Final Grading in Old Folsom

Hello and welcome back to Local Fruit in Folsom, Ca. The past few weeks construction really seemed to slow down as the work in progress was interior, detailed and time consuming. The finish trim took a full two weeks to complete and was followed by a week of interior painting and prep. This blog is about grading, water permeable surfaces and the beginning of landscaping for our new home in Old Folsom.

Graded future patio and sloped side yard

Two exciting milestones occurred last Monday: final grading and the delivery of the solar panels. Quality final grading is critical to all construction projects to ensure water drainage is adequate, but even more so when dealing with a narrow and sloped lot. Our lot drops 10 ½ feet from the southeast corner to the northwest corner, which may not seem like much except the lot is only 50 feet wide so the slope is significant across a short distance. Returning the slope to the original grade is important to prevent water damage and to protect the heritage oak trees. A sloped lot also means that we should plan for the water that will come from neighbors uphill…at least we know the area well and understand where water runs in the rainy season.

The grader was a real master, a man named Martine with incredible skill. He brought equipment including a tractor that was about 25 years old and wonderfully patched up. The seat was 100% covered with red tape and there was a rag used to plug a hole in the sidewall of one the tires. To me, Martine had an uncanny resemblance to a Mexican version of Dustin Hoffman, especially when he was concentrating on the job at hand. We walked the lot to review our design-not an engineering plan but the simple design drawing from my PC home design software-a print out which is not technical enough for a grader. Martine then walked the lot with his hands out, mentally calculating and “feeling the flow” of the lot. Several hours later, I went home to pick up a few cold beers and returned to find the laser shooting the back yard. Martine said he was 1 ½” off in one corner which is amazing because we did not provide any before of after measurements. Think about it… a true master who read the slope, returned the soil perfectly to original grade (which he had never seen) and did it all using old school gear with no measurements. I think this was a challenge for Martine and he seemed to enjoy the challenge. I was honored to meet him and to watch him work; I can recommend his work without hesitation to anyone need a good grader. It is so inspiring to watch a master tradesman in action, especially a magician like Martine!

Landscape design - patio, trees, trellis, grapes (makes sense?)

It is satisfying to start laying out the landscaping, at least enough for the landscapers to bid on the project. We are hands-on owners, especially with the landscaping and landscape design. A dear friend used the term “No dry cows” which means don’t plant anything that is not productive. We hope to grow plants & trees that are edible, or at least have other household value. There will even be four raised beds so we can plant a spring/summer and a fall/winter garden. The City provided compost bin has been in use for several months, and we are beginning to haul potted plants from our little rental yard. We must be careful, or the deer will get to our plants before we can install fencing. Between the birds, dear and occasional worker, the figs have been well eaten this summer!

We originally planned to have water permeable surfaces for our hardscape, which means pavers or hard surfaces that do not create runoff. Rainwater should filter through the patio or sidewalk to the soil and become groundwater, verses draining off on the surface to the storm sewer and away from the soil. Worse yet, uncontrolled runoff causes erosion and damage to the municipal storm sewer system.

Unfortunately, our project has cost over runs in other areas, and permeable surfaces are no longer an option. The most attractive hard surface is stone, which is now out of the budget. Stamped and stained concrete may be what we end up with.  concrete provides more color and texture options and should be very attractive. The current design has a much reduced the patio area to create more planting areas for small fruit trees and ground cover. This will give us the best of both: more beds and greenery and a smaller more intimate patio for the outdoor dining area.

With a little creativity, a slope is a landscaping asset! Even a narrow lot looks better with grape vines, yes? If we put grapes on the fence, perhaps the deer will nibble on grapes and quince, and leave the roses alone.


Solar Panels on the west side of the roof

The solar panels were installed today, but are not yet hooked up. I will blog about the PV system in a week or so.

Fresh Dirt!

Hello and welcome back to Local Fruit. I am happy to say that we finally have something to show that the project is moving forward at last. It has been almost three years since we bought the lot and began designing an energy efficient house in the Historic District. We submitted the design to the City and the Historic District Commission fourteen months ago and then submitted drawings for the plan check phase again in August. Once we moved into temporary quarters this summer we have been eagerly waiting to see tangible changes at the lot.

So back to the week’s progress... the site work of grading and sewer is complete. Future site work include constructing utilities and retaining walls.

A week ago several issues lay before us: locating the City sewer line and getting the grade correct on a narrow sloping lot. Well, last week the excavation company graded the lot and dug the sewer trench. After locating the City sewer main, they constructed our sewer connection, had it inspected, filled in the trench and patched the street. This seemed to happen quickly and with minimal disruption to the neighborhood traffic. The lesson here is that with something as important as a sewer line you want to have the ground work done right the first time. There is no second chance with a sewer line.

The grading has been a challenge because the lot slopes about 10’ from the southeast corner to the northwest corner. The garage pad is the high point, and right now the pad really dominates the parcel. We plan to reduce the excess pad and return the slope to almost the natural grade. I can’t imagine trying to navigate around the high pad as pictured with garden equipment or a green yard waste can.

Another challenge has been getting two City-owned trees removed. Two years ago the City arborist spent time identifying the trees and informing me which City-owned trees were diseased and unsafe. In fact he said that that the City would remove two of the trees because they were a hazard to people and property; however, due to the budget crisis the City now has no staff to trim or remove trees.

Instead the arborist expected us to remove the two City trees. This work was NOT in the budget! We agreed to remove the City’s trees because we did not want the risk of a diseased tree with a weak crotch dropping a limb and hurting someone. (That phrase always makes me want to giggle- pants have weak crotches; trees should be strong!) The photo shows the stump of the maple tree cut down today. I don’t even know how it survived this long with so much of the trunk missing.

The past few months we have been doing fun stuff on Fridays, like picking out flooring, cabinetry, and solid surfaces. We evaluated window bids (Anderson vs Milgard) and began to evaluate HVAC systems. We often take time to pull out the plastic yard chairs and sit on the future porch or in the future dining room…just looking at the future view.

We expect to break ground about the same time and the rainy season arrives. But I have cute new mud boots, and I am ready!