grade yard

8/9/2019 Grade Yard

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1 Drive a stake into the soil at the base of the foun-dation and another at least 8 ft. out into the yard

along a straight line from the first stake. Attach astring fitted with a line level to the stakes and level it.Measure and flag the string with tape at 1-ft. inter-vals. Measure down from the string at the tape flags,recording your measurements to use as guidelinesfor adding or removing soil to create a correct grade.

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Grading Your

YardUnless your yard has theproper grade, or slope, rainwater can flow toward the founda-tion of your house—and possibly intoyour basement. An improper grade canalso cause water to collect in low-lying ar-eas, creating boggy spots where you’ll havetrouble growing grass and other plants. Whengraded correctly, your yard should have a grad-ual slope away from the house of about 3 ⁄ 4" per

horizontal foot.

Although the initial grading of a yard is usuallydone by a landscape contractor, you can do thework yourself to save money. The job is a bittime-consuming, but it isn’t difficult. Typically,creating a grade at this stage involves spread-ing a 4" to 6" layer of topsoil over the yard, thendistributing and smoothing it to slope away fromthe house.

Established landscapes often require regrading,especially if the house has settled. If you find

signs of basement moisture problems or puddle-prone areas in the yard, you need to correct theslope. The measuring and grading techniquesfeatured here will help you remove and distributesoil as needed.

8 ft. levelline

Everything You Need

Tools: Basic tools (page 18), line level, gradingrake, stakes, string, tape, hand tamp.

Materials: Topsoil.

How to Measure & Establish a Grade

Measure 1’intervals

8/9/2019 Grade Yard


2 Working away from the base ofthe house, add soil to low ar-

eas until they reach the desiredheight. Using a garden rake,evenly distribute the soil over asmall area. Measure down fromthe 1-ft. markings as you work tomake sure that you are creating a3 ⁄ 4" per 1 ft. pitch. Add and removesoil as needed until soil is evenlysloped, then move on to the nextarea and repeat the process.

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3 Use a hand tamp to lightlycompact the soil. Don’t over-

tamp the soil or it could becometoo dense to grow a healthy lawnor plants.

4 After all the soil is tamped, usea grading rake to remove any

rocks or clumps. Starting at thefoundation, pull the rake in a straightline down the slope. Dispose of anyrocks or construction debris. Re-peat the process, working on onesection at a time until the entirearea around the house is graded.

Variation: You may want to create some perfectlylevel areas for playing lawn sports such as croquet,badminton, volleyball, and lawn bowling. Level areasalso make safe play surfaces for small children and agood base for play structures.

Outline the perimeter of the area with evenly placedstakes. Extend a string fitted with a line level betweena pair of stakes and adjust the string until it’s level. At2-ft. intervals, measure down from the marked areasof the string to the ground.

Add and remove topsoil as necessary, distributing itwith a garden rake until the surface under the stringis level. Repeat the process until the entire area isleveled.

8/9/2019 Grade Yard


grade yard

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