The lake is the point of the town, and it is also the drainage problem. Shoreline lots shed water toward the water, banks erode where wakes and winter rain meet a soft edge, and inland yards stay damp because the water table and the clay do not let a storm leave quickly. A boulder wall at the water is a shoreline permit problem. We build the rock that holds the yard up top.
Snohomish County · ZIP 98258 · 2020 population 34,385
Rock above the bank, planted below
The wall sits back from the shore, drains to the side, and gives you a clean edge for a path or a lawn. Below it we plant. We do not dump quarry spalls down the bank and call it erosion control.
Stone color stays dull and local. Bright river rock used as a wall face is loose and it rolls. Wall rock is angular and heavy.
The ground in Lake Stevens
On the water, the work is the bank and the view. A retaining edge, native shoreline plants such as red osier dogwood, and a rain garden or a drain that slows runoff before it hits the lake do more for the property than a strip of sod at the top of an eroding slope. Fertilizer and bare soil washing into the lake are how a nice lawn becomes a neighbor problem.
Off the water, in the newer neighborhoods, the soils were compacted during construction and the lawns were rolled out on top. They look fine in July and sour in February. Aeration, a real topdressing, and getting the downspouts away from the foundation are the unglamorous jobs that keep those yards from turning to moss. Patios here are for the view. We build the base as if it will be wet half the year, because it will.
How we do the work
A rock wall is dry-stacked or lightly set, with the weight in the stone and the drainage in the voids. It is not a veneer glued to a failing timber wall. We use rock big enough for the height, with a face that leans back into the hill, and smaller rock locked behind so the soil does not pipe through.
Good rock work looks heavier at the bottom. If every stone is the same patio-sized block, it is not a wall, it is a stack. We source local stone and we will tell you when the access cannot take the boulder the job wants.
What we look at first
- Height and whether it is structural or a garden edge
- Machine access for real boulders
- The soil behind: clay that needs a drain, or rock that already sheds
- An existing wall we are tying into
Tying into old rockery
We can often continue an existing rockery if the old base is still honest. If the old wall is tipping, we take it down and use the good stone again. Matching a lean is how you extend a failure.
The base course
The biggest stones, buried, on compacted rock or competent ground. If the first course is the one you can see sitting on the grass, the wall is already failing. You should see the second course at grade, not the bottom of the first.
Dry stack versus mortared
Most of our rock walls are dry, so water can leave and the wall can move a little without cracking a joint. Mortar is for a low, formal edge that is not holding a wet hill. We do not mortar a drainage problem shut.
More from this crew
- Rock walls across Snohomish County
- Retaining walls in Lake Stevens
- Gravel installation in Lake Stevens
- Landscaping in Lake Stevens
- Hardscaping in Lake Stevens
- Rock walls in Everett
- Rock walls in Marysville
- Rock walls in Snohomish
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.
