Excavation Contractor in Windham, NY

Hillside house sites with a view, and a slope to match

Windham's pull is the view, so a lot of homes and ski houses sit partway up a hillside facing Windham Mountain or out over the valley. Building on a slope means cutting into the hill on one side and filling on the other, and fill has to be placed in thin compacted layers or the downhill corner of the house, deck or patio will settle. The cut side has its own issue: once you open the hill, groundwater that used to seep through the slope now runs out at the foot of your new cut.

The ground itself is stony till over sandstone and shale, with ledge close to the surface in spots and springs on many hillsides. Justin's site excavation work starts with figuring out where that water is, so footing drains and grading get planned before the foundation goes in.

Walkout basements are popular on these sites because the slope is already there. They work well when the uphill wall gets a real footing drain and the backfill against it is free-draining stone, not the wet, stony till that came out of the hole. Get that wrong and the uphill wall spends every spring holding back soaked ground.

Why does creek-side property in Windham need erosion control?

When Tropical Storm Irene hit in 2011, the Batavia Kill rose over Windham's Main Street and tore at its banks up and down the valley. Creek-side lots here can lose ground in a single storm. Stabilizing a bank with properly placed stone, and grading so yard runoff doesn't cut new channels toward the creek, protects the land you have.

The same goes for smaller streams in Hensonville and Maplecrest and the ditches along hillside roads. Culverts that are too small plug with debris and send water over the road or into a yard. Any work right at a stream may need permits, and Justin will tell you when a job is getting into that territory. His drainage and erosion control page explains the approach.

Long driveways and ponds

Rural Windham lots are big, and the house is often a long way from the road. A long driveway up a grade needs a base that can carry a delivery truck, ditches on the uphill side and culverts at every low point, or it will rut and wash every spring. Think about snow, too: a drive that's steepest right at the top, with nowhere to push the plowed snow, will be a fight all winter. Tying the drive into the house site grading at the same time saves work later. See driveway installation.

Those same springs and wet spots that cause trouble near a house can make a good farm pond elsewhere on the property. A pond needs the right soil to hold water, a proper overflow and a dam built in compacted layers. Justin handles that under pool and pond excavation.

Almost every rural Windham property also runs on septic and a well. On a hillside, the field has to go where there's enough soil, ideally downhill of the house so it can run by gravity, and well away from the well and any spring. Justin does the digging for new and replacement systems.

Scheduling your Windham excavation contractor

Windham sits high, and the digging window is shorter than it is along the Hudson. The ground freezes early and stays wet well into spring. If you want work done before a winter of ski weekends, call in summer, not October. Mud season is real, too. A loaded dump truck on a thawing driveway in April can leave ruts a foot deep, so heavy deliveries often wait until the ground firms up. Getting the order right, like building the driveway base before the foundation crew needs access, saves money and aggravation. Justin also covers Hunter, just over the ridge. Emergencies are handled year-round.