Hardscaping in Gorham, Maine.
Gorham's housing stock is young by Greater Portland standards. The Census Bureau's 2020–2024 estimates put the median year built at 1988, and roughly four of every five homes in town are single-family detached houses. Many of those back doors still open onto a builder's step and a strip of lawn, which is why a first patio, a proper front walk or a set of granite steps is so often the project a Gorham owner starts with.
Our hardscaping covers paver and flagstone patios, walkways, granite steps, fire pits, outdoor fireplaces and stone veneer. Every base is excavated, compacted and pitched before stone goes down, and in Gorham the planning starts with two local questions: where the lot sits relative to water, and how much ground the project will open up.
Patios near the Little River, Presumpscot and Stroudwater
Gorham's Land Use and Development Code defines the shoreland area as land within 250 feet of a great pond, a river or the upland edge of a freshwater wetland, and within 75 feet of a stream. Inside it, new structures must sit at least 100 feet back from a great pond or a river flowing to one, and 75 feet from other water bodies, tributary streams and wetland edges. The Resource Protection subdistrict pushes that setback to 250 feet.
The town's 2016 Comprehensive Plan notes that the north and northwest of Gorham are crisscrossed by streams inside the 100-year flood zone, while very little of the Village area is. So a terrace behind a house off a back road in North Gorham can raise shoreland questions that a similar job near Main Street never would. We check the shoreland map before a layout is drawn, not after.
Keeping soil on site while the base goes in
Chapter 2 of the Gorham code asks every project to expose as little subsoil as possible for as short a time as possible, to use straw or jute matting on critical areas, and to establish permanent vegetation quickly. A patio excavation is exactly that kind of exposed ground, so the dig, the gravel base and the edge restraint are sequenced to close the site out fast.
Gorham is one of the member towns of the Interlocal Stormwater Working Group, and the plan flags small Presumpscot tributaries with possible water-quality problems. A patio pitched away from the house and toward a planted edge, rather than toward the driveway and the street, sends less water to them. On a 1990s or 2000s lot with thin loam over fill, the compacted gravel base does the real work of carrying the stone through freeze and thaw.
Patios · Pavers · Fireplaces · Stone
How we handle hardscaping
From paver and flagstone outdoor patios to cobblestone entries, granite steps, outdoor fireplaces and fire pits, boulder installs, bluestone, natural rock work and stone veneer on house exteriors, we design and build hardscapes that hold their lines through Maine freeze and thaw. Every base is excavated, compacted and pitched for drainage before a single stone is set.
See the full hardscaping service page or everything we do in Gorham, Maine.
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More services in Gorham
- Retaining Walls in Gorham
- Landscaping in Gorham
- Landscape Design in Gorham
- Planting & Garden Beds in Gorham
- Hydroseeding, Sod & Turf in Gorham
- Lawn Aeration & Overseeding in Gorham
- Fall Cleanup & Leaf Removal in Gorham
- Commercial Mowing & Cleanups in Gorham
- Excavation & Land Clearing in Gorham
- Septic Systems in Gorham
- Tree & Shrub Services in Gorham
- Tree Removal in Gorham
Free Estimates
Hardscaping in Gorham? Let's talk.
Tell us about your property and we will walk it with you — free estimates, straight answers, stonework guaranteed to hold its lines.
Mon–Sat 7:00am – 5:00pm · Based in Cumberland, Maine