Walls and Drives on the Lake in Cross Hill
On the Laurens County shore of Lake Greenwood, Cross Hill is a small town with a long waterfront. Highway 72 crosses the lake on the way in from Greenwood, and the roads that peel off toward the water lead down coves and points lined with cabins, weekend places and full-time homes. Many of those lots were cut out of wooded hillside, and the ground between the road and the dock is rarely level for more than a few steps.
That is the work A1 Concrete LLC does here: holding slopes, getting vehicles down them safely, and keeping rainwater from tearing them up. We are licensed and insured and work on both homes and commercial property.
Why waterfront slopes give trouble
Shoreline lots on this side of the lake are often steep, and the soil is the same red clay found across the Piedmont. Clay sheds water instead of soaking it up, so a hard rain runs downhill fast, picks up speed on a driveway, and cuts channels in any bare ground it crosses. Clay also swells and shrinks with moisture, which slowly pushes on anything built against a bank.
Weekend homes add a wrinkle. A problem that starts in a Tuesday thunderstorm may not be seen until the owner drives up two Fridays later, and by then a small washout under a slab edge has become a void. Work on a part-time house needs to be the kind that looks after itself.
Walls that stay put
A retaining wall on a lake lot usually has one of two jobs: holding up a cut behind the house or parking pad, or stepping a steep yard into terraces someone can walk and plant. What makes a wall last here is mostly hidden. A base dug down to firm ground and compacted. Clean stone behind the wall rather than the clay that came out of the hole. A perforated pipe at the bottom with an outlet, so water has a way out besides through the face. The page on wall and drain work for sloped lots goes through it step by step.
Drains and drive approaches
French drains do quiet work on these properties. One along the uphill side of the house intercepts water moving through the soil before it reaches the house. One beside a driveway keeps the base dry. Downspouts get tied into solid pipe and carried to a spot where the outflow will not start a gully.
The drive itself is often the biggest piece. Many older lake drives are gravel or thin concrete laid on whatever grade the lot had, and they wash, rut and break at the steepest pitch. When we rebuild a sloped approach in concrete, the grade is reworked first so the transitions at the road and the garage are gentle, the surface is tilted to shed water off one side, and the finish is broomed rough across the slope for traction. A level parking pad at the top or bottom, sometimes held by a short wall, makes a steep lot far easier to live with.
What a visit looks like
We come out and walk the lot from the road to the water. We want to see how a concrete truck and a skid steer would get in, where trees and septic lines are, where water is already leaving marks, and what the bank is doing. Every job is priced after someone has walked the ground and measured it, with the price in writing before a truck is ordered. If you are only at the lake on weekends, say so in your message and we will work out a time that suits.
Before any digging, buried utilities are located. During the work, silt fence goes along the downhill side wherever soil is open, so a storm in the middle of the job does not send mud into the lake.
Services we bring out here
Retaining Walls and Drainage
Built with stone backfill and drain pipe so clay cannot push them over.
Concrete Driveways and Flatwork
Built on a compacted stone base with joints and mix chosen for red clay.
Lake Greenwood Lot Work in Coronaca
Retaining walls, graded drive approaches, patios and drainage, with a free quote.
Concrete and Site Work in Laurens
Licensed, insured, free quote.
Both shores, one phone call
Cross Hill is not the only lake community we cover. We also take on lots along the Greenwood County shore around Coronaca, and we go on up the road to the town of Laurens. We work across Greenwood County and the nearby Lakelands towns, from Ninety Six and Hodges to Abbeville, Ware Shoals and Laurens. For a free quote, enter your name and phone number in the form and describe the lot in the message box: how steep it is, what is failing, and what you want built. The phone is answered around the clock, and the quote form on this site works any hour too.
Open 24 hours. Call any time or send the form.