Granite Falls takes the mountain rain and sits on ground that falls away toward the river and the falls. Steep sides of lots are normal. Water concentrates, finds the weak spot in a bank, and leaves a rill where the lawn used to be. On a slope, pavers without a wall or a serious edge become a staircase that is slowly walking downhill.
Snohomish County · ZIP 98252 · 2020 population 3,572
A patio on a bench, a path that stays put
We build the flat. If that means a low wall first, the wall is part of the paver job, not an extra we mention later. The base is compacted rock, and the low side is restrained like it matters, because it is the side the whole field leans on.
Drives and paths in the foothills take water from above. We intercept that water so it is not running across the pavers every storm and pulling the joint sand to the bottom of the hill.
The ground in Granite Falls
Properties on the edge of town back into fir and alder. The lawn, if there is one, is a cleared bench. The rest is slope, stump, and shade. We get called when a bank has started to slump after a wet winter, or when a path down to the lower yard has turned into a creek.
Rock walls and a drain at the top of the slope do more than plants will. Beauty bark in the deep shade keeps the weeds down and the mud off the house, but it will not hold a bank by itself. Tree work is practical: limbs over the roof, and sightlines where the forest is closing the drive. Aerator and seed belong on the flat piece only. Treating the whole hillside like a turf job is how you waste a season.
How we do the work
The paver is the skin. The base is the job: excavated, built up in compacted rock, deep enough that this climate will not heave it into waves. We pitch the surface away from the house, we restrain the edges so the field cannot spread, and we sand the joints.
A paver patio set on a couple of inches of loose gravel over clay will look perfect in September and rock underfoot by March. We do not build that, even if the other bid did.
What we look at first
- How the water leaves the surface today
- Clay, fill, or roots under the area
- Edge restraint and where the field ends
- Whether the project is a walk, a patio, or a drive, because the base changes
Edges
Plastic or metal restraint, spiked into the compacted base, then buried so you see paver, not a black strip. An edge against soil with no restraint is the row that opens up.
Sealing
Optional. It deepens the color and can help the joints, and it is a maintenance coat every few years, not a structural need. We do not sell a sealer as what keeps the patio from settling. The base does that.
Joint sand
Swept and settled, then checked. Polymeric sand has a place where ants and heavy rain empty the joints, and it has a failure mode if it is installed wet or left on the face. We use it when it helps, and we wash the haze off before we leave.
More from this crew
- Paver installation across Snohomish County
- Patio installation in Granite Falls
- Hardscaping in Granite Falls
- Gravel installation in Granite Falls
- Pressure washing in Granite Falls
- Paver installation in Arlington
- Paver installation in Lake Stevens
- Paver installation in Marysville
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.
