Post date: Sep 4, 2015 1:13:11 PM
Little boys love to move dirt around. When we were kids we used our hands or had toy bulldozers. When we get older we dream about running a backhoe, even if we don’t admit so in public. I have a lot of dirt to push around.
Since the stucco is now complete on my house, we can pile dirt against the house. We do this for a couple of reasons. One of these to to help water drain away from the house and, therefore, not flood the basement. The other is to hide the raw lower edge of the stucco. A third is to get rid of all that dirt we dug out for my heat storage.
The leader of the plastering crew suggested that I pile 4-6” of gravel right at the lower edge of the stucco, out about 18”. This will help water drain away from the house and prevent dissolved soil chemicals (mostly calcium carbonate around here) from wicking up the wall and discoloring the bottom of the stucco. (My house color is light enough so this might not be a problem.)
We do have some left-over gravel, but not nearly enough for this task. It would take about 100 cubic feet of gravel for this. I’m not really fond of the idea of adding more rock (gravel) to my already impoverished soil.
In fact, I’m hoping to improve the soil. I want to screen out the rock, mix the sandy soil with the clay soil, mix the left-over sand we bought for plastering with the soil, and add a couple of truckloads of sawdust.
I guess it is time to talk with the landscaper again.