Mukilteo drops toward the ferry and the Sound. Salt reaches the lower streets, and the hills above the terminal shed water down through yards that were cut into the slope. A flat inland detail does not survive on these lots. The view is downhill, and the water wants to go that way too, often into the bank or back at a daylight basement. We split those problems on purpose.
Snohomish County · ZIP 98275 · 2020 population 21,246
A sitting wall that does not feed the bluff
The patio pitches off the house first. If that fights the view slope, a drain or a slot at the low edge catches the water before it is a sheet on the bank. We do not ignore the bank to keep a perfect fall toward the sunset.
Wind matters for umbrellas and for anything tall. We will say if a cover needs more thought than a patio. The floor we can build. A sail that leaves in November is not our promise.
The ground in Mukilteo
Hillside runoff is the job. A patio with a view is also a patio that can send water at the house if the base and the pitch are wrong. We build the drain before the pavers, and we hold the bank with a wall that has rock or drain tile behind it, not a decorative stack sitting on the sod.
Salt-tolerant natives belong on the exposed edges. Pressure washing is how you get the marine film off a walk and a railing; it comes back, so we treat it as upkeep. Lawns up in Harbour Pointe and over toward Beverly Park sit on flatter ground and behave more like the rest of the county — clay, moss, shade from big trees — and we maintain them that way. The waterfront lots are a different trade: erosion, wind, and a view you do not want to block with a hedge.
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
Fire pits
Set in a place the smoke can leave and the embers are not in the bark. The pit sits on the same honest base as the patio, not on four pavers in the dirt. Clearance to the house and to branches is part of the layout, not a surprise after the first fire.
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.
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 the region
- Paver installation in Mukilteo
- Hardscaping in Mukilteo
- Retaining walls in Mukilteo
- Landscape design in Mukilteo
- Patio installation in Everett
- Patio installation in Edmonds
- Patio installation in Mill Creek
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.
