it, not at an angle.) What you're calling a gazebo I think I'd call a shade structure since it does not include a floor. You need to account for its size and shape when you design the patio. That doesn't mean, however, that it must be an exact match. It's one of those places tradeoffs might happen on account of your tight space situation. If we have a PLAN, we can see what really fits. Also, you might draw the outline of the shade structure next to the plan, to scale, so we can see what needs to be accommodated. If it was me, I would not home in on patio "tile" blocks just yet.
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Hi Adrien, I do think you’ll get some of the DG inside and on your floors, and will scratch. Probably not the best idea with kids. Adults who are sorta careful is iffy. And I’m not entirely happy with it, to be honest. I’d probably get rock if I had to do it again. Good luck!
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Thank you! It’s been a long but rewarding project. So far pleased with the results. So, it is not dirt. We laid down decomposed granite (DG). Still need to apply the stabilizer. We plan to keep it like this for a while to keep the yard drought tolerant and low maintenance. (I am located in SoCal.) Eventually we may install artificial grass in the larger/main area of the yard but will keep the DG and step-stones in the side yard. I do plan to plant ground cover in between the plants, which are various drought tolerant plants.
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The type of soil one has is important. Wet soils, especially, need a deep gravel base below a path, whether the path is permeable or impermeable, to minimize sinking. Northern states where the ground freezes also need a deep gravel base to prevent heave. A gravel base layer over clay soil can help with alternate shrinkage during dry weather and expansion during wet weather. It's all about keeping the path material where you put it. Desert soil is dry, often with a caliche crust. Such compacted soil probably does not need a gravel layer if you are only adding DG to the surface. However, you also plan to remove and grade the soil where you want to put DG. You should compact the soil before you lay down the DG. Generally, I think one is supposed to use 3" of DG even if there is another base layer below that.
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flopsycat1
2 years ago
We have a stabilized DG driveway. The installer poured liquid stabilizer on top of the granite before rolling it. It has held up fairly well, but would probably form a rut if challeged by a concentrated stream of water. A small decorative arroyo made up of pebbles or larger granite gravel may be the best way to prevent rutting if the water cannot be diverted by gutters.
gardengal48 (PNW Z8/9)
2 years ago
Actually, when done properly, stabilized decomposed granite is a pretty darn durable surfacing material. Durable enough to be used for driveways, golf cart paths and patios. It should certainly stand up to roof rainwater run off (although gutters are always recommended)!

I'd suspect that the after-the-fact application (and/or the wrong type of stabilizer) has created that problem. It needs to be redone correctly.
allicat6
Original Author
2 years ago
Ah man - such a bummer! Do you think I could do it myself or better to hire someone?
allicat6
Original Author
2 years ago
Here’s how it looked after the rain…
flopsycat1
2 years ago
Our stabilized decomposed driveway looks nothing like that after it rains. I’m wondering if a different material was used for your project. Obviously not accepable for a patio. Hope you can get this redone properly.
PRO
Beth H. :
2 years ago
that's unacceptable. you need to get the guy back out there and fix that, AND do something about drainage.

perhaps getting gutters, like mentioned, would also be of help. maybe a french drain. hard to know without seeing everything.

If you're guy accidentally put loose when you asked for the other, and he tried to stablize it using another product and it failed, then he is responsible for removing the entire mess and putting down the correct product.

you may want to do your path a bit differently

something like this w/the border will keep things tidy and in place

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