Backyard Renovation - Phase III

Friday
Mostly Cloudy & Rain

Some photos of the backyard at 98%. There are some pockets here and there that need some gravel infill, but will have to wait. I could not find river stone so I purchased about 25 bags of crushed marble. They were originally all white and covered in powder, but after the rains of the last couple of days several shades of gray have appeared.

Some new Lessons learned have arisen. Having the garden adjacent to the prestine crushed stone with only a thin barrier shows that it will be hard to maintain cleanliness at that edge. In the future I would go with a wider barrier - like a railroad tie or small cement block to widen the distance between dirt and clean stone.

Also you always need more stone then you can estimate. The garden is doing great. We finished up the area near the house with a small curved planting area with some Irish Moss.

To finish up I just have a couple of small pockets to fill in with stone - nothing visible in these photos. Afterward there should be some suttle white lines along the fence and the shed.

Backyard Renovation - Phase II

Wednesday - 80 degrees

Today I spent most of the day on Phase II of the backyard renovation. This phase involved 16" gray paving stones that lead from the 12" pavers, along the shed, and to the fence gate.


The installation of paving stone in this phase went much faster. The larger pavers align well with the smaller red pavers. I worked straight through from 8:00 am. During this time I made several trips to the hardware store for stones. One major mistake I made was to try a different hardware chain. I found the "same" 16" paver for $0.30 less so I thought I had it made, but the pavers were slightly smaller and a slightly different shade of gray. I only noticed this once I started to install the second batch of pavers. At first I thought I could incorporate the new pavers, but the gap and color issue was too obvious, so I made yet another trip to get some more pavers and return the smaller pavers. The return ate up 1/2 an hour.

Next, I leveled out the rest of the yard and installed some more of the geotextile fabric. This will provide the base for Phase III - gravel fill. The rest of the yard will be filled with stone and ground covers.

Finally, I incorporated some of the existing bricks and pavers into the new layout. Two large pavers are placed in front of the red pavers and between the gray pavers and deck. The third large reused paver is in the corner near the house (Phase IV - rainwater barrel connected to roof downspout).

I am going to try for Phase III on Friday or Saturday. I want a smooth stone that can be walked upon barefoot. Not sure if I can get that in bags from the chain hardware stores or if I have to shop around and get large pile delivered - I have the next day or so to figure out the logistics. I found the work-a-day, rest-a-day to work well to keep myself motivated.

Some things I learned:
1. The geotextile fabric should be run in the direction of the pavers. Controlling the fabric joints during leveling is difficult.
2. Stick with one material suppliers - they have their own suppliers so there is no way to really guarantee uniform quality.
3. Level a large area of base sand. I was leveling small areas as I went and the smaller pavers have a slight rises and dips.
4. Get a truck. I handled the material sevearl times. I had to load it at the hardware store from the pallete to the cart. From the cart to the trunk. From the trunk to the backyard. From the pile to its final location. Four moves.
5. When stockpiling pavers stagger each one 45 degrees. This small move means easier handling of material from the stockpile to final installation point.
6. Provide temporary shelter. I used a beach umbrella to shade the areas I was working on. This allowed me to keep cool while leveling the base and placing stone. While it did interupt the flow a little, it provided a great relief from the heat.

This was a small exercise. But it has touched on several principles that can be applied to a larder construction scenario. Scheduling, budget control, quality control, delivery and storage of materials, installation methods, material handling, and working conditions.

Phase III to follow.

Backyard renovation- Phase I

Monday I started Phase I of the backyard renovation of our townhouse. The backyard was comprised of a deck, a garden, a loosely laid block storage area and spotty grass. I started with measuring and sketching the backyard to identify major features and begin to estimate materials. The design of the yard was composed of two L-shaped walk ways of different size pavers. The first L-shape path is composed of 12" red pavers and the next L-shape will be made of 16" gray stone.

Next I dug up the grass and started to level the backyard. I had originally thought this would take a single day, but it took several days to dig up the grass and loosen the soil.

Monday morning I bought some material from a chain Hardware Store and began a test of my productivity. I started by laying a geotextile fabric to keep weeds from growing up among the paver stones. Next I placed a layer of sand over the fabric. I leveled the sand by eye using a strip of pressure treated lumber. I was supposed to purchase two pipes and run them parallel in order to lay a uniform level of sand, but decided against it at the last moment. With the sand in place I laid the first six 12" pavers.

After several more trips to the hardware store and some work in the evening with my wife assisting we were able to wrap up phase in a single day. In addition to the pavers I purchased some plastic border strips and stakes to keep a clean separation between the pavers and the adjacent areas.
Phase II involves the installation of the larger - 16" - pavers along the shed and backyard gate. Phase III involves placing stone and installing ground cover to complete the yard.