Archive for the ‘before’ Category

Patio

Wednesday, January 6th, 2010

Time Travel! Waaaaaaay back to the beginning of the battle with the weeds. Not much has changed in the past few years…

We started clearing out and redoing the side yard in continuation of 2010 Year of the Exterior. The plan is to install a small fire pit and gridded cement paver patio area as well as create a planter area out of the wacky pony wall.

Here is my rad plan below. I know, it’s just a garbage map, but hey this is fledgling landscape design (I have illustrator and this shit is hard).

The big circles are trees, the little ones? I don’t know maybe some feathergrass or kangaroo paw, maybe a cactus thrown in here and there.

What we did:

-Remove tree stump.
-Add dirt.
-Level it out.

-Stake down about 400 sq.ft of geotextile fabric.

-Shovel more gravel.
-lots more.

Still to do:

-MORE gravel
-Level it out
-Build fire pit
-Install landscape edging
-Install cement pavers
-Clean out debris
-New fence
-Figure out the rest of the yard
-Plant some stuff

FILED UNDER: before, DIY, exterior, landscape, patio

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Side Yard

Wednesday, December 30th, 2009

Some of that leftover gravel is headed over to our side yard which will be turned into an entertainment space fitted with cement square pavers, a fire pit, and lots’o crazy drought tolerant plantings. It’s going to be A to the Mazing if all goes as planned…

But, what have we accomplished in the two years of thinking and planning this area?

Here is a before pic (from our inspection) of the area connecting the back yard to the side yard located behind the garage. We think the previous owner used it as a dog run or something else way more sinisterly creepy. It was lined with plywood, janky wood pallets and TONS of that hamster wood-shaving stuff. Smell = gross.

We cleaned all that scariness out, lined the area with geotextile fabric and dumped about four inches of the driveway gravel down.

Much better.

So much more to do: fix the fence, create planting areas, level it all out, actually put paint on the house. It’s still not fully primed yet…six months after we began…jeeez.

2010! Year of the exterior!

FILED UNDER: after, before, DIY, driveway, exterior, landscape

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Driveway

Tuesday, December 29th, 2009

These terrible images were shot during our home inspection almost two years ago. Unfortunately, not that much has really changed with the exterior of The Brick House as we move on into 2010.

Heretofore I dub 2010 “the year of the exterior”.

So hey, lets start off with the DRIVEWAY.

Here is my awesome drawing denoting the super rad cement pads that would run up the length of the driveway with 1″ crushed rock gravel as a main base. HA HA HA – awww dreaming. Yeah, that was way too expensive. Quotes ranged from $6,000 – $20,000 dollars. What!

Our DIY budget was $1,000 to do almost 3,600 sq. ft. of driveway. Yeah, I know. Stupid low.

Here is what we did…

Step 1

-Rent a tractor for one day.

-Let the Boy go hog-wild grading all our fancy dirt. (BTW, this was his first time on a tractor and he did brilliantly)

There was a surprising mess…

WTF, giant cement blob. You were a pain in the ass.

Step 2

-Take preventative measures with geotextile fabric. It’s permeable, prevents erosion, keeps gravel in place and helps stop weeds. Keeps that gravel looking fresh and not ghetto.

-Roll out 3,600 sq. ft. of this stuff and stake it down into place.

Step 3

-Move 50 tons of locally sourced 1″ crushed river rock. By hand. 50 TONS. F*ck you gravel.

-Thank your mom, Carpenter Craig, two friendly neighbors, and the Boy for helping spread gravel all day. Thank you guys.

Yeah. BY HAND.

Step 4

-Compact that crap down. (We used our cars)

Done!

Well, almost. There is still the issue of that large mound of gravel in the middle. It’s the leftovers for another project we are currently working on…teaser.

The DIY cost break down:

Tractor Rental: $235.46
Geotextile Fabric: $250.13
50 Tons o’ Gravel: $610.00

Driveway Total: $1,095.59

All in all we finished on budget and on time. It took two full days with a lot of help, a little rain and a ton of aspirin.

FILED UNDER: after, before, DIY, driveway, exterior

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