Small lots, big rebuilds, and a city sitting at the top of two watersheds

Chamblee is only about three square miles, and it has changed faster than almost anywhere else in the north metro. Huntley Hills came in with the 2010 annexation, Beverly Hills and Beverly Woods in 2013, and the population has roughly tripled since 2010. The housing stock is 1950s and 60s ranches in Sexton Woods and Huntley Hills, a steady run of rebuilds and additions on top of them, and newer construction around Keswick Village and Dresden.

What that means for a patio is that the yards are not big. You are usually working with a modest back garden where every square foot counts, mature trees you do not want to lose, and neighbours close enough to hear a conversation. The design has to be exact, because there is no slack in the space.

There is one more thing worth knowing, and Chamblee’s own planning documents say it plainly: the city sits at the top of two critically impacted watersheds. Nancy Creek starts just north of here and Bubbling Creek originates inside the city. Whatever runs off a patio in Chamblee starts a very long journey, and the city is actively spending on it, including the new Fish Bolt Park stormwater project on Chamblee Tucker Road. It is a good reason to build a patio that absorbs rather than sheds.

Call (404) 369-0989 or book a free site visit. Patios are quoted after we have seen the space and the fall of the land.

What we install

Concrete pavers. Belgard and Techo-Bloc, large-format and tumbled. The sensible default on this clay: they flex slightly instead of cracking, and a settled section can be lifted and reset with the same stones rather than patched.

Natural stone. Bluestone and flagstone, dry-laid over a compacted base or wet-set where the joints need to be tight. It suits the mid-century ranches, which look better with stone than with a busy paver pattern.

Permeable paving. Open-graded joints over a stone reservoir, so rain soaks into the base instead of running for the street. In a city at the head of two impaired watersheds this is the option we push hardest, and on a small lot it is often the difference between a patio that makes drainage worse and one that quietly makes it better.

Steps, seat walls and small terraces. On a compact lot a wall you can sit on buys you seating without furniture and holds the grade at the same time. Where a real retaining wall is needed, Chamblee requires a permit at 48 inches and above, with footing and final inspections; under 48 inches, generally not. Our wall work is on the retaining walls page.

The base, and why it is the only thing that matters long-term

Under Chamblee, as under everywhere in this part of the Piedmont, is the Cecil soil series: a thin sandy loam over deep red clay heavy with kaolinite and mica. It holds water, swells and shrinks with the seasons, and recovers badly from compaction. Pavers laid straight onto it will be a wave within a few summers.

Our build is an over-excavation, a properly graded aggregate base compacted in lifts rather than in a single pass, geotextile fabric between base and clay so the two never mix, a deliberate pitch so surface water leaves where we decided it should, edge restraint on every free edge, and polymeric sand in the joints. On a permeable build the layers change and the reservoir depth is sized to the roof and paving area draining into it.

Ask any contractor you are considering how deep the base is and whether they compact in lifts. The answer will tell you more than the photos will.

Trees, driveways and the permits that catch people out

Chamblee requires a permit to remove a specimen tree, or to remove more than five non-specimen trees in a year. On lots this size, taking out the wrong tree also removes the shade that makes the yard usable, so our default is to design around what is there, hold the patio edge back from the root plate, and hand-dig where the edge has to come close.

Two others worth knowing before you plan. Replacing or enlarging a driveway triggers a land disturbance pre-screen with the Development Department. And decks always need a permit, as do fences where posts are being set, including replacements and repairs. If your patio project includes any of those, we identify it at the design stage and file what is needed.

A ground-level patio by itself generally does not need a permit. What pulls one in is a wall at 48 inches or more, a roof or structure over the patio, an electrical run for lighting, protected tree removal, or work near a stream.

Built quietly, and designed to hold water back

Everything we run is battery equipment charged from a solar trailer. On Chamblee’s small lots that matters more than usual, because the machine is going to be running about thirty feet from someone’s kitchen window for a week. There is no generator idling on the driveway and no fuel stored on site. A plate compactor and a masonry saw are still loud, and we say so, but the constant engine drone between the loud jobs is gone.

The other half of building responsibly here is where the water ends up. A conventional patio is impervious surface added to a watershed that already has too much of it. A permeable build with a stone reservoir underneath, downspouts collected and taken to daylight, a rain garden or a planted swale at the low corner with river oats, Joe-pye weed and winterberry in it, all mean the finished yard sends less water into Bubbling Creek and Nancy Creek than the bare compacted clay did. It costs about the same. It is simply a better answer for a city at the top of the watershed.

Questions Chamblee homeowners ask about patios

Do I need a permit for a paver patio in Chamblee? A ground-level patio on its own generally does not. A retaining wall 48 inches or taller does, with footing and final inspections. So does a roof over the patio, an electrical run, removal of a specimen tree or more than five non-specimen trees in a year, and driveway replacement or enlargement, which needs a land disturbance pre-screen. We check all of it before the design is finished.

How long does a patio take to build in Chamblee? Most run one to two weeks on site. Access is the variable in Chamblee, because on a narrow lot with no side gate everything has to come through by hand, and that adds days. Wet weather adds days too, since saturated clay cannot be compacted.

Are permeable pavers worth it? On a small lot at the top of an impaired watershed, usually yes. They cost a little more to build because of the reservoir, and they take the runoff problem off the table instead of adding to it. They also stay cleaner, because water does not sit on them.

Pavers or a concrete slab? Pavers, on this clay. A slab will crack somewhere eventually and the repair is permanent and visible. A paver field moves with the ground, and any settled area can be lifted and relaid.

My yard is tiny. Is it even worth doing? Small yards often benefit most, because a well-designed patio and seat wall can turn an unused strip into the main room of the house for eight months of the year. The design has to be precise, which is the interesting part.

Can you work around the tree in the middle? Yes, and we would rather. Trenching through a root plate to square off a patio kills mature trees slowly, and on a Chamblee lot that tree is also your shade and your privacy.

Do you use any gas equipment? No. Every machine that comes onto the site, the excavator, the compactor and the saw, runs on battery and charges from our solar trailer. On a Chamblee lot, where the machine is working about thirty feet from someone else’s kitchen window, that is the difference between a week the neighbours barely register and one they remember.

What does a paver patio cost in Chamblee? Square footage, material, access, how much the ground has to move and whether a wall or steps are involved all move it a long way, so we do not publish a per-foot figure that would mislead you. The site visit is free and you get a written scope with the base spec in it.

Nearby

Chamblee is about ten minutes from our yard in Dunwoody, and we are on that side of the city constantly. Everything else we do here is on the Chamblee page, and we build the same patios in Dunwoody and Sandy Springs. Also nearby: Brookhaven, Doraville and Peachtree Corners. If the standing water is the real problem, start with drainage, French drains and grading. Client comments are on the reviews page.

Book a site visit

Send a photo of the back yard and we will come and put a level on it. (404) 369-0989 · book a free site visit. Patios are priced after that visit, in writing, with the base build and the drainage written into the scope.