Yard Grading & Topsoil in New Orleans, LA

Yard grading and topsoil work in New Orleans starts with a fact most homeowners learn the hard way: the ground here moves. Yards settle, low spots appear, and water that once ran to the street starts standing against the house. We do the dirt work that fixes those problems and leaves the yard ready for seed: bringing in fill, regrading so water runs away from the foundation, spreading topsoil and fine grading the surface. When a drainage fix needs a trench dug or soil excavated, the same grading crew does that digging too.

Why yards sink

New Orleans sits on thousands of feet of soft sand, silt and clay. Organic marsh soils consolidate and oxidize once they are drained, and the ground surface settles. River levees now keep the Mississippi's floods, and the fresh sediment they once spread, from replenishing the land. Settlement is uneven: a yard over old marsh or a filled ditch can drop while the house on pilings stays put. That is why a yard that drained fine twenty years ago may hold water today.

Clay that shrinks and swells

Backswamp soils like the USDA's Sharkey series are 60 to 90 percent clay below the surface, and the clay is the shrink-swell type: it opens cracks 1 to 3 centimeters wide and 20 inches deep in dry years and closes them when wet. Grading over that kind of soil needs care. We avoid creating flat areas that pond, set a steady fall away from the house, and use topsoil on top so grass roots in loose ground instead of hard clay.

Land grading for drainage

Most drainage complaints come down to grade. We shape the yard so water moves from the house toward the street, a swale, or a drain, and we cut shallow swales along property lines where neighbors' water crosses. Where grade alone cannot do it, we trench for French drains, buried downspout lines or area drains tied to the street. Ground near the river is wetter than it looks in winter: the USDA says Commerce soils, found on natural levee positions, are saturated below 1.5 to 4 feet from December through April in normal years. Trenches dug then may fill with groundwater, so we plan around that.

Holding water on purpose

The city's NOLA Ready green infrastructure guide encourages homeowners to hold rainwater with rain gardens and detention basins instead of sending it straight to the street. A rain garden is a shallow basin, typically 100 square feet or more, planted with deep-rooted, water-tolerant plants. A grassed detention basin is a low area shaped to store water and drain slowly. We dig and shape both, and the guide's maintenance list, including regrading eroded areas and reseeding turf, is work we do.

Topsoil

New topsoil gives seed a loose, even surface to root into. We spread it in a layer over the regraded subgrade, work it lightly into the top of the native soil so the two do not separate, and fine grade it smooth. Bulk topsoil runs about $10 to $55 per cubic yard by Angi's figures, plus delivery, and the spreading is labor. On a yard that needs both fill and topsoil, we use cheaper fill to build the grade and topsoil only for the final layer.

Before any digging

The NOLA Ready guide's advice is simple: call 811 before you dig. We request locates before every grading or trenching job, mark sprinkler lines and cleanouts with you, and protect walks, drives and slabs from equipment.

Typical dirt work jobs

• Filling sunken yards and low spots that pond after rain
• Regrading to slope away from slabs and raised houses
• Shaping swales along side yards and property lines
• Trenching for French drains and buried downspout lines
• Topsoil and fine grading before hydroseed or sod