The yard is a mess. I guess I wasn't expecting them to coat it with bentonite clay. They also had to dig a trench to hold excess water, because it's been raining a lot here this week. Hopefully this is the worst of it. And to think the neighbor complained that the rain barrels were unsightly!
5 comments:
We just had geothermal installed at our house back in November, and the first part of the process looked just like your yard (we had 7 holes). I'm sorry to tell you, but the next part is what I found worse - where they dig the 4 foot deep trench from hole to hole, then to the house. I've never seen so much dirt. The upside, though, is that it's not the clay mess you are looking at now; it will just be piles of dirt. I think you're in Columbus, aren't you? If so, we're not far from you in Newark. We LOVE the geothermal system so far. I hope you're as happy with it as we are. It was certainly worth the disaster in the yard. Good luck!
I think there's a little known law of physics (little known except by homeowners and contractors) that says the bigger the job, the more likely it is the weather will be bad. If the job is outside, this likelihood increases exponentially.
I found your arguments for geothermal so compelling (your post of the other day where you lay out the reasons for choosing this system) that I went in search of more information on it. So, you're the inspiration behind the article we posted on the greenremodel.net site by Daniele Loffreda, a greenbuilding consultant who's involved with the US Greenbuilding Council and is a LEEDs professional -- it's a good primer on geothermal systems. I think I'm going to insert an editor's note at the end of the article, directing readers to your blog so they can see your photos and read about your progress.
Hang in there!
Jen Wolf
Editor, greenremodel.net
Boy, looks like I have more piles of dirt to look forward to! I'm gald you like your geothermal system. It's renewing my hope that all the trouble will be worth it.
Canyou tell me what you did to "fix" your lawn after the system was installed? I'm wondering if I should maybe call a landscaping company and have them start from scratch. Of course, that's not really in the budget...
(This is long - I'm sorry!)
Like you, there wasn't much left in our budget for professional landscapers, so we did our yard ourselves this past May. Since they finished in late November, we left the yard as it was until spring. Waiting also allowed the soil to compact back down again, because when they finish you will never believe all that dirt came from just your yard. You might want to ask the company who’s doing your system how long you should wait to plant your new yard.
We rented a small bobcat one weekend and used it to spread the dirt and level out the yard (our local tool rental delivered it Friday and picked it up Monday). We had a load of topsoil and some compost delivered to help bring up the grade in some areas, but part of that was because the yard wasn't in good shape to begin with. After we leveled the yard with the bobcat and a large hand rake, we rented a push tiller and tilled in the topsoil and compost. I recommend a tiller with tines in the back, because it is much easier to use than the ones with the tines in the front. After tilling, we sprinkled better-quality grass seed, covered with straw, and watered religiously. It took about 2-3 weeks for the grass to come in, which was faster than I would have expected. I would recommend using some compost - we could really tell a difference where the yard received compost - the grass came in faster and thicker. We were able to get the new yard planted in a three-day weekend, but we had to be sure to have the tools and topsoil available at the same time. We will re-seed this fall and use crabgrass preventer in the spring in order to get more healthy grass next year.
If you don’t mind me asking, who is installing your system? We did a lot of research for installers in the area and were curious which company you went with.
I hope this was helpful, but we are certainly not experts. I’ll keep checking back on your progress. Good luck!
We went with EnviroQuest. They're basically the only game in town. They had also done the home of someone I know, and they like their system. The company is a little slow and non-communicative, but I also understand that I'm the little guy in between all of their giant and much more profitable commercial jobs.
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