The First Big Project

When we had our house inspected, one of the first things our inspector said to do was to change the grade of the back yard. Apparently, we have a negative slope which causes rain water to flow toward the foundation of the house rather than away from it. It's not a big deal now, but given enough time, where the water in the ground freezes, contracts, and expands each year, it could cause some nasty damage to the basement walls. The inspector said to just purchase a couple hundred pounds of dirt and create a slope that will move rain water further away from the house.

No big deal, right?

A number of thoughts come to mind as I plan for this first improvement. Are we really capable of pulling something like this off. According to the inspector, it's "simple." And looking online at how other people have done this, it doesn't seem like it will be technically difficult, but it will probably be physically intensive and rather time consuming.

This angel shows how the slope is angled toward the house where it pools. 

I have some other ideas for what to do after we finish with the grade. We're both on board for tearing out the dog kennel and adding a path that would go from the garage to the shed in the back and filling everything else in with plants. We're currently looking through some landscaping magazines to find inspiration and this will probably be phase two for the back yard.

Finally we want to build a patio or deck that's connected to the back side of the house. We'll probably wait at least a month before we start planning. More to come on that later.

A good place for a deck or patio?