Landscape designer in Sugar Land

The Lake Charles soil series has its type location in Fort Bend County. It is 45 to 60 percent clay, drains very slowly, and opens cracks 1 to 5 centimeters wide and a foot or more deep when it dries. When rain returns, it swells and lifts. A driveway or patio poured on that soil without enough base, steel and joints will crack along lines nobody planned.

We build concrete driveway installation and concrete patio construction on compacted base, with rebar and control jointsControl jointA groove cut or tooled into concrete so that cracks, which are expected, form in a straight, planned line. laid out so movement happens where it is meant to. For pavers, flexible joints are the advantage: paver installation can move a little and be reset instead of replaced.

Most of Sugar Land sits inside one of nine levee improvement districts that build and maintain levees and drain the land they protect. Areas outside a district fall under the city for stormwater. The Brazos River runs along the southwest and south sides of the city, and Oyster Creek crosses from the northwest toward Missouri City, with many neighborhood lakes connected to one or the other.

The Brazos crested near 54 feet in Fort Bend County at the end of May 2016, a record at the time, and set a higher one during Harvey. On a single lot, though, the everyday problem is slower: clay that will not absorb a heavy rain, so water sheets across the yard and pools by the slab. Surface water drainage and French drain installation move it to the street or a lake outfallOutfallThe final point where collected water leaves the system, such as a street curb, storm sewer or approved ditch. In practice: A drainage system is only as good as its outfall. If the outfall is too high or blocked, the water backs up. instead.

The city requires a permit before anyone builds, enlarges, alters or replaces a structure. A new fence or a fence that changes dimensions needs a fence permit; replacing one exactly as it was does not. We confirm requirements for covers, pergolasPergolaAn open overhead structure of posts and beams that frames a space and supports shade or climbing plants. Smaller cousins include the arbor (an arch over a path or gate) and the trellis (a lattice panel for climbers). and flatwork with the city before the proposal.

HOAs add a second review. Riverstone, for example, requires prior written approval from its architectural review committee for most exterior changes, rear yards included, and aims to answer within 45 days of a complete application. We prepare drawings for that review and plan the schedule around it.

Sugar Land runs a water conservation program with free residential irrigation evaluations and weekly watering guidance based on Fort Bend weather stations. Clay holds water longer than people expect, so a system set to run daily often overwaters. Our irrigation system installation work zones beds and lawn separately and sets run times for clay.

The requests we see most are driveway and patio replacements on clay that has already cracked them once, drainage for yards that hold water after a storm, and outdoor living spaces drawn for HOA approval through our landscape design process.

• Driveway and patio rebuilds with base, steel and planned joints
• Drainage tied to the street or a neighborhood lake outfall
• Paver patios that can flex with clay movement
• Irrigation zoned and timed for heavy clay