I got a call from one of my insurance agents. Seems he is having a house built (I will inspect it later–he didn’t do a phase inspection) and it is nearing completion.
The landscaping slopes slightly away from the house–a good thing. There was 2" of black mulch laid around the building about ten feet out and covered the ground all the way to the foundation wall. The foundation wall is about 18" to 24" above the grade.
We had some rain Friday and Saturday, but nothing particulaly heavy, IMO.
There was a concentration of brown mud splashed about 2’ up the wall of the house on all four sides. (NO BLACK MULCH in the splash, just brown mud.)
The builder had washed the mud away this morning so I could not get out there to see it.
Perhaps no weed barrier?
Around here landscapers lay down a plastic or sheet fiber between the earth and mulch layer.It’s meant to impair weed growth but it also keeps mud splash to a minimum.
Or perhaps the dye in the mulch?
P.S. The mud was uniformly splashed against the wall on all four sides. I copuld understand wind-driven splattering on one side or even two–but all four sides???
I haven’t seen the property yet, but these are the answers to questions I asked of my client. Amongst others.
All I can think of Jae is that since the lot was barren of green vegetation, and most likely than not, no silt fencing was installed like I would suspect of residential building, the rain washed the sediments toward the mulch, engulfed it and weighted it down and floated toward the foundations on most sides and the rain coming off the roof splattered the mud all over the foundation.
Since this is just speculation, pictures would help. !!
This make sense as to what might of happened. ha. ha.
Since you haven’t seen it yet, you probably can’t answer this question. I think that probably, since the mulch is likely pretty light in weight, it washed away and what was left to splash is the mud. It definitely sounds like no gutters installed yet. I realize I didn’t ask a question so don’t ding an old guy for it.
I’ll know more in a couple of days when I meet him at the house. He had quick answers for the thousand questions I asked of him hoping to find something to work with.
Everybody has given me some good avenues to explore when I get there. Thanks a bunch, everyone…and if something wlse strikes your fancy on this, let me know.
Perhaps the mud splattered onto the wall, while the roof had no gutters, before the mulch was placed. After the contractor washed the mud off the wall, did it happen again with the mulch in place?
