Thinking about landscaping ideas (Austin, Center: how much, houses, neighborhood)

[G Grasshopper]

I have a strip of grass on each side of my house that is just over 5' wide, bounded by wood fences. These areas are behind gates and not visible from the front of the house. It seems dumb to me to water and mow little strips of grass like these. In addition, the spray from the irrigation system makes the fence rot out sooner. It would seem much more logical to me to "pave" these two side strips with something that is permeable and attractive, like brick or stones with just sand in between, not grout. It would then be possible to put in planters or pots with things to grow, using a drip system. This would make the area lower maintenance, but more productive and save water. But I am wondering, people have been talking about watering around their foundation during the drought to keep it from drying out and shrinking. Would I still need to do that with the above set-up? Any other thoughts about doing this? I am just thinking about this. No real plans yet. I am also thinking about adding a patio between my deck and the back fence in part of my back yard

[CptnRn]

It is definitely a good idea to cover areas like that in permeable ground cover such as mulch or wood chips, decomposed granite or cullet glass (tumbled or processed glass gravel). The City has some they give away if you load and hauled it home yourself, as well as wood chips. City of Austin - The FM 812 Resource Recovery Center

I treated a similar area like this at my house with a thick layer of bark mulch. I like it because it has a more natural look and does not retain heat the way stone does. It has effectively blocked most weed and grass growth in the area, will providing a good ground cover for the shrubs and crepe myrtles I planted there. The crepe myrtles help shade the west windows on a sun room. It took about 3 years but they are now as tall as the roof overhang.

You might even qualify for a landscape conversion rebate. City of Austin - Water Conservation Rebates Although it never has been very large and its only available limited times each year.

I'd be inclined to put in a few small trees to help shade the area and keep it and your house cooler. They could be watered on the drip irrigation system.

If your house is on clay soil you will definitly want to water regularly around the foundation to keep the moisture content fairly stable. Again a drip hose would work fine for that.

The city does count wood decks and stone patios as impervious cover, and you are limited on how much impervious cover you can have on your site. The gravel areas you are considering do not count against that impervious cover ratio. I think that is still 40%, including house, sidewalks, paving, decks, sheds, etc.

[tibbar]

People in our neighborhood have completely paved between their 2 houses. I think that would trap in whatever moisture they had at time of build. I would like to water well and then use stone mulch. I read somewhere that wood mulch was a nest for snakes and bugs and we have a lot of snakes, I'll have to research that more.

[G Grasshopper]

I checked the site you referred me to, CptnRn, and they listed "paving stones" in their listing of pervious covers. The area to be changed over in the rebate program needs to be at least 500 sq. ft, so I'm not sure I would qualify. Is this the kind of thing you need a permit for, if you are not subject to the city oversight from getting a rebate?

[Dr.Mom]

Originally Posted by tibbar

People in our neighborhood have completely paved between their 2 houses. I think that would trap in whatever moisture they had at time of build. I would like to water well and then use stone mulch. I read somewhere that wood mulch was a nest for snakes and bugs and we have a lot of snakes, I'll have to research that more.

I've always heard not to place wood mulch directly next to any structure because it can harbor termites.

[CptnRn]

Originally Posted by Dr.Mom

I've always heard not to place wood mulch directly next to any structure because it can harbor termites.

This article says that is not true. Does landscape mulch lead to termites in your home? | Horticulture and Home Pest News

[CptnRn]

Originally Posted by G Grasshopper

I checked the site you referred me to, CptnRn, and they listed "paving stones" in their listing of pervious covers. The area to be changed over in the rebate program needs to be at least 500 sq. ft, so I'm not sure I would qualify. Is this the kind of thing you need a permit for, if you are not subject to the city oversight from getting a rebate?

If you are not adding a lot of impervious cover then you don't need to get a permit. From my experience, what the Water conservation website considers acceptable pervious cover doesn't necessarily correspond to what the Planning and Development permit office considers impervious cover. For example, its absurd in my opinion that the permit office requires wood decks to be counted as impervious cover (50%), when water obviously can pass right through it. I expect that they will treat stone or masonry pavers the same way, especially if they have tight joints. However, I have never asked them that specific question. If you put them in with wider joints filled with decomposed granite they might consider that acceptable.

The building permit application form says this:

Include building cover and sidewalks, driveways, uncovered patios, decks, air conditioning equipment pad, and other improvements in
calculating impervious cover. Roof overhangs which do not exceed two feet or which are used for solar screening are not included in
building coverage or impervious coverage. All water must drain away from buildings on this site and buildings on adjacent lots.

I will see if I can find more detail written into the code.

[CptnRn]

Found it:

§ 25-8-63 IMPERVIOUS COVER CALCULATIONS.

(A) Impervious cover is calculated in accordance with the Environmental Criteria Manual.
(B) Impervious cover calculations include:
(1) roads;
(2) driveways;
(3) parking areas;
(4) buildings;
(5) concrete;
(6) impermeable construction covering the natural land surface;
(7) for an uncovered wood deck that has drainage spaces between the deck boards and that is located over a pervious surface, 50 percent of the horizontal area of the deck;
(8) interlocking or permeable pavers, except up to 20 percent of the area of the pavers may be excluded in calculating impervious cover if the pavers are approved by the director for recharge enhancement under Section 25-8-151 (Innovative Management Practices); and
(9) the portion of a site used for the storage of scrap and metal salvage, including auto salvage.
(C) Impervious cover calculations exclude:
(1) sidewalks in a public right-of-way;
(2) water quality controls;
(3) drainage swales and conveyances;
(4) ponds, pools, and fountains; and
(5) areas with gravel placed over pervious surfaces that are used only for landscaping or by pedestrians.

[G Grasshopper]

Hmmm. Since pavers are mostly considered impermeable, It looks like they are probably out for me, as we have a small lot (.155 acres) that is mostly covered by out 2300 sq. ft. house, so I doubt that there is much wiggle room for adding impermeable items. In addition, it is not my goal to pave the place over. The article sited said that any mulch should be kept several inches away from the house. I'm not sure how you would do that in this situation - a row of bricks sunk in right next to the foundation before the much begins, maybe? Then I suspect one might need to put some type of barrier under the fence so that the mulch doesn't spread into the grass on the other side of the fence, which is the neighbors' grass.

Our house in California had rocks in the front yard with islands of garden. This had been done years before we bought the house (we lived in it for 22 years), and was done by putting a sheet of plastic under the rocks, which had long since disintegrated. I really hated it because the weeds would pop up between the rocks. I am not one for using herbicides, so I spent a lot of time on my hands and knees, pulling out weeds and grass to keep those rocks looking "clean". Perhaps the weed cloth that is made now will last long enough to eliminate that possibility for several years.

I have to agree with the article that anything that keeps the soil moist will make it better for insects, not just wood chips. Also in our former house, the prior owners had put thick layers of plastic sheeting under the shrubs in the front, covered with mulch. When we took out those shrubs to put in a flower garden, we pulled up that plastic, and it was just Disneyland for all manner of insects under there. After we took that out, we never had much of a problem again with ants in the house. I suspect that wood chips, because they allow air movement, would not have resulted in such an insect haven.