Driveway re-construction

Here's just a pretty view of mom's flower garden that we planted last year. Its doing great this year.

This past weekend Justin borrowed equipment from work to put a french drain across the front of the house/bottom of the driveway, and to re-do the slope of the driveway so that it drained better. We always get these really big soft spots in the driveway and end up parking away from the house so that we don't sink in the spring and fall when everything gets swampy. But now we won't have to do that. YAY!

Digging in front of the garage
Test hole looking for the phone lines.
Prepare to move plants!
Starting to dig the trench
Here's the big money shot. :)

Another view of scraping the gravel out from in front of the garage
Justin working his magic in the track hoe.
The trench started shallower on the right side of the house and went deeper as it went across the front, towards the neighbors, so the water will drain to the left, and run into the channel/ditch that Justin dug, to funnel it back towards the pond, and out of the garage, carport, driveway, and basement crawl space.

Another hole.

The first, and only, casualty of the day. The step got a little smashed by the track hoe. Oh well! :)

He parked the trackhoe and switched to a smaller skidster machine after he did the trench digging, and moved the gravel he wanted to save out of the way.

Here's the trench on the left side.

Here's Mya the watchdog, supervising the whole project.

After digging the trench, you line it with fabric stuff. Here's Justin spreading it out.

Mya doing more supervision.

Still supervising

Another shot of the trench.

Overlooking her subjects
Here's the pipe, its perforated so that the water can flow into it, the down the line. Its got a little sock thing on it to keep sediment out, and just let water in.

The trench is filled in with 1 1/2" drain rock, so that the water can flow down into the pipe, and out the side yard, into the ditch, and out the backyard. The fabric stuff on the parking lot went under the gravel when he put it back, so that the driveway will stop sinking.

Mya was getting a little bored, and very ready to be let off the leash after being tied to the top step for about 2 hours while we tore up the yard.

But now the driveway is all put back together, and working great. Its first big test should come next month when all the big rains start. Can't wait to be able to use the whole driveway and not slog through the mud! :)