Crushed Stone, Gravel and Topsoil Delivery in Everett, WA

Gravelly Loam Over a Hard Layer

At the center point of ZIP 98201 the USDA soil survey maps Alderwood-Urban land complex, 2 to 8 percent slopes. Urban land, paved or built over, takes up 25 percent of that map unit.^[1]

The Alderwood series makes up 60 percent of the unit, with a texture of gravelly ashy sandy loam. That is a stony, sandy soil mixed with fine volcanic ash, easy to dig in the top layer and full of small rounded stones.^[1]

The survey lists densic material at about 35 inches below the surface. Densic material is packed so tight that roots and water barely get through it. In a wet winter, rain soaks down through the loose topsoil and stops on that layer, then moves sideways along it.^[1]

The survey rates the soil moderately well drained and places it in hydrologic group B, with moderate infiltration. The top few feet take water reasonably well. The trouble starts when that layer fills up over weeks of steady rain and has nowhere to go but out the side of a slope or into a basement.^[1]

Shrink-swell is low, 1.5 percent. The ground does not heave from swelling, so the main concerns are water and frost.^[1]

The ground at the mapped center of the ZIP stands 100 feet above sea level, according to the USGS elevation service.^[2]

Long Wet Winters at the Everett Station

The NOAA normals station at Everett, WA, about 1 mile away, averages 40.2 inches of precipitation a year. Much of it falls as steady, light rain through the cool months rather than in a few big storms.^[3]

Steady rain over a dense layer at about 35 inches keeps the soil above it damp for months. Lawns turn spongy and mossy, and a path laid on bare soil becomes a mud track by midwinter. Gravel paths and drained beds handle that far better.^[1],[3]

Lows reach 32 F or colder on 51 days in an average year at the Everett station. Wet soil that freezes lifts poorly built walks and pavers, so a free-draining stone base pays off.^[3]

The median last spring freeze arrives on March 24, and the median first fall freeze on November 2. Planting and building fit the drier stretch between those dates, and summer is the best time for base work.^[3]

Drainage That Works With the Dense Layer

A French drain is the standard fix for a soggy yard on ground like this. Dig a trench that reaches toward the dense layer, line it with fabric, lay a perforated pipe on a bed of Drain Rock, and fill around it with more Drain Rock. Slope the pipe toward a storm drain or a lower spot on the lot.^[1]

Water perched on the dense layer follows the slope, so put the drain across the slope on the uphill side of whatever you want to keep dry. A drain along the upper edge of a patio or a garden catches water before it reaches the area.^[1]

Fabric matters around the drain. Fine ash in the soil can wash into the stone and clog it over the years, and a wrap of geotextile keeps the Drain Rock open and working.^[1]

A rain garden is another option for roof water on a lot with room to spare. Dig a shallow basin well away from the house, loosen the bottom, and fill it with a mix of Topsoil, Compost and coarse sand so it soaks up water faster than the native ground. Plants that tolerate wet feet grow in it, and an overflow lined with River Rock carries extra water away when the dense layer below is full.^[1],[3]

Downspouts should never empty onto ground above a dense layer near the house. Run them into a solid pipe that drains away from the foundation, or into a stone-filled trench well out in the yard.^[1]

Gravel Drives and Paths

Strip the topsoil and the organic layer before building a drive. Gravelly sandy loam below gives a decent subgrade once it is compacted. Lay a geotextile, then compact Road Base or Crushed Concrete in thin lifts.^[1]

Top the drive with Driveway Gravel or #57 Crushed Stone, which stay open enough to drain winter rain and resist frost lift. Crown the surface so water runs off both edges, and give the low side a shallow ditch lined with stone.^[3]

For garden paths, 3/8" Crushed Stone or Stone Dust Screenings over a compacted base stay firm through the wet months. Bark paths go soft and muddy within a season in steady rain, while stone paths only need a top-up now and then.^[3]

Moss is the other winter guest on this ground. It creeps over damp gravel in shady spots, and a light raking each spring keeps a path clean. Stone over fabric and a compacted base drains faster than stone laid on bare soil, and a faster-drying surface gives moss less to work with.^[1]

WSDOT names Crushed Surfacing Base Course, Section 9-03.9(3), Standard Specifications for Road, Bridge, and Municipal Construction M 41-10 (2027) for the base layers of state roads.^[4]

Homes and Beds in ZIP 98201

The Census counts 15,617 housing units in ZIP 98201, and 42 percent are detached single-family houses. Everett as a whole has 47,689 housing units, with 44 percent detached.^[5]

The median home in the ZIP was built in 1961, against 1981 for the city. Owners occupy 45 percent of the ZIP's occupied homes.^[5]

Raised beds solve the wet-winter problem for vegetables. Fill them with Garden Soil or Topsoil mixed with Compost so roots sit well above the damp layer, and the beds warm and dry out sooner each spring.^[1],[3]

Gravelly ashy sandy loam drains well in the top layer but holds few nutrients. Mix Compost into in-ground beds every year, and cover them with a few inches of Brown Shredded Mulch or Wood Chips to hold moisture through the dry weeks of late summer.^[1]

Wood Chips or Brown Shredded Mulch in a Wet Climate

Wood Chips are coarse and break down slowly, so they last longer on paths and under trees in a damp climate. They let air reach the soil and do not mat down into a soggy layer.^[3]

Brown Shredded Mulch and Black Shredded Mulch look neater in beds and knit together on slopes. In steady rain they can mat and hold water against stems, so keep them a few inches back from plants and fluff them up each spring. For a bed under big trees, Wood Chips are the lower-care choice.^[1],[3]

Spread new mulch in April, once the soil has started to warm after the March freeze date, and rake the old layer loose first. A thin, fresh layer over a loosened old one stays airy through the wet months and keeps slugs from finding a damp hiding place right against the stems.^[1],[3]