Dry Creek Bed & Sod Costs? (flower, landscaping, growing, grass)
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I had a landscaper come out today to take a look at a drainage issue we are having from where the gutters drain to and wash down into my driveway. To compound the problem that side of the house has VERY little grass on it so it's dirt washing into my driveway. We moved in back in September so not had a chance to get grass growing on that side yet.
Anyways, the landscaper suggested going with a dry creek bed (vs. just running underground corrugated pipe) on that side of the house. The more I've thought about it the more I do like that idea. We have an area we weren't sure what to do with it landscaping wise and this would fit there just perfect. The other part of it he suggested was to just lay down sod on that section of the yard to get it rooted good and stop the dirt from washing down. That made sense as well. He suggested one pallet and covering as much as that would.
Just curious, how much does river rock usually go for price wise? He said something about needing 3 scoops worth (3 tons?) to do what he had in mind most likely. Also, how much is a pallet of sod? I'd like to get myself in a certain frame of mind so when I get the call back with his quote I'm not sticker shocked! haha
Creating a dry creek bed doesn't seem that hard from what I've read though, so if the price were really high I might tackle it myself. Not sure about the sod though, NO experience doing anything like that and it would be expensive to screw up.
If God was a Type A obsessive compulsive creator, I can see him creating that type of dry creek bed DKVA. LOL Nice work. I love the hostas.
Most full pallets of grass are 500 to 600 sq feet depending on the roll cut and stacking by the grower. Find a couple of sod suppliers and ask for the sq foot price. Usually cheaper when purchased direct from the sod farm for pickup. Measure out the area to be covered and add 2% for cuttings for the amount you will need. Most people estimate short.
I would speculate the drain/sod solution would be cheaper than the dry creek bed given it sound like you have about 500 to 600 square feet to cover. Take several pictures post them and I can give you a better idea of what it might take to resolve the problem. Also include area dimensions.
Thanks bulldogdad, wish I had seen your reply while it was still light out. I will go out tomorrow and take some pics. I think (hope!) the drain and sod solution would work versus the creek bed. Creek bed just looks nice but the guy gave us a quote of $2100 today for two creek beds (one on each side of the house), a pallet of sod prepped and laid down and then putting a ton of river rock around the drain at driveway. Probably will have a couple more come out for quotes just to see where the average falls.
So here are a couple of pictures to show the area. The slope comes down from the back yard and on this side part of the yard you can see there is no grass and how the water would drain right onto the driveway (with the dirt). Idea was to go along the side of the flower bed and put in a dry creek bed and then lay sod down around the rest of the area, or at least however far 1 pallet would get us.
To give you an idea of dimensions, it is 15' wide from the cypress trees on the property line to the edge of the flower bed at the bottom and the area is about 25' long. More could be covered in sod obviously, but the worst of the area is included in that 15x25. Take out 3' or 4' (?) for the width of the creek bed and you get closer to what would actually be done in sod I think.
One picture is of the general area and another angle showing how the water runs down into the driveway....
Last edited by Wolf Howl; 03-09-2011 at 05:55 AM..
DKVA found a pretty way to divert the water. Before you jump on the dry creek as the only way to go you may want to look into a rain garden instead. It has become the preferred method in many municipalities to deal with erosion and water damage from runoff (gutter, and driveway). I've seen some absolutely gorgeous ones done and no one even realized it diverts and contains water to prevent a problem.
Try some of the following links to learn about it as an option that may be just as pretty and more than likely cheaper than sod and drain pipes.
A rain garden does sound interesting but not sure I'd have the space to do it from where the last downspout empties out? It would definitely be on a slope where I'd need to place it.
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