Terracing in between my house and a fence?

17 years ago

I have a sloping area in my yard beside my house that is very hard to plant (poor, rocky soil) and I would like to terrace it.

It is probably about a 30-40 foot run that drops about 8 feet. from front to back. The area is probably about 15 feet wide and on one side is the foundation of my house and on the other side is a fence in between my neighbor's and my yards. Currently our yards are level with one another. If I do this, the certain areas of terracing are going to be significantly higher than my neighbor's.

My question is, do I need to put "side walls" on both sides of my terraces?

I worry about soil and water coming in direct contact with my foundation on the one side, and I worry about soil seeping through the fence and into my neighbors yard on the other.

Just writing this, I think it is 100% appropriate to put sides on the fence side. I still worry about putting sides on the foundation side, because it is an old foundation (made with a lot of big clunky stones that stick out to varying degrees) and it will be impossible to get the side walls up flush against the foundation wall. There will be a space in between the side walls of the terraces and the foundation.

Please... any advice on what I should do here?

Comments (3)

pls8xx
17 years ago
Back off fron the foundation about 2 ft. Then terrace with sidewalls on both sides. Shown are a lot of 1 ft terraces, but you could do it three 2.5 ft terraces.

Use stones and plants on the slope against the foundation.
John Wallace
Original Author
17 years ago
Ah ha... I like that... what about the side of the fence?

Same over there? And then maybe in between the sides of the terraces and the fence and the foundation, maybe try to plant some pachysandra or something?
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pls8xx
17 years ago
jowall,

Above I showed how it could be done, but I wouldn't do it. Think about the access to those flat terraces. Lots of steps to build. No easy way to get a mower or wheelbarrow on them. In short, it's a access, maintainence nightmare.

I think I would be satisfied if the slope could be modified from the current 5 to 1 to a 10 to 1 (horiz. to vert. ratio). If the grade work is extended past the ends of the house then a ramp can be done to gain access to the two modified slopes and one set of connecting steps as shown below.