Considering building a dry creekbed

The lot that our house was built on last year used to have the tail end of a usually dry creekbed running through it. The remainder of this creekbed still runs through the adjoining woods and ends at our lot line. Of course, whenever it rains, you can see that our yard is really still the tail end of this creek, just without the original creekbed. Is that confusing? Well, the upshot it that our yard is a muddy, wet mess now that we've had a few inches of rain here in NC. And we have a little creek running through it. I'm spending lots of time washing the dogs!

Today our landscaper came out and we talked about creating a dry creekbed where the original one was. Don't have the official estimate yet, but we're looking at about $5k. The length of this sucker is 100 feet or so and 4-5 feet wide (but it'll meander and be narrower/wider in places to be more natural), and the yard needs a bit of regrading to stop some ponding nearby. The estimate also includes several large boulders, smaller rocks, river rock, and moving/leveling a shed. I'll do the gardening around it, so no plants or anything in that price.

First of all, is $5k a reasonable price for something like this? And can anyone show pics of dry creekbeds they've had done in their yards? We aren't committed to it yet, so now's the time to make changes to the plan--or scrap the whole idea and rethink this mess!

I have one in my yard and I think that's probably a reasonable price. I'd have to look back at the landscaping contract and see how much mine cost (it was a part of a much larger project) but I'm sure it wasn't any cheaper than that even though it's shorter than 100 ft. If you want to see pics, go to my blog (click on my member name and you should see a link to it) and look at mine (most of the pics of the creekbed are on the "front yard south hill" and "front yard bottom of hill" tabs...I might have the names slightly off but should be close enough for you to see which ones I mean). I'm on my work computer so I can't post pics directly right now, but there are a bunch in my blog.

I have some from when we lived in Arizona. Our backyard was all rock & crushed stone. Don't know if this would help or not, but I can dig up pictures if you are interested - let me know.

ecrane, That looks really great! Ours would be a bit wider and longer, and we don't have quite the slope that it looks like you have, but it's the same idea. The quote includes a few other things besides the creekbed, including removing a treacherous pine from the edge of our woods, so it seems like a pretty good deal. Just hyperventilating at spending a chunk of money right after paying taxes. Ugh.

Is the benderboard in your pics that recycled plastic stuff? I like how it looks. Might have to incorporate that into the yard.

Yes, it's the recycled plastic kind. Can you find it in your area? I remember a few threads from a year or two ago where nobody east of the Rockies seemed to have ever even heard of benderboard, let alone seen it available locally. I was always puzzled by that, but I finally heard it from enough people that I started to believe it!

Also, I looked up my contract and I actually paid $4500 for the dry creekbed (as part of a major landscaping project...I'm sure if I had just done the creekbed with just a few other small things it would have cost more). So I think $5000 for the creekbed plus a few other things is a pretty good deal (although it never hurts to get multiple quotes for anything you do, just make sure they're all equally reputable companies and are quoting you on exactly the same thing)

Well what you could ask is how many hours/day he thinks it will take to build the bed. Then casually ask what types of equipment he will use for the excavation. It is a valid question because different types of equipment could cause yard damage.If he rents that equipment you could get hourly price quotes of that equipment and then from their you could figure in what he is charging for labor. I would also ask if he will mend any yard damage.

Stone prices vary from region to region and with the cost of fuel have skyrocketed. Stone we were getting for under a 100$ a ton is now over $300. You said there would be boulders - those add up FAST! to the cost. Each one can be a couple hundred to $800 depending on type, etc. The river rock - again, can add up fast. I calculated for ours that we would need 2 tons (based on spreading 4" ove rhte square foot coverage) and we ended up needing more. However, we did cut costs by using a less decorative sotne underneath and more expensive stone on top - sprinkled through. We are in Texas - where river rock is NOT a natural stone, thus I didn't wnat it to look too unnatural.

In the pic below please note the area between house and retaining wal & fence is not complete yet.

These are the instructions:

we had a serious drainage issue on the East side of house where our roof drained (no gutters) along with neighbors house (again no gutters - cheap builders!) and his 18 ft. driveway that comes to the porperty line into a 10 ft wide area along the 50ft of house length. Houses were so close that our neighbors could watch our TV in Fam room from their breakfast nook. We first built a fence anchored with columns that will be venetian plastered (not done yet) with a retaining wall on our side - soon to be a herb garden. all the water flows into a swail that flows to the dry creek.

To construct the dry creek we drew out the layout (using old garden hoses - yes, I keep those with holes in them just for this purpose) then we began digging the stream. Used a 2 ft level taped to an 8 ft straight 2X4. You would think as contractors we would have a 6 ft level, but alas it was stolen when our storage/shop was broken into and we lost over $7K of tools-OUCH! Anyway, making sure that we kept the slope to about a 1/2 bubble down grade we dug the "creek", making sure we kept the levels in to the approx. grade to marry to the swail between our house and the newly constructed ret wall. Once we were happy with the layout, and the grade, we installed the green steel bender board. This step was to curb any invasive plants on the beds on either side to NOT grow into the creek.

We also took the time to install drainage culverts from any future downspouts to the creek from the front of the house and the side of the house to go to the creek. We dug trenches, laid the hoses, added the fittings to match the downspout, and then filled the dirt back over - AGAIN ensuring that the grade was correct and would flow to the street.

Next was the plastic liner. Basic 20mil plastic to keep weeds from growing. I am constantly looking for cheap ways to do things. My neighbor is a pool guy and brought us some leftover plastic, so we used that.

Last step was to go to the rock yard and purchased the river rock. For our 35 ft creek we used 3 yards of rock.

Hubby wanted to accent the bed with larger boulders. Again, my cheapness raised its ugly head, and considering the rock yard wanted over a $1000 for a few boulders, I went on a hunt. A new house was being constructed about 2 miles from my house and had these BEAUTIFUL unearthed bedrock pieces. Hubby, my neighbor and I went and harvested them after discussing wiht the builder. Builder was extremely happy that we took them (he had less to dispose of) and we got them for free.

We placed our new beauties in the bed on the edges in strategic spots (like where the creek curves) and surrounded with the river rock. We even have some of the bedrock pieces in the center of the "stream" again, trying for that natural look. I added pink muhly grass on the slow water side of the large boulders - again, a more natural look.

here is shot of it today

would you guys recommend a "dry" creekbed where it water naturally runs off in the yard? My neighbor has a spot in the yard where water doesn't run off very well. I am trying to brain storms some ideas for her.

I'd have her look into rain gardens, that's a great thing to do in areas like that.

Lilly, that is one nice looking dry creek bed!

Lizzy
Your creekbed looks great. It just needs some fish leaping out of it! Tell us about the structure in the front of the house that got added from one photo to the other. What is is made of and what does it look like with ones back to the house? It is very contemporary. What is that piece coming out from the front along the bottom directly under the hanging basket along the edge closest to the grass?

Lizzy
Your creekbed looks great. It just needs some fish leaping out of it! Tell us about the structure in the front of the house that got added from one photo to the other. What is is made of and what does it look like with ones back to the house? It is very contemporary. What is that piece coming out from the front along the bottom directly under the hanging basket along the edge closest to the grass? Did you do the design?

One minute it won't load and the next minute it loads. This computer is nuts tonight.

Last fall we had dirt dummped for filling some areas in the backyard. My DH has never liked our landscaping (or lack thereof) in the front, so while the bobcat was in moving the dirt, we did a complete regrade of the front. I am married to contractor and the 6 years he has lived here he ahs completely replanned the house. Some of the projects are still under construction.

This is a before shot of the house

Where those double windows are is currently a bedroom, but will be converted to our morning/breakfast room when we build out the kitchen. We wanted a courtyard to drink our morning coffe and read the paper. THe larger windows in the center of the house is our formal dining room. The entry/foyer is just beyond.

When we designed the front yard, we knew we had the drainage issue, wanted to include the courtyard, make the entrance to the house more pronounced, and lots of year round color. My personal goal was as little grass as possible.

When we created the dry creek, we also included a bridge for the neighbors to cross to come to the courtyard. We have many Firday night impromptu happy hours out there with neighbors.

Recall in my dry creek discussion, that we used columns covered in venetian plaster to anchor the fence? The wall that you are seeing the picture that you commented about is make of the same material - steel frame with a hardi backer concrete board cover. HEre is a pic of midway

Waht you saw in the pic I posted yesterday was the walls covered in the backer, but lacking the green or brown coat and then covered in the venetian plaster. Across the top of the columns to create a window to the yard/street was a 4 X 6 cedar column for me to hang a few baskets of plants. Eventually the coins in the brick corners of thehouse exterior will also be skimmed iwht the plaster to unite the entire theme.

Currently we are working to create our own plaster mix (marble chips instead of sand with a correct mix of portland and lime) but have been unsuccessfull. Remember I am from Scotch heritage - and am not afraid of hard work if it will save me $$$. However. our testing has been failures. we will probably break down and spend the $100/bucket of ready to use plaster to skim the final coat.

In front of the DR is an extension of the courtyard, with a partarre in the center. It is too small an area for me to create a knot garden - no room for knots. So I will row out germander and lavendar and fill in the triangles with annual color. The center will include a tall (48") narrow (14") water feature. You can see the basin, which moved up in the rain, in the next picture. As you can see, there is the drama that we were hoping for in the entrance.
I hope that answered your questions.

Here is a close up of the courtyard flag stone - BTW - we do all the work oursleves.

Lizzy, Sorry I typed Lilly above. You and DH are very creative and talented.

I love it all. You two did a great job. thanks for the detailed description -- I am going to show it to my hubby tonight. Maybe it will inspire him. What is it that 'they' say.... Hope Springs Eternal..

Lizzy, your creekbed is gorgeous, but it turns out that one of that scale wouldn't have helped our water issues. Once the landscapers moved our shed and the bobcat started poking around, we discovered that the original creek (graded over by the builders apparently) also has a spring bubbling up right where the shed was. It's not a gusher, so it was just slowly creating a big mud pit. (If only it had been oil instead, we'd be the Clampetts!)

So, what we originally envisioned as this lovely little meandering stone bed turned into a larger-scale restoration of the real creek that used to be here. The neighbors say it's pretty much spot on its original path. The river rocks were by far the most expensive part. Fortunately the landscaper had the boulders on hand and gave us a better deal than the stone yard could. Given the spring and the original creek, the rest of which still runs to the edge of our property, there's no way we could've done this ourselves.

The landscapers finished the job in 4 days, plus did some other stuff (removed 2 treacherous pines from our woods and beautifully finished the area between the driveway and our fence gate). The timing was perfect: We had three days of rain right after they finished. Water ran down the new creek and into the drain like you would not believe. Our yard, for the first time since the drought broke, remained dry enough that I don't need to wear my rubber boots just to step outside. Before, the yard would stay wet and muddy for a week after it rained.

Here's a shot near one end. We're in the process of planting the raised beds that you see covered with pine needles, and the straw mats are seeded with grass and white Dutch clover. (I have a clover yard in the front that's doing spectacular things to the clay soil, not to mention barely ever needs mowing.)

Since this photo, my husband and I built the first of 3 bridges that will cross the creekbed, which is about 100 feet long. It's bigger than I envisioned, but so was the problem!

Here's my favorite boulder. It's covered in moss and is placed where we can see it from the patio.

Here's the moment we discovered the spring. In 10 minutes the water had run all the way to the other end of the trench. By morning there was a LOT of water in there! At that point we no longer wondered if we had gone too big with this thing!

Nope, definitely couldn't have done this ourselves! We've fit a lot of crazy things in the Kia, but I don't think this would've made it in there.

You are so right aobut not being able to do it yourselves, but I have to say the $5K bid was right on the money, and look at what you GOT! That is INCREDIBLY beautiful and so very natural! I wasn't trying to be proponent of doing ityourself, just givingyou and idea of our costs and that the bid was a good one!

AGain - absolutely fabulous!

Thanks Lizzy! Believe me, I wish we could've done it ourselves! In fact, before things got as muddy as they did we seriously considered it because I just hate admitting when I can't do something. Your creek is exactly what I originally envisioned--maybe next time, if we ever move to a house that doesn't secretly come with running water in the yard!

gbirds, I have the same problem but have 2 springs within 50feet. i was thinking of digging a trench (kinda river shaped i guess) and to dam up the outflow end with rock so the the overflow would be below grade helping to keep the backyard dry and end up with a water feature. These two springs leave large puddles on my lawn surface 90% of the year. Has anyone done this and what kind of problems am i facing? I will get pictures up here sometime today to show what i am faced with.

rabidhunter, My landscaper suggested a pond at the end, but the bill was high enough for my comfort. He mentioned digging out a pond shape, lining and rocking it, and adding a recirculating system. Still would've needed some type of drainage for big drenching rains or the occasional tropical storm.

Pond or no, I highly suggest the dry creek for your spring issue. The difference in our yard is night and day. And having the peace of mind that all that water won't eventually find its way into our basement is fantastic.

Thanks gbirds I have a guy comming in the morning to look at it.