Appreciate some advice about what to put under my deck here. I really have no experience with landscaping aside from mowing my lawn – poorly. The grade is not very good here and does slope towards my house, but this area does not get a lot of water at all.
Would it be safe to put rocks here, and is there a certain type of rock I should use and would it cause any water issues? Also, is it advisable to put something like Landscaping Fabric first before rocks, or should I put rocks directly on the soil? Thanks and appreciate any advice for what to put here.
by MiltonTD
27 Comments
Di you have kids or pets?
That’s prime real estate for some type is storage structure.
Hot tub
Always a good idea to fix the grading so it slopes away from the house, into a dry well if you don’tget much rain. Any kind of rock is fine. Don’t use weed barrier as it’s a waste of money. Use a pre-emergent in the early spring to kill off weeds. OR, plant something like shade like sedges or hostas. Last, maybe show your deck on r/decks. It looks questionable, but I’m no expert.
Outdoor gaming setup, perfect blend
It honestly seems like you have enough headroom to just grow grass and mow it
Enlarge patio
Pavers and hot tub
What about a outdoor mancave/doghouse.
I’d go for paving, brick paving or slabs.
Boulders
Putting green. Gas fire pit with a circle of chairs. A hammock
Hot tub
meth lab is an option
A lawn tractor, a broken scooter, 3 bikes in various states of disrepair, 4 old mail boxes, and a brand new snow blower in the box never assembled from 3 years ago when it snowed that one time.
I’ve got pea gravel under mine with a brick border
Rocks are expensive and hard to get rid of later. Rocks would be fine and won’t make any drainage issue worse (nor better). They’re surface decoration. If you put filter fabric below rocks then over time any organic matter will remain above the fabric and eventually make a dirt planter. The only way to clear this is labor occasionally to clear rocks, clean fabric, and redo.
Drainage toward house is bad. You want a plan to divert water away. A swale a few feet away would be enough. Concrete, clay half pipe, dense earth, etc. in a shape is enough. The idea is if you kick a bucket of water over toward the house the house side of the swale will stay dry. Depending on your local rainfall and contributing area it may not take a very large swale.
You can do linear drain or even a shallow French drain if appearance matters (don’t want to see surface construction). Your area doesn’t look terribly difficult to drain. There is a good lateral slope toward the corner. What you don’t want is standing water or saturated earth next to foundation.
A drain to catch the hot tub water
Vented soffit on bottom of deck, tv on house, couch, screened in, hot tub.
Get a large fake monster looking like its gonna grab the ankles of anyone using those stairs at night.
So..what exactly is holding this deck up? Looks seriously undersupported.
Weeds will grow through rocks. Put a border around it and cover in wood chips. If you do 4 inches thick, no weeds will grow through it.
Concrete
Load bearing posts to support deck.
Maybe some supports so it doesn’t collapse in 2 years
Only two post and no angle holding the deck up? Is that stairs on the left in first picture? Put a few more posts and angles to support the deck add walls, doors and windows. Good for yard tools or what have you. Patio tiles laid on gravel for flooring is cheap and quick. Seriously support to posts you have though.
Support for the deck.