Built for District of Columbia Stormwater Limits

Patios, walls, driveways and the rest

Most jobs in District of Columbia are small-lot work. A stoop, an areaway, a rowhouse rear patio, or an English basement walkout each has its own drainage problem. The crew assigned to your job builds to the surface you picked and the base the site needs.

• Walkways and steps that move water off the path and into the soil beside it.
• Paver patios laid on a base that stays put through the frost cycle.
• Retaining walls that hold back grade changes on sloped lots.
• Grading and drainage work that gives water a path before pavers go down.
• Paver driveways built to carry daily traffic and shed runoff.
• Outdoor kitchens and fire pits for the yards behind rowhouses.
• Pool decks and coping that drain fast and stay cool.

What happens after you call

You get a written price before any work starts. That price covers the base, the pavers, the edging, and the drainage. The finished surface matches the price unless the dig finds something the price did not cover, and then you hear first.

The sequence is laid out on the process page. The written price and what it covers is on the cost guide. Read both before you commit. The crew assigned to your job follows the same steps whether the site is in Northwest or Southeast.

What moves the price up or down

Small lots, tight access, and stormwater rules put the cost in hand work and drainage rather than in depth. A rowhouse rear patio reached through the house costs more to move material through than an open yard in Anacostia. An areaway that needs shoring adds labor. A site with clay near the surface needs more careful grading before the base goes down.

The base depth stays about the same across the District. What changes is how much hand work the access requires and how much drainage the soil demands.

What impervious surface means for your yard

Impervious surface is any hard area that stops rain from soaking into the ground. A patio, a driveway, and a walkway all count. When too much of a lot sheds water, the runoff has to go somewhere, usually into the street and the storm system. District of Columbia rules push new hardscape toward permeable systems so more water lands where it falls.

That is why a permeable paver patio makes sense on lots in Capitol Hill or Georgetown where the yards are small and the soil is already tight. In Northeast and Southeast, where fill and disturbed ground are common, the same rules apply. The goal is to keep water on your property long enough to soak in, not to send it to the neighbor's basement.

Clay and silt loam drain slowly. A permeable surface on top does not help if the soil below cannot take the water. The base has to store water and release it slowly into the ground beneath.

Open-graded base under permeable pavers

Permeable pavers sit on an open-graded base, not the standard CR-6. Open-graded stone has gaps between the pieces so water moves down and sideways instead of pooling. The pavers themselves let water pass through the joints into the stone below.

Under a standard patio or driveway, the base is CR-6, the crusher run specified locally by DDOT and MD SHA. CR-6 compacts into a dense layer that carries the load and resists frost heave. The two bases serve different jobs: one drains, one carries.

Water that hits a permeable surface moves through the paver joints, into the open-graded stone, and then into the soil or a drain line. Grading carries the rest of the water away from the house and toward a low point that handles it. Excavation and base work run from roughly March to December. Frozen ground stops compaction in the coldest weeks, so the season window matters for timing.