Short, practical reads on excavation, grading, driveways, pads, footings, and concrete — written from the seat of the machine.
Two houses on the same street can have completely different foundation systems underneath — and the dirt work that supports them looks nothing alike. A slab-on-grade home in…
Read ›There is a myth that frost lines do not matter in the South. We hear it on every other estimate. Then we get the call in February from…
Read ›The call usually comes a year after the project finishes: water is pooling against the foundation, the yard turns into a swamp every storm, the new driveway is…
Read ›"I just need a couple trees gone." That's how the call usually starts. Half the time, that's exactly the right scope. The other half, the homeowner is actually…
Read ›A familiar pattern on sloped lots in Hixson: mulch washes down the front slope into the driveway after every thunderstorm. Homeowners try timbers, then river rock, then a…
Read ›Pull up to any quarry between Chattanooga and Ringgold and the price sheet on the office wall reads like a foreign language. Crusher run. ABC. #57. #4. #8…
Read ›Stand at the lowest natural pinch point on your land after a hard summer rain, and you'll usually see where a pond wants to go. Water in the…
Read ›A freshly built gravel driveway looks great on day one. The real test is how it looks at year three after fifty inches of rain, a few hard…
Read ›A cracked slab three years after move-in almost never traces back to the concrete crew. Nine times out of ten, it traces back to the dirt underneath —…
Read ›Picture a homeowner in Hixson standing in the back corner of a half-acre lot, watching rainwater pool against the foundation after every storm. The previous grader eyeballed slopes…
Read ›Storm-shelter homeowners in the Greater Chattanooga area tend to ask the same question every March: in-ground or above-ground? The shelter manufacturers will quote both, and the deciding factor…
Read ›A walkout basement only works when the lot cooperates. On a ridge lot off Hixson Pike or a sloped parcel above the Tennessee River, the back of the…
Read ›A 1970s driveway in Hixson that's lifted three inches at every joint is usually telling you the same story: failed sub-base, tree roots, and a slab that has…
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