Went away for a week and came back to large ice buildup on the city sidewalk in front of our house. It did not snow, but there were many above freezing temperature days and below freezing temperature nights. Snow melted, couldn’t make it to the road, and froze on the sidewalk repeatedly. It doesn’t help that the sidewalk is on the north side of the house.
Last winter, the area beside the sidewalk was just dirt, and we didn’t have the issue. Landscape fabric and rock was installed by a landscape company in the front last fall. Are there any suggestions on what to change with the landscaping to fix the winter drainage issue?
by coco_the_atc
11 Comments
Salt and lots of it
Its called refreeze. Add a salt and sand mix.
Thats pretty much always going to happen with freeze thaw cycles like that.
I mean you could dig a ditch right before the sidewalk. But then when theres no snow, you’d have a ditch there.
Move to a warmer climate
I think heated mats exist. Gotta plug it in
Sand could at least give a little traction if you can’t salt
Heated sidewalk or move your house south.
The issue is that your new “low maintenance” rock and fabric layer turned your front yard into a hydrophobic slide. When it was just dirt, the soil absorbed some moisture and the surface roughness slowed the flow. Now, that landscape fabric is likely acting like a liner, preventing infiltration. The meltwater runs right through the porous rocks, hits the frozen fabric layer, and shoots instantly onto the sidewalk where it pools and freezes. Since you are North-facing, you don’t get the solar gain to burn that ice off.
You need to intercept that water before it breaches the concrete. The fix is to pull back the rock and fabric about 12 to 18 inches from the sidewalk edge and create a “relief valve”. You need a shallow swale or a French drain (perforated pipe burrito-wrapped in gravel) running parallel to the walk. This gives the water a place to drop down and percolate into the subsoil rather than flowing over the hardscape. If you want to see how to grade that trench so it looks like an intentional dry creek bed rather than a ditch, run your photo through GardenDream. It’s a solid way to blueprint the drainage layout to ensure it handles the water without ruining the curb appeal.
You’d figure you’d want it to drain towards the road. Just throw some salt and hopefully it’s enough that it doesn’t freeze there or it makes for something for shoes to grip to. Otherwise, move further south
I’m going to give you actual advice.
Use salt on the sidewalk when you get back.
Sand, cat litter or gritty absorbent. Tractor Supply carries the least expensive large bags of absorbent that works well