Hardscaping in South Portland, Maine.
A patio in South Portland is usually a small-lot project. The zoning ordinance sets a 6,000-square-foot minimum lot in the Willard, Meetinghouse Hill and Pleasantdale neighborhoods, 6,500 in Ligonia and 7,500 in Knightville, and the city's Village Residential district goes down to 2,500. On a footprint like that, a bluestone terrace, a paver walk to the side door and a run of granite steps may be the whole back yard, so every inch of layout and every drainage pitch counts.
Census figures put the median home here at 1968, with roughly a quarter of all units built before 1940 and about 1,400 more from the 1940s. Older foundations, shallow basements and decades of regrading sit right next to where a new patio goes.
Three kinds of ground under one city
The comprehensive plan counts about 47 soil types in South Portland. Windsor loamy sand, the most common at over 1,045 acres, sits on old glacial outwash terraces near O'Neil and Riverside Streets and drains fast. Scantic silt loam, close behind at roughly 975 acres, holds water, and much of the city lies on Presumpscot Formation silty clay laid down on the late-glacial sea floor. The plan also notes that bedrock outcrops are relatively abundant and that a large share of the land has only a thin cover of sediment.
Each of those changes the base. On Windsor sand the excavation mostly needs compaction and edge restraint. On silt and clay it needs a deeper open-graded base and a planned outlet so meltwater does not sit under the stones and heave them. Where ledge comes up inside the dig line, the patio grade is set around it rather than pretending it is not there.
Near the tide line and the Greenbelt streams
South Portland's Shoreland Area Overlay covers all land within 250 feet of the upland edge of a coastal wetland, including anything touched by the tide, and a 75-foot stream protection band along Mill Creek, Kimball Brook, Trout Brook, Anthoine Creek, Barberry Creek and Gambler's Arm Brook. Inside those lines the ordinance sets setbacks and buffer standards, so a waterside patio is checked against the overlay map before a layout is drawn.
Our crews excavate, compact and pitch every base before a stone is set, and in a city whose own coastal flooding map flags Willard Beach, Ferry Village and Mill Cove, pitching water away from the house and toward somewhere it can go is the part that matters most.
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 South Portland, Maine.
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More services in South Portland
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- Commercial Mowing & Cleanups in South Portland
- Excavation & Land Clearing in South Portland
- Septic Systems in South Portland
- Tree & Shrub Services in South Portland
- Tree Removal in South Portland
Free Estimates
Hardscaping in South Portland? 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