Residential Sprinkler System

Our clients find that a residential sprinkler system is an excellent way to protect their landscaping investment. Sprinkler systems improve the health of all plantings because of the consistent delivery of water. They help you manage your water usage, something that is much appreciated each month when the water bill arrives. In short, these time-saving systems immensely ease the burden of lawn care.

Residential sprinkler systems, like so many other aspects of modern living, have gone technical. The typical high-grade system from Exterior Worlds uses controller technology which serves as the brains of the system. Within the controller, you’ll find such automatic sprinkler system features as water delay options and rain sensors that prevent over-watering during rainy days. They also can come equipped with a pressure vacuum breaker (PVB), a safeguard against contaminates being suctioned back into the city’s drinking water when water pressure drops.

One of our quality sprinkler system installations typically uses different heads for the different zones of your landscape. For instance, pop-up spray heads, recognizable by the fan-shaped pattern of water they produce, are suitable for smaller or irregular spaces, such as landscape beds. As their name implies, rotor heads are the sprinklers that operate by rotating streams of water back and forth over the landscape. They work well in large areas such as turf-covered lawns.

Most often a part of a garden sprinkler system, a drip irrigation system works by means of drip emitters (also called inline drippers and micro spray heads) and high-grade hose materials that water plants in a gently soaking manner that is very beneficial to plant life and also significantly reduces the loss of water caused by evaporation. Drippers are perfect for narrow and raised beds, around retaining walls and in hanging baskets.

When installing a sprinkler system, it is highly recommended that you work with professionals who are experienced with your particular water source and pressure, planting materials, soil type and climate conditions. Knowledgeable irrigation contractors such as Exterior Worlds take all these factors into consideration and design a system specifically for you and your landscape needs.

We can regularly check your residential sprinkler system as part of a monthly maintenance contract. The periodical inspection of your sprinklers ensures that everything functions properly and allows us to discover problems quickly. One clogged head or torn line can misuse costly water and unnecessarily damage your landscape.

Items on our sprinkler checklists would include:

• Monthly checking of and adjustments to sprinkler heads.
• Unclogging sprinkler heads, as-needed.
• Adjusting the levels of the heads to ground level, as-needed.
• Regular adjustments to the settings on the timer.
• Manually operating all valves, approximately four times a year.
• Cleaning the mainline filter (if any).
• Checking wire-nuts and wires for damage, on a regular basis.

The end results are worth it because your residential sprinkler system has such a positive impact on your landscape and lawn and garden services. Your plants are healthier because of the regular and proper delivery of water and that means fewer re-plantings. Plus—and maybe most importantly—you get the lush and verdant landscape you dreamed about when you started your landscape project.

Concealed Custom Drainage Systems that Protect the Houston Landscape

How would you define the term, unique irrigation as opposed to irrigation?
A concealed custom drainage system, by definition, is one that is designed to address all the needs of a home or a business in a way that doesn’t disrupt the paving or the terrain of the Houston landscape with severe slopes.

What components are used to make a custom drainage system?
The typical system is made of a network of basins and pipes. Gravel is often used to conceal the basins. Gravel provides an ideal compliment to both hardscape elements and softscape forms.

How do you design such a system without it being an obvious eyesore?
We have to use very creative design ideas. We look for ways to conceal drains and pipes in the very fabric of the land itself. Sometimes we even use special materials to conceal our systems in a way that ultimately improves the aesthetics of the Houston landscape.

What areas of the Houston landscape need concealed, custom drainage systems the most?
Lawns in particular need quality drainage. The worst thing that can happen to a yard is to have pools of water collect without any possibility of runoff. This will kill entire patches of grass, threaten flower beds, and potentially harm trees as well.

There is also a risk to human health when standing water forms like this. The Houston landscape is a favorite breeding ground for mosquitoes due to the heavy rainfall the Texas Gulf Coast receives. In fact, prior to European Colonization, the Karankaway Indians pretty much stayed clear of what is now called Houston because the swarms of mosquitoes the bred in the bayou systems made foraging and hunting uncomfortable even for them.

Building a network of pipes and drains in a lawn is one of the most important steps toward the creation of not only a beautiful landscape, but also a livable and healthy one as well.

How do you conceal drains?
One of our favorite techniques is creating paving solutions that are designed to let the water fall through slots in the pavement. This works very well in the relatively flat Houston landscape. These slots are very small, so the eye will not see them.

What if I don’t want any slots in my pavement?
We can also slope the paving so the water moves to areas that allow for discreet, hidden drain basins or troughs. Sometimes we move the water toward garden areas surrounded by French drains, where just enough water touches plant roots before being drawn through the gravel into the basin.

What Houston neighborhoods need custom drain systems the most?
The landscape throughout the city is flat wherever you go. Therefore, all neighborhoods need this service equally.

Quality Drainage Systems

Tropical Storm Frances, 1998. Tropical Storm Allison, 2001. Hurricane Ike 2008. Plus, uncounted and unnamed thunderstorms that sweep in without warning and dump five to six inches of rain in a single afternoon.

Houston has a drainage problem and it’s a little scary when you look at a list that contains some of the reasons why. If for no other reason than these naturally occurring and unpredictable weather patterns, you need a quality drainage system. It protects your property, your home and your family.

Exterior Worlds installs quality drainage systems that are all-encompassing. We address all drainage issues on your property including proper grading, the engineering analysis that creates positive drainage away from structures. Our properly-designed drainage systems also take into account your neighbors’ lots so that your drainage doesn’t create problems for them.

We believe that the right number of drains is an important element of a quality drain system. By using enough drains, we are able to keep your landscape as flat as possible. With too few drains, surfaces have to be sharply pitched so that they flow into the few drains that are installed. Look at a Wal-Mart parking lot and you’ll see what we’re talking about.

Our drainage solutions are site-specific. For drainage problems around garden beds, one solution that we have found works well is to raise the beds, which lifts your plants out of the soggy soil. Sometimes we find that the problem is the soil. Houston’s clay soil is famous for being hard to cultivate and that’s before years of construction have compacted it. Our Houston lawn service crew helps that condition with a regular aeration program.

Drainage systems should have little negative visual impact. We integrate downspouts and gutters with the architecture of your house. If we have to use deck drains, we use specially-designed covers, usually made of metal, brass or stone, that blend with the look of your patio or deck design. We fill French drains and channel drains with appropriate decorative gravel or stones. As part of your landscape’s infrastructure, the drain system should work beneath the surface and without you having to make note of it.

Speaking of no negative impact, we are adamant that our quality drainage systems be installed with no harm to trees. Unfortunately, we are called in from time to time to correct the problem of stressed trees after a drainage contactor has damaged the root systems. We think tree preservation begins before you move an inch of dirt. Trees are too valuable to your property and too expensive to replace to treat this issue any other way.

Our crews also work hard to avoid harm to all vegetation in your landscape design. Our goal is for your lawn to be back to normal in two to three weeks after the installation. We think that’s one of the defining qualities of a top-notch job—that the grass shows no disrupting lines where the pipe was laid within a relatively short period of time.

Protect your valuables—life and property—with a quality drainage system from Exterior Worlds. And let it rain!

Storm Drainage in Houston

We need to get serious about putting in a drainage system on our property and were wondering what Exterior Worlds could tell us about them.
A Houston home landscape design demands a well-thought-out storm drainage system. We not only have to contend with the furies of Mother Nature—Tropical Storm Allison and Hurricane Ike, to name the most recent major storms—but also the Gulf coast’s flat lands and dense soils. It hasn’t helped that years of construction on heavily forested lots have compacted the ground and increased impervious surfaces.Exterior Worlds is glad to see that local ordinances are beginning to follow the model used by the Memorial Villages that requires minimum pipe sizes, flow rates, temporary drainage systems, engineered drainage plans, calculations, topographic maps, and as/built plans. All drainage contractors must have a thorough understanding of these demands before embarking on a drainage project or homeowners may find themselves in a big mess that can cost thousands to rectify.

What are the different parts of a proper storm drainage system?

• Gutter downspout tie-ins. These connections, made of plastic, metal or brass, take water from the gutters to the landscape drainage system.
• Deck drains. Your deck design should be constructed so that water is either sloped toward drains or drained into the landscape beds. You can use decorative drains made of metal, brass or stone.
• French drainage. French drains are small ditches that are filled with undersized rocks or gravel and take water away from saturated soil.
• Catch basins, or yard drains. Catch basins can be placed under downspouts when it is undesirable or not possible to tie into the gutter. Usually a plastic or concrete box, catch basins use a plastic or metal drain grate cover to filter out leaves and other waste debris.
• Channel drains. These long narrow strip drains are used between main structures or at the edge of a patio.
  

How will the storm drainage system affect other parts of my landscape?
Drainage systems need to be integrated into your entire landscape plan. We work with professionals such as landscape designers or landscape architects to develop a whole-system approach so that the nuts and bolts of all systems are out of sight. When that is not possible, the use of decorative drain gates can be used to reduce the negative visual impact.

For purposes of tree preservation, Exterior Worlds also recommends that you hand-dig trenches around trees when installing a yard drainage system. You can also tunnel under tree roots by using compressed air, a method that exposes tree roots without tearing them. Or water can be used to dig deep trenches and expose roots, which also minimizes damage.

One benefit of a storm drainage system is its positive impact on your residential landscape maintenance. It prevents standing water that can cause slippery surfaces, mosquito breeding grounds and drowned landscaping. Further, a proper landscape drainage system moves water off your property, encouraging healthy grass, and allows your maintenance crew to perform their regular lawn service duties.

Houston Landscape Drainage

Why is landscape drainage such a vital part of my landscape?
Houston homeowners contend with heavy soils, low lying areas and torrential rains, thus making a proper drainage system essential. The benefits:

• To protect your home from flooding.
• To properly drain roofs, decks, landscaping and lawn areas to avoid standing water that can cause slippery surfaces, washed-out landscaping and mosquitoes’ breeding grounds.
• To protect the home’s foundation from cracking or uneven shrinkage and swelling.

Please educate me on the intricacies of a yard drainage system.
It begins with defining your watershed, which is the total landscape drainage area of your property and entails its different slopes, rates of run-off, soil porosity and the dividing line between each surface, such as lawn, roofs, and decks. You must understand that your entire property is a watershed, because if you have one area that retains water, simply installing a single catch basin only applies a band-aid to a much larger problem. A drainage expert can identify these different areas with a property watershed analysis and select the appropriate fixtures and size of pipe for your system.

There are three primary landscape drainage applications:

1. Downspout tie-ins. Downspout tie-ins take water from the gutters via an attachment to the larger drainage system. Tie-ins are made of plastic, metal or brass. As an alternative, catch-basins can be placed beneath downspouts where it is undesirable or not possible to use tie-ins. The catch basin then ties into the main drain line to carry water off the property.
2. Deck and patio drains. Deck drains are installed in patios, decks and walks so that water runs toward the drain or drains into garden beds. Made of metal, brass, stone, deck drains are smaller than catch basins and are only intended to drain patio surface areas.
3. Landscape and lawn drains. Landscape and lawn drainage is intended to drain low-lying lawn or landscape areas through an underground perforated pipe or catch basin. Most often, we use a 4” or 6” PVC pipe, installed underground that is perforated with a sock netting to keep out rocks, leaves and soil debris. Typically, drain pipes are buried beneath the ground in soil, gravel or bull rock trenches that follow the house’s foundation.

Landscape drainage maintenance, which we provide to our clients, consists of regular inspection, checking power connections on sump pumps and replacement of any cracked or broken drain covers. We also do cleanout of catch basins and downspouts.

Who should I work with when installing a storm drainage system?
We say—go with the pros. For one thing, local ordinances here in Houston are beginning to follow the model used by the Memorial Villages that requires minimum pipe sizes, flow rates, temporary drainage systems, engineered drainage plans, calculations, topographic maps, and as/built plans. If your drainage contractor embarks on a project without a thorough understanding of these demands, you can find yourself drowning in a big mess that can cost thousands to rectify.

Also the design, location and installation of your system should be seamless with all your landscape improvements, so it makes sense to only use competent subcontractors. Since our beginnings in 1987, we have built good relationships with a list of professional drainage contractors whom we can recommend.

Drainage Systems

We want to educate ourselves before taking the plunge and putting in a drainage system. Can Exterior Worlds help us out?
For more than 20 years, Exterior Worlds has seen our clients through the process of putting in a drainage system. Because we live at only about 40 feet above sea level, not to mention the 21 major bayous in the area and the regular appearance of tropical storms, Houston landscapes require such a system.

Here are the main elements required for landscape drainage:

• Gutter downspout tie-ins. These tie-ins are designed to take water from the gutters to the landscape drains. Made of plastic, metal or brass, they sometimes have a side cleanout with a see-through grate so they can be easily inspected for clogs.
• Catch basins, or yard drains. Catch basins can be placed under downspouts when it is undesirable or not possible to tie into the gutter. Catch basins are usually a plastic or concrete box that uses a plastic or metal drain grate cover to filter out yard debris.
• Deck drains. Your deck design should allow for a slope either toward drains or drain into the landscape beds. Special decorative drain covers, made of metal, brass or stone, can help with the visual impact.
• Channel drains. These drains are long and narrow usually placed between main structures and paving or at the edge of a patio or deck.
• French drainage. French drains are small ditches that are filled with undersized rocks or gravel and are designed to take water away from saturated soil.

What about local regulations and permitting issues?
Local ordinances are beginning to follow the model used by the Memorial Villages that require minimum pipe sizes, temporary drainage systems, engineered drainage plans, flow rates, calculations, as/built plans, and topographic maps.

All of these measures were put in place to protect homes and private property. In so doing, they also help your plant material to flourish into a full and healthy landscape. Your drainage contractor must have a complete understanding of the demands of the local governing body or you, as the homeowner, could wind up in the middle of a very expensive mess.

How will this system affect the rest of our landscape?
Proper drainage positively impacts residential landscape maintenance. By draining water from low-lying areas, it prevents standing water that can cause mosquito breeding grounds, soggy landscaping and slick surfaces. Proper yard drainage is essential for the care of your lawn because it moves water off your property quickly, thus encouraging healthy grass. It also permits your maintenance crew to perform their regular lawn service duties.

During installation of a drainage system, we recommend that trenches be hand-dug around trees to minimize damage to them. Or pressurized water can be used to dig deep trenches around the roots. You can also tunnel under tree roots by using compressed air. These tree preservation methods expose roots so they are not torn.

Drainage and irrigation systems can work in concert with each other. In fact, landscape designers or landscape architects can develop a whole-system approach so that the hardware of both systems is hidden as much as possible.

Drainage Contractors

We have GOT to put in a drainage system into our landscaping. Is this something that Exterior Worlds can help us with?
For more than 20 years, Exterior Worlds has been helping Houstonians deal with drainage issues, issues made very serious due to our dense clay soils, flat topography, and increased impervious surfaces because of heavily-forested lots being compacted by years of construction. These combined factors have caused more homes and streets to flood during our intense rainfalls.

As a result, local ordinances have begun to use the model currently employed by the Memorial Villages that require minimum pipe sizes, flow rates, engineered drainage plans, temporary drainage systems, topographic maps, calculations, and as/built plans. If a drainage contractor or landscape service company undertakes a drainage project without a complete understanding of these requirements, you as the homeowner can be out-of-pocket substantial sums of money.

The other elements of your landscape architecture, such as luxury swimming pools, garden structures and irrigation systems, should blend seamlessly with the drainage system. So it is best to hire a Houston lawn service company that uses competent drainage contractors to take advantage of this kind of expertise.

What can Exterior Worlds tell us about hiring a drainage contractor?
Here are the items we suggest you discuss with any drainage contractor before hiring them. If you’re working with landscape designers or landscape architects, they can recommend a competent professional:

• Explore their understanding of drainage areas, which is called a watershed.
• Ask about any engineering plans. Some jurisdictions require an engineered landscape drainage plan that includes runoff equations.
• Make sure they handle permitting issues. Many cities require that a drainage plan be submitted to comply with regulations concerning minimum pipe size.
• Discuss the types of drains to be used. Your drainage system may include gutter downspout tie-ins, channel drains, French drains and deck drains.
• Ask about their tree preservation methods. For this essential job, we recommend hand-digging trenches around trees to minimize damage to them. Or they can tunnel under tree roots using compressed air. Alternately, pressurized water can be used to dig deep trenches. All methods expose roots so they are not torn.

Watershed is defined as the total water drainage area with its different slopes, soil porosity, rates of water run-off, and the dividing line between each drainage surface area such as deck, roof, and lawn areas. A drainage expert can conduct a watershed analysis that will identify these different areas and then can make recommendations regarding the appropriate fixtures and pipe size for your particular system.

Once we’ve put in our drainage system, what benefits can we expect?
A proper drainage system keeps your home from flooding, thus the number one benefit is that your property is protected. It also provides protection for your plants and trees, which further enhances your property value. Problems with your home’s foundation are alleviated. The drains in your patio design will carry water away from that area so as to prevent standing water that can cause slippery surfaces and mosquito breeding grounds

Water Drainage

Because Houston so very flat, sump pumps or sump systems must often be used to pump water out of areas that are lower than the areas that the water is being drained into. To make water drainage like this work, we must build a sump as a basin, usually made from brick or concrete. Structures like sump basins are very vulnerable to being clogged by debris, so they have to be frequently maintained to ensure proper water drainage. This involves inspecting and cleaning these catch basins, cleaning downspouts, and checking and replacing power connections when necessary.

Because water drainage systems are typically unattractive, they have to be hidden from public view. It is therefore mandatory that you hire a landscape professional to build your drainage system in order to make sure it will protect your yard from Houston climate extremes without diminishing the presentation power of the landscape design.

Drainage Aspects:
Before we install your water drainage system, we have to go over the many preliminaries that are involved in planning and installing it. This is no simple matter, and nothing you ever want to try on your own. It involves working with municipalities and subcontractors—neither of whom is very skilled at directly communicating in a clear manner with homeowners.

Considerations during Planning and Installation: Water Drainage Plans
The total landscape water drainage on your property is called a watershed. It includes all the slopes, the speed of water runoff, and the porosity of the soil. It also includes dividing line between each drainage surface area such as roof, deck and lawn areas.

Your landscape architect will see to it that you receive a property watershed analysis by a drainage expert that will identify these different areas and recommend the appropriate fixtures and pipe size for the landscape drainage system.

Permitting
Many municipalities require the submittal of a drainage plan with regulations concerning minimum pipe size. Other jurisdictions also require an engineered landscape water drainage plan with submitted runoff equations. Exterior Worlds will handle both services for you when so required.

Tree preservation
When we install a water drainage system, we will hand-dig trenches around trees in order to minimize any damage to them. We also tunnel underneath them with either compressed air or water in order to temporarily expose tree roots without tearing them.

City utilities
We make it top priority to locate city utility lines prior to installing water drainage systems. We know how expensive it can be to repair fiber optic lines, gas lines and other utilities. We find them first and make certain they do not get cut during drain installation.

Types of Landscape Drains:
Once permits and plans are taken care of, subcontractors are brought in to handle the physical aspects of water drainage installation. There are many different drain styles we can install on your property.

Gutter downspout tie-ins
Downspout tie-ins carry water gutters to the water drainage system. They are made from plastic, metal or brass and often have a side cleanout with a see-through grate that can be easily inspected for clogs.

Catch basins, or yard drains
Catch tie into a PVC main drain line instead and carry water out through the landscape drainage system. They are can be placed beneath downspouts when it is undesirable or not possible to tie into the gutter.

Channel drains
Channel drains are very narrow and are normally used between main structures and paving or at the edge of patios and decks.

French drains
French drains are small ditches filled with undersized rocks or gravel. They take water away from saturated soil.

Deck drains
Deck drains are built in patios, decks and walkways so that water drainage either slopes toward the drain or into the landscape bed. They are often built with special, decorative drain covers made of metal, brass or stone. Deck drains are smaller in size than catch basins and are only intended to drain patio surface areas.

French Drainage Systems

While we already have a drainage system in our landscape, we need to expand it. We’ve been reading about French drains and were wondering what Exterior Worlds thought about them?
French drains are trenches or ditches filled with gravel or other small rocks that move water parallel to the ground. Water flows much easier through loose gravel or rocks, especially as compared to Houston’s infamous thick and gumbo-like clay soil which is always a challenge for any local landscaper. A well-designed drainage system using this type of drain will often have pipes buried in the gravel to further ease the flow of water from the wet area to the dry one.

For those homeowners who are interested in a “green” green garden—that is, one that is ecologically-correct and sustainable—French drains add a “green” element to your landscape drainage system. By the way, French drains were not invented in France. Rather, Henry French of Concord, Massachusetts came up with the idea in the mid-1800s and popularized it with his book.
Why do people install such drains? What are their advantages?
This type of drain fits into almost any landscape design. Their rewards are many, including:
• These drains make residential landscape maintenance easier since they prevent standing water that can cause soggy roots or drowned-out plants. They also help prevent slippery surfaces and breeding grounds for mosquitoes.
• Your overall lawn service is improved because these drains pull standing water out of the landscape while at the same time storing rain water in the subsoil. Your grass ends up looking healthier and more vibrant.
• These drains can work in conjunction with your irrigation system. Both systems can be designed by landscape designers or landscape architects so that water collects in and nurtures garden beds, thus conserving water. Your designer can also work to hide the hardware to lessen any negative visual impact.
What do we need to know, in general, about drainage systems?
It goes without saying that storm drainage issues are very serious in the Gulf Coast region due to our flat topography, dense clay soils, and increased impervious surfaces on heavy forested lots due to years of construction. These three major factors have caused flooding problems for streets and homes during our seasonally heavy rainfalls. Therefore, many local ordinances have begun to follow the standard set by the Memorial Villages that require minimum pipe sizes, temporary drainage systems, topographic maps, engineered drainage plans, calculations, flow rates, and as/built plans.

Homeowners may find themselves swimming in the middle of a big mess that can cost thousands to rectify if their drainage contractors takes on a drainage project without a thorough understanding of these demands.

Also, we always recommend to our clients that, when installing any drainage system, you hand-dig trenches around trees to minimize damage to them. Alternately, pressurized water can be used to dig deep trenches or you can tunnel under tree roots by using compressed air. Any of these tree preservation methods expose tree roots so they are not abruptly torn, thus endangering the life of the tree.

River Oaks Stepping Stone Patio & Pool Renovation

Exterior Worlds was contacted by a family in River Oaks to remodel their pool and build a stepping stone patio around it. The pool was L-shaped and clashed with the entire back yard. The owners wanted the pool redesigned with more of a curved, linear shape that would suggest harmony and balance with surrounding natural elements. They did not want a wooden deck or concrete patio around the new pool, either, but instead requested we build them a stepping stone patio that would look like a part of Nature, but would feature sophisticated drainage and provide a firm, reliable surface upon which to walk.

Stepping stone patios are not difficult to build. The difficult part is building them with a drainage system that will prevent standing water from accumulating. In this case study, we actually built the stonework on individual pads of cement. We built the french drainage system to run under this substructure, and we concealed it with vegetation planted between the individual stones. This made them look very old, as if the grass had punched through in places and had been growing there for a very long time.
We changed the design of the pool into that of a large, curved linear structure. We accentuated one side of it into a stone walkway that hugs the side of the pool. It ran all the way through the yard, and passed through a wooden trellis into a sculpture garden with an outdoor seating area and a patio. We wanted this walkway to look like it was a part of Nature as well, so we constructed it using the same materials we had used to build the stepping stone patio. We cut the stones into pie shapes rather than squares, which allowed us them to fit them individually together and build a 30” structure that followed the water in an arc, allowing it to serve as a coping as well as a pathway.

The sculpture garden into which this walkway led was also a very unique element to this landscaping project. Here, we moved away from the theme of a natural stone patio toward that of a traditional flagstone patio. We actually built this patio off the linear walkway coming from the pool, then connected small walkways to the two doors leading into the home’s interior. We also built a small fountain out of brick into the wall of the home, so that guests who were seated outside at night could look at the lighted water falling against the backdrop of the house.

Throughout the property, we planted a variety of flowering plants and ground cover around our stepping stone patio and walkway. Jasmine was used profusely to control erosion and to prevent encroachment from weeds. Monkey grass was also used for weed and erosion control. Agapanthus and golden globes were used in places near brick walls and corners to help keynote these areas with their highly colorful, seasonal blooms. We also added height and elegance to the landscape with Italian cypress, and planted Camellias throughout the property to provide blooms for the winter season when other seasonal were dormant.

Grass Pool Patio and Landscape Installation in River Oaks

A couple in River Oaks loved the simple life, and they built a Craftsman style home that reflected this. They wanted their home to look austere, and their lawn to resemble a grass courtyard featuring minimal construction and plenty of green space. They asked us to come in and design a custom swimming pool and concealed drainage system that would be fully functional, yet aesthetically harmonious with the intent of the home design.

The front yard of the home bordered a major street and was lush with San Augustine grass. Two massive oaks accentuated the property line near the sidewalk. The only problem with the property was it had no means of draining water. The design of the house itself had also posed a problem with the architect, who had been unable to design standard gutters on the home because of exposed rafters that extended past the sides of the roof. We were asked to develop a drainage system that would move water away from the house and off the property without diminishing the landscaping aesthetic.

We decided to frame the entire yard with a French drain made entirely of gravel. This created the look and feel of a grass courtyard that the homeowners had requested. Aesthetically it consisted of exclusively natural elements that completely concealed their actual function. While appearing to be only decoration, the gravel actually acted to quickly pulls water away from the house and out of the yard any time it rained.

We did something even more unique in the back yard—we built a custom swimming pool surrounded only by a grass courtyard. The only concrete we used was that required to build a low profile coping around the water’s edge. This was because the owners wanted paving kept to a minimum so their children and pets would have plenty of grass to run and play in. We installed the usual pool skimmer throats without lids in order to make the entire construction flush with the grass, and we installed water jets on one side of the pool so water would arch over the top of the water.

We put the finishing touches on our grass courtyard design by planting a number of plant species along the boundaries of both yard areas. We planted boxwoods around the French drain to give it a dark ground cover border, and we interspersed Crepe Myrtles behind the boxwoods for height and floral coloration. Along the far back wall across the pool from the house, we planted Japanese blueberry trees and lit them with concealed luminaires. We also added color to the ground cover with Caladiums and Lantana, and we planted a Star Jasmine to train along the fence between the house and the back wall.

This is one of the most popular custom pool designs ever designed by Exterior Worlds. We believe this is because it combines two very distinctive disciplines—pool construction and landscaping—into a fusion of water and earth.

Houston Yard Drainage

What is the purpose of installing yard drainage?
Yard drainage can be a very serious issue due to Houston’s flat topography, dense clay soils, and heavy forested lots compacted by years of development that have increased impervious surfaces. These elements have caused more roads and homes to become flooded during the heaviest rainfalls. As a result, local ordinances are beginning to require minimum pipe sizes, flow rates, temporary drainage systems, engineered drainage plans, calculations, topographic maps, and as/built plans.

Within those broad strokes, a well-designed yard drainage system provides proper grading, which creates positive drainage away from structures. It also takes into account neighboring properties and being cautious not to drain onto them. A different aspect involves identifying and addressing existing troubles such as poorly-placed downspouts, naturally-occurring low areas or an addition to the house that creates dams and changes the originally-intended water flow.

What else is involved in a yard drainage system?

• Catch basins, or yard drains. Catch basins can be placed under downspouts when it is undesirable or not possible to tie into the gutter. They tie into a PVC main drain line instead and carry water out through the landscape drainage system. Catch basins are usually a plastic or concrete box that uses a plastic or metal drain grate cover to filter out leaves and other waste debris.

• Channel drains. These long narrow strip drains are used between main structures and paving or at the edge of a patio or deck. • Deck drains. Deck drains are installed in patios, decks and walkways so that water is either sloped toward drains or drained into the landscape beds. They have special drain covers, usually decorative, made of metal, brass or stone. Deck drains are smaller in size than catch basins and are only intended to drain patio surface areas.

• French drainage. Designed to take water away from saturated soil, French drains are small ditches that are filled with undersized rocks or gravel.

• Gutter downspout tie-ins. Downspout tie-ins are designed to take water from the gutters to the landscape drainage system. These tie-ins are made of plastic, metal or brass and sometimes have a side cleanout with a see-through grate so they can be easily inspected for clogs.

Yard drainage impacts residential landscape maintenance in numerous ways. Since it drains water from low-lying areas, it prevents pooling water that can cause slick surfaces, insect breeding grounds and drowned plant materials. A poor drainage system is essential for proper lawn maintenance as it moves water off of your property in a timely manner, thus promoting healthy grass and allowing your maintenance crew to perform their regular lawn service duties.

“If drainage contractors embark on a storm drainage project without a thorough understanding of all these demands—at the city or county level, the neighborhood level and the ground level—homeowners may find themselves in the middle of a big, expensive mess,” says Jeff Halper, landscape design specialist with Exterior Worlds.

If you are interested in any high-quality landscape services, Exterior Worlds has been providing the drainage services discussed above for the Houston and the surrounding areas including memorial villages (Piney Point Village, Bunker Hill Village, Hunter Creek Village), Tanglewood, River Oaks, West University and the greater Houston (Hou), area since 1987. Contact us at 713-827-2255