Monroe sits on the Skykomish, with the fairgrounds on the edge of town. River-bottom ground stays wet, and a yard built as if the water table were low will heave, puddle, or grow moss until someone deals with the water. Building a finished floor in the low corner that floods means silt in the joints and a surface that heaves. We site it on the bench.
Snohomish County · ZIP 98272 · 2020 population 19,608
A patio on dry ground
Near the house, a normal patio with a deep base and a pitch away from the siding. The path down toward the river, if you want one, is gravel that can take silt, not a paver ribbon in the floodway.
We look at the door. Many river-town houses have a small stoop that already holds water. The patio has to fix that joint, not make a bigger version of it.
The ground in Monroe
We see two kinds of lots. In town, smaller yards with the usual compacted soil and a lawn that has to look fine for most of the year. Closer to the river and the low ground, soils that remember high water. Gravel and drains belong there. A finished bark bed in a spot that floods is mulch in the neighbor’s fence line by spring.
The fair is part of the calendar. People want yards cleaned up and hedges cut back before the traffic and the guests, and they want storm debris gone after the first big fall wind. Trees on these lots — including the old fruit trees — need pruning that opens them up, not a topping that makes them dangerous. Native plantings along the wet edges do the work a lawn cannot.
How we do the work
A patio here is a roof at ground level. It has to shed water, it has to sit on rock instead of clay, and it has to meet the door without holding a puddle at the threshold. We build in pavers most of the time because a paver field can be lifted and reset. A cracked slab is a demolition.
We talk about furniture, the grill, and the way you actually walk out before we draw a rectangle that looks big on paper and tips water at the house.
What we look at first
- The door threshold and which way the yard falls
- Downspouts landing in the patio area
- How many people, and whether there is a fire pit or a cover
- Access for excavation
What it costs more to ignore
Drainage and the base. They are the unphotogenic half of the invoice. Cutting them is how a patio gets rebuilt. We would rather build a smaller floor on a real base than a big one on clay.
At the door
The patio meets the threshold with a step that makes sense and a surface that falls away. We do not bury the siding or the weep screed to make the patio feel flush. That is a rot detail, and we will argue with you about it.
Furniture first
We size the floor to the table you own, the grill lid that has to open, and the walk around them. A large empty patio with the table in a puddle is a bad large patio. Bring the measurements.
More from this crew
- Patio installation across Snohomish County
- Paver installation in Monroe
- Hardscaping in Monroe
- Retaining walls in Monroe
- Landscape design in Monroe
- Patio installation in Sultan
- Patio installation in Snohomish
- Patio installation in Gold Bar
Sources for the climate and the water
- USDA plant hardiness map for choosing plants that can take a Snohomish County winter.
- EPA WaterSense on watering less once a lawn or a new planting is established.
- EPA Soak Up the Rain on keeping roof and yard water from becoming someone else’s problem.
