Sweat Investment

So, the setting? Our backyard has an in-ground pool and had a lot of foliage around it. Over time that foliage had grown substantially (due to a few years of not cutting it back) and we had erected a mesh pool fence around the immediate pool premise to make hanging out in the backyard with the young ones a less stressful experience. All said and done, it meant there was no room. So, we decided to cut back the plants and out-and-out remove the japanese hollies that were closest to the pool. This would give us enough open access around the pool to have room for an outdoor chimenea/firepit.

Well, I sat back and thought about this for a while and realized it was going to be a lot of work. So, if I'm going to break my back, I might as well really appreciate the result. The original plan would have opened up about 200 square feet of new space, but left the hillside overgrown with ivy and bushes which total around 1000 square feet. The only catch is that to make the hill usable it required excavating it, building a retaining wall and then planning for the newly flattened area.

Of course, we got some estimates, but they rolled in at around 70 thousand dollars. While, I prefer the 1200 square feet option over the 200 square feet option (as 200 square feet as 50 x 4 isn't so usable), the prospect of spending (burying) that sort of green in the backyard isn't exciting. I figured that materials (stone and plantings) would come in at about 15 thousand -- just needed to do all the work myself... right.

Well, we started in late June and began by cleaning up and excavating the area. Cleaning up proved easy, but it turns our that there was around 20 tons of clay that needed to be relocated. Given the extremely tight quarters in the backyard (pool, fence multiple landscaping levels) our options for excavating were only slightly more than "pick and shovel." We were able to "just fit" (one inch clearance on each side) a Toro Dingo into the backyard. Four solid days of excavation and wheel-barrowing clay, rock (and a little bit of soil) to another part of the yard and we had ourselves a flat area in desperate need of a retaining wall, drainage and a patio. We finished this the day before we left for OSCON (end of July). When you don't take off much work, weekend warrioring turns out to me more like a painful commitment.

In August, we set forth building the retaining wall. I chose North-Country Gold Quartzite for the rock as it was a close match to the sample rocks I brought in (from the existing retaining wall). It turns out that the existing retaining wall was a quartzite laden fieldstone local to a Maryland quarry that had long since emptied and closed.

Due to a supply issue with the stone, I had a two week hiatus in wall construction and decided to take a detour that ended up being well worth it. Lisa and I went looking for lighting and had our hearts set on lanterns. We have an extensive fence and I thought it would be a a great place to mount wall lanterns. One catch is that we couldn't find anything that was both low voltage and beautiful, so I put on my electrician had and went to work. I bought four unassuming, yet strikingly beautiful lanterns, about 100 feet of 3/4" electrical PVC conduit and and fittings, a 15amp breaker and some outdoor 12 gauge wiring. I learned a few things: (1) pulling two 12 gauge wires through a 3/4" pipe requires Herculean effort and that 14 gauge would have worked just fine, and (2) mounting things on fences requires a bit of creative freedom. Anyway, it took a full 8 hours of work to lay the conduit (including routing behind the fence boards so that it looks sweet), pull the wiring, install the switch and mount the lights. You can see the exposed lighting project (prior to being hidden by the retaining wall). They have clear glass sides with a traditional box look and with 40w clear GE bulbs they set the mood for the backyard ambiance. The lighting really "makes the project."

At the same time, we bought low voltage lighting, but that all gets hidden away and you can only see the effects. It also requires something to illuminate, but as we had no landscaping yet, they staying in their boxes.

The stone (pallets three, four and five) finally arrived at the distributor, but I didn't want 5 pallets sitting in my driveway while I built the wall in my spare time. So, I made the trips in my truck. Unfortunately, my payload is 1.5 tons and the rock ships in 2 ton pallets. That was a lot of loading and unloading. Of course, as the access to my backyard was effectively by foot/wheelbarrow only, there was a lot of manual labor involved anyway. I did about 70% of the rock moving myself, but had help from a variety of others at their convenience (notable contributors were Lisa and her brother Nick). Because I'm not completely looney, I had them deliver the last two in whole. 22 thousand ponds of rock later... I'm a bit stronger (or at least tired) and we have a nice dry stacked retaining wall and with 14 tons of gravel, we had a nice basis for the future patio.

At this point I filled the flower boxes withe a mixture of back fill and top soil and went to the local nursery to buy three 10 foot Arborvitae, four 6 foot dwarf Spruces and a nice little sprawling Yew. Getting the Arborvitae into the planting boxes (6' x 12' area behind the retaining wall) was second most back-breaking exercise in the whole project. Those @#$%ers were heavy -- I'm guessing between 220lbs and 280lbs each. The Spruces were a mere 60-80lbs and quite easy to maneuver into a good planting position. The rock wall we had build ends in a natural (read ragged/unfnished) way where a large 10' x 10' flower bed resides. I put the Yew at the end of the wall hoping it will eventually sprawl to meet the wall in a nice way. We used some left-over Quartzite to make three enormous stepping stones through the flower bed and 24 bags of mulch later and we had ourselves some "finish." Oh yeah, we power-washed and painted that weekend as well. I like the new color a lot "Stoney Fields." However, given the mildew and aging of the old paint anything was an improvement.

Lastly, the patio. I did my research and realized that with the assistance I had available that laying 1500 square feet of patio (yes, the project grew again) was not in the cards. Laying patio requires that you finish what you start in short order after starting. If you stop in the middle and wait until next weekend, you will end up with all sorts of problem with the sand and settling and if you have bad rain... well, suffice it to say, "just do it and do it quickly." Additionally, we hit the threshold at the Schlossnagle house where Lisa was describing it as "the project that would never end." I decided to call in the experts (in this case, it was the guys selling me the stone). The stone was about nine thousand dollars of the total cost and nearing the end of the season, a loud wife and a lack of help I bit the bullet and had "Quality Outdoor Maintenance" lay the E.P. Henry pavers we had selected. I figured it would double the cost and with an 18 thousand dollar quote, I was ready to proceed. Unfortunately, there were some complications with the retaining wall on the other side of the yard (bits needed replacement) and the french drain needed to be over engineered as it doubles as the back flush conduit for our pool. Also, at the end of things I had a beautiful back patio with a 20 ton pile of dirt off to one side, so I paid them to come re-grade the other side of the property, seed, hay, some tree-wells, etc. (you see how things spin out of control). My estimate of costs was about 33% shy of reality. But our total out-of-pocket expense was about 50% of the original quotes we received.

So, while I'm a little frustrated at my misestimate, when I sit out back and take it all in, there is a deep sense of accomplishment. The sweat and time and vision put into the project really adds to the overall calm of the environment. Also, Lisa and I can now enjoy our $99 outdoor fireplace.

Here's a gallery of the project underway and another of the completed project (other than fence painting).

Before	After