Stop The Washouts.
Stabilize For Good.

Residential Erosion Control Contractor in Middle Tennessee

Erosion is rarely the real problem — it's the visible symptom of a water problem. Too much runoff, moving too fast, in the wrong place. With more than 20 years of excavation experience stabilizing slopes and repairing washouts, my erosion work always starts with the same question: where is this water coming from, and how do we slow it down or move it somewhere safer before it takes any more soil with it?

What I Look For First

When I walk an eroded slope, I'm following the water backwards. The gully or washout you can see is the end of the story — I want to see the beginning. I trace it uphill to find where the concentrated flow starts. Is it a downspout? A driveway shoulder that's channeling runoff onto the slope? A neighbor's yard? A gap in the cover crop where soil is exposed? Until I know where the water starts, I can't stop it from continuing to damage the property.

I also look at what's holding the soil right now: root systems, ground cover, existing vegetation, exposed subsoil. A slope with mature root systems will resist erosion far better than a freshly cleared cut, no matter what fabric you put over it.

Why Erosion Starts

Almost every erosion problem I see comes from one of three sources: sheet flow (a thin layer of surface water moving across bare or thin ground), concentrated flow (water pinched into a small channel and gaining speed), or a loss of vegetation that used to hold the surface together. On Middle Tennessee's rolling terrain, once the surface breaks and a small channel forms, the water accelerates, cuts deeper, and the problem compounds fast. What was a small wet spot last spring becomes a two-foot gully by the next summer if nothing is done.

Mistakes I Commonly See

Dumping a load of rock into a gully without addressing where the water is coming from. A row of timbers stacked across a slope — they look great for a season, then rot and release everything they were holding back. Loose mulch on a steep slope, which just washes downhill with the first heavy rain. Reseeding a bare slope in the middle of summer with no straw blanket to protect the seed. And, most commonly, chasing the symptom (the washout) instead of the cause (the runoff).

The other one I see a lot: assuming erosion needs a big engineered wall. On most residential properties, the right combination of regrading, drainage diversion, rock armoring at the outfall, and revegetation will solve the problem for a fraction of the cost — and require less maintenance long term.

How I Usually Solve It

My erosion approach is layered. First, divert the water before it hits the slope — a swale, a berm, a downspout extension, or a piped run to a safer discharge point. Second, reshape the slope itself if the grade is contributing to the problem. Third, armor the places where concentrated flow is unavoidable, using properly sized rip-rap on a prepared bed. Fourth, protect the surface with straw blanket, erosion control fabric, or vegetation appropriate for the exposure. Roots are one of the strongest long-term stabilizers we have — I want them working for us. For related work see our grading solutions and drainage solutions pages.

Hillside and Slope Stabilization

Middle Tennessee's rolling terrain is part of what makes this area beautiful — and part of why erosion is so common. Steep yards, cut slopes behind new construction, and lots carved into hillsides all share the same vulnerability: gravity and water working together. I stabilize slopes with the right combination of regrading, rock armoring, drainage diversion, and revegetation for your specific soil and grade.

Yard Erosion Repair and Soil Loss

If you've watched topsoil, mulch, or grass slowly disappear off your yard, you already know how expensive erosion gets over time. I rebuild eroded areas with proper fill, compaction, and grading, then put a permanent control system in place so it doesn't happen again.

What You Can Do Yourself

A few things anyone can do before it turns into a big repair: keep gutters clean and downspouts extended well away from any slope, don't leave bare soil exposed through the winter (a straw blanket or cover crop makes a real difference), avoid mowing steep slopes so short that the grass can't hold the surface, and watch where sheet flow is starting to concentrate. Catching a small bare patch and reseeding it with protection beats letting it turn into a gully every time.

When To Call Me

If soil is disappearing after every storm, if a bare hillside is getting worse each year, if you're seeing sediment wash onto driveways or into a neighbor's yard, or if a small washout is turning into a real gully, that's the moment to have someone look at it. The longer erosion runs, the more expensive the fix — and the more of your yard goes with it.

Get an Erosion Control Estimate

If you're tired of watching your yard wash away, let's get a plan in place. Call 931-442-5060 or request a free on-site erosion estimate. I'll walk the slope with you, explain what's happening, and give you a written plan to fix it for good.