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IronBelly

Thanks IronBelly.
Let me try this again...
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Why do architects do this to people?

The picture has no context. What is happening around this area? Do you need to get from the steps to the concrete on the left? Do you need some privacy from something to the left? Is this a view of your house that people see as they approch it? ... What is the story?

To the right is the driveway and a walkway to the front door. (Sorry, I was concentrating on only one side of the front of the house in this picture.)
The driveway on the left in the photo is actually the next door neighbor's. This is the front of the house and is what one sees from the street.

There are about 8 million things that could be done on that slope.

Planning is about understanding what is physically there, what is going on, or what is desired to go on, in and around the site, and coordinating everything to achieve desired results.

Your architect, or whomever sited that house, appears to have had a very limited program. It looks like he forced a walkout basement on a lot that was not ready to accept it, made the house as large as possible within the confines of that lot, and tossed fill in front of the house to cover the foundation. A picture of the entire front of the house would be very helpful.

What I see here is the challenge to landscapers coast to coast in today's new developments, what to do with the McMansion on a small lot.

In the graphic below I show the basic form lines of the landscape in blue. Note that the lower flat is an extention of the grade from the adjoining lot and identifies with the neighbors property. This gives one the impression that the division of the properties is in or near the toe of the transition slope (red line).

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Whoa! The house is spilling off it's lot. You need to visually reclaim your property. Since it is the grading that is causing the problem, the fix is a grade change.

In the graphic below the grade is raised at the property line and the slope is flatened to a point well past the house corner. The house now "owns" the land it sits on.

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Thanks so much for all your comments.
I'm including two photos to show the complete front and relationship to the neighbors.

This isn't a "McMansion" (I wish!). It just looks big because it's sitting on a hill. The property is about 1/3 acre (large back yard). There is no basement.
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If the only (or best) solution is re-grading, who would I contact to have that done? It sound super expensive to me.

Thanks!

My head hurts just looking at this, so I guess I will stop looking at it.

I'm sorry inkognito. I don't understand your comment.

I have to ask. Is there three floors on the back side of the house, or are the foundation walls filled in and capped with a slab? I have never seen a house stick this far out of the ground without a basement.

Anyway, your grading of the earth is about maxed out. If you want to change it more significantly, you'll need some retaining walls.

Good luck.

Wondering -- in pls8xx's drawing, don't his graphics show a significant point about the grade, and indicate retaining walls? A few simple lines. Would you change the wall location lines?

Maro

Thanks laag. No, there is no basement. This area is quite "rolling" and homes like these are not uncommon.

Marco, is your question for me or for pls8xx?

I took some photos of other homes in the area that have similar sloping front yards, and most seem to use a tiered "retaining" wall to level out the slope near the house.
click here

I am certainly no pro, but I think having several curving retaining walls which come all the way around and end up parallel with the street would look great. You could then plant some small trees, shrubs and trailing vines. I would plant the terraces so that the trees and larger shrubs "frame" your front door and screen your neighbors house. I would have the top tier come out to at least the first window on the left to give the appearance that the house is on somewhat level ground. Just my thoughts.

Well, I sure wasn't very clear! I'll try again.

My question was actually a response to laag's post just above it, and (not trusting my own judgment) I was asking mostly laag if he didn't think pls8xx gave a very good explanation of the need for grading and for retaining walls (shown by the lines). I thought the lines showed a clear and simple picture of what needs to be done, and why.

Then, I was wondering if anyone would change the location of the walls as shown in the line drawing.

??? I hope this is more readable.

Maro

First, I'm not really sure that I understand the point that PLs8 is making. I clearly see a swale half way between the house and neighboring driveway and don't follow the description of the toe of the slope being in front of this house, but in any case ....

If you terrace, or step down, walls that are seen stepping down from right to left in front of the house, it will still look like it is falling off.

If you bring a wall all the way across at the same grade as the right side of the property, it will still have to drop and meet grade by the property line. That will accentuate the drop from the peak of the roof to the grade of the neighbors driveway.

Better planning prior to construction would have been the best way to handle this, but it is what it is.

The gorilla, as everyone I expect would agree, is that the left side of the house appears as a stark top heavy element that has no sense of repose. Anything that we might want to do here should be thought out to mitigate that impression. The biggest site limitation is the proximity to the property line. It takes away our ability to physically widen the base in front of the house - a good tool for dealing with this.

The next thing is to try to visually broaden the base (in front and below the house). Horizontal lines can be effective at doing this. I'm not sure on the construction of the house in order to know if that portion of the house that is below the finished floor (that is not a basement) can be filled against, but if it can ... I would terrace. I would not terrace toward the property line like pls8 suggests, but from the house to the street. The lower terrace wall would come out from the corner of the house, about 3'-4' high, toward the neighbors driveway as far as it could go (what? 4'-5'?), then follow the property line toward the street about 2/3 to 3/4 of the way. Then it would curve to go parallel with the front of the house until the top of it met grade about 1/3 to 1/2 way across the front of the house. The grade in front of the wall would taper evenly from the top of the wall to the existing grade at the property line.

The second tier would be built directly on top of the first one starting from the house corner and following toward the street, but then would turn back parallel to the house much closer to the house and repeat the look of the lower wall. It would be built with the top level and meeting the grade of the rest of the front yard. Both wall tops are to be level and the grade tapers from the top of the wall across the front to the bottoms of the walls toward the property line.

The result is two horizontal lines (the wall tops) below the house and fill at the same grade all the way across the front of the house. The foundation can be planted the full length of the house. Fluff can be added in front of the wallss toward the left of the property. That will go a long way to making the house rest.

That is what I would do.

Thanks, laag.

I'm not very good at drawing, but is this what you are suggesting?
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After reading your suggestion more carefully, is this what you are suggesting? (Again, excuse the poor drawing!)
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Adding retaining walls at the side purely for some imagined esthetic improvement strikes me as unnecessary in this case. There is no functional reason for doing this, and the question of balancing the impression of the house as seen from the street can just as easily be handled with sympathetic plantings on the slope, where lawn seems abit forced, but plantings could make it a feature to enjoy, as plants on slopes can give emphasis that a flat site doesn't. I would suggest that about a third of the left side of the house's lawn be converted to shrubbery and ground cover plantings, using shrubs to arch and spill at this slope, and anchored with some small weeping trees to help carry the eye back down to the ground. A large sweep of low shrubs across the right side of the garden against the entry walk from the driveway could also be added to give the whole front a broad horizontal emphasis, helping to anchor the house. A grouping of trees such as Katsura, Japanese Maples or Saucer Magnolias might work nicely.

Alternatively, adding a balcony off the left side of the house to overlook the front could also give this side of the house a strengthened connection to this steep slope, and help the esthetics, with plantings to be enjoyed by looking down on them from above.

I want to sincerely thank all who answered my call for help. You are all so very kind and TALENTED! What great ideas you've given me. I will attack this area in the new year.

My sincere hopes for a happy holiday season to all!

There are many ways to skin a cat.

I agree that very well placed plants can do a lot to relieve the look of the house. The difficulty is that an amatuer is looking for advice from a message board to apply on his own (maybe with the help of hired contractors) rather than hiring someone who is able to layout a successful planting strategy on the site. Using plants alone, the chances of success would be dreadfully low without that expert. If such an expert were being used there would be no cause to post this thread. I believe it is safe to say that the OP wants to be in charge of this project rather than hiring such an expert (probably did the same in the design and siting of the house).

I believe that much greater success would come much more easily using "IVPM" or "integrated visual problem management" (the design version of "integrated pest management"). This is by attacking the problem using multiple tools rather than just one. Ground plane, stone, horizontal line, and plant material working together would more likely bring a project like this toward success in the hands of the majority of landscape contractors following the direction of a homeowner than just follwing plant placement directions from that same homeowner. Each part of the equation does something on its own and supports or builds upon that of the others.

A terrace wall is not going to do it on its own, but it is a strong visual foundation to build from. The house itself is the strongest element to build off of in this project. The problem here is that part of that strong element is what has to be overcome. It does reinforce the fact that it takes a lot of mitigation to counter such a strong element. Stone walls are very strong elements in themselves which means that if they are not laid out well, overcoming those would be a major effort as well.

Think of it as using the power of the plants and adding to it rather than substituting one for the others.

****** Here you go, Tony! A car analogy ********
A really good tune up can get you better gas mileage. Good tires with proper inflation can get you better mileage. Aerodynamics, speed control, .... why not combine them? If you consider plant placement to be the equivalent of the tune up and if you were not going to hire a good mechanic, it would make sense to make sure the tires were inflated properly and all of those other contributors to good gas mileage were being used.

My concern, laag, is that the terrace walls will be difficult and more expensive to install unless the neighbor allows equipment on his driveway. Such a construction project could cause a neighbor problem if damage occurs. Very necessary would be a quality construction firm with excellent insurance to make repairs if needed. I tend to side with bahia's solution. An hour's consultation with a designer should sort out the types of evergreen shrubs suitable for the site that will blend the house and hill together.

Skin a cat, 800lb gorilla and now a car tune up, what's going on here Andrew have you been reading those bedtime stories again? eacollie: is that blue mark on the sidewalk the property line? My previous message was a bit negative because it is all too common for a designer to be called in to cover up an architectural mistake. Frank Lloyd Wright once said that a surgeon was more fortunate than an architect because at least he could bury his mistakes whereas an architect could only grow a vine over his. The first thing I would do is talk to the neighbour about planting a couple of ornamental tree in the grass between his drive and that high wall. These tree will help visually with reducing the imbalance and prevent the neighbours kids from kicking or throwing a ball against the wall. If you intend building up that corner with brick or stone I think you have to go across the whole width of the front to make it look right. If you don't have the money now I would wait until you do and then do the job properly other wise you will only be inflating one of the tyres.

Thanks inkognito.

I don't know what the blue line is. The mailbox on the left is the neighbor's. My property line is a few feet to the right of that.

You don't agree with the solutions others have used in the area? (see above)

The blue line on the curb indicates the sewer line. A yellow line (as shown in one of your pictures) marks the gas line.

I agree with laag's assessment of what is wrong with the existing situation and that "making the house rest" is what is needed to fix it. The question is how best to achieve this within a realistic budget. The grade of slope on the other side of the street seems to be the lay of the land and your house stands up quite significantly and the grass covered mound serves only to exacerbate the problem. How do you make this house sit well so that it looks at rest in its surroundings? I see now that the property line is at the end of the white picket fence most clearly shown in the plsx8 mock up and the reason this is important is because your drawings show a retaining wall tacked on the end of the house which only adds further emphasis to that corner. I think this is the area you have to work with because even if you could extend the level of the ground (grade)that exists at the front door out to the edge of your property and gradually slope it down from there over the neighbours drive you would improve the situation. You obviously can't do this. Can you understand my headache now?

I believe that stripe is green which would indicate sewer (blue = water, yellow=gas, red= elec, orange=communication, white = proposed excavation and pink is a construction worker who supports breast cancer research)

I hate doing these and I'm only using a cloning tool so perennials are going to pretend to be shrubs here. Think concept, not detail.

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Good call on the tree in the neighbor's yard, Tony!

I agree that a wall on the PL adds to the strong vertical line of the end of the house (as Tony said), but it helps mitigate by adding meat to the ground plane, a pair of long horizontal lines below the house, and greater opportunity for adding mass in the form of plants (weakly displayed in my pic).

I think that creative planting with some added elements such as this is easier as a multifaceted approach than working just on that original ground plane - not to say that it could not work without the extra help.

Obviously, a complete planting plan would help the whole thing out tremendously. I just want to illustrate one mitigation theory. It is not the only way.

Also, look at the photos (I copied the link) of the neighbors. There are examples of terraced walls stepping down to the propoerty line. I think that most of you would agree that it is ineffective on its own. The ones that get the most benefit have level tops traveling back across the face of the house. That is a very powerful visual that is very subtle. The fact that it is stone adds to our perception of stability through our subconscious mind (like the sand in the bottom of one of those kids inflatable punching clown -they still make tose, right?).

Most of these attempts are very unsuccessful because they only use one method or another. Think "IVPM".

The one with the big spruce doesn't get it done either.

Here is a link that might be useful: neighbors

One more thing. As a site planner, I would prefer to have put the garage on the left side of this house. The house could then sit lower on the property and the garage roof line is not as high as the house's making it lower to the grade of the neighbor's property making the visual drop off as well as the physical drop off much less.

I'm a mere homeowner, but I would take Bahia's advice to use plants to resolve your problem. IMHO the retaining wall type solutions highlight that there is a problem, whereas plants just sort of smooth over the issue. Sort of like wearing a fluid matte jersey dress when you're feeling fat, as opposed to stuffing yourself into a corset! But do seek out a sympathetic, qualified designer/architect to choose appropriate plants and to ensure there is sufficient, good quality soil for the new plants to thrive.