Back Yard: Phase 1

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When we built the garage two years ago, the schedule got very tight and I was grading and preparing the base for the garage the day before the concrete was poured. I had no time to figure out how to get rid of the dirt I removed for the garage foundation and slab. So I had to pile the dirt in the section of the yard between the house and the garage and the dirt pile (approximately 14 yards - about 20'x10'x4') has been sitting there ever since. Audrey and Charlotte have enjoyed it greatly, but it was a major obstacle between us and a "finished" back yard.

This week the stars finally aligned and Frank and Tricia were able to bring up Frank's tractor with front loader and grading blade. I prepared by demolishing the concrete terraces on the patio (probably built 50 years ago, and very ugly) and moving various stuff that would be in Frank's way.

Another piece that fell into place was that Frank learned that one can rent a "small" dumptruck without a commercial driver's license. I called United Rentals and we were in business.

So Tuesday morning I loaded about two yards of broken concrete by hand and took it to a local concrete recycling facility (they grind it up and use it again as aggregate). Then Frank arrived and the real dirt moving started. It's fairly difficult to find people who want fill dirt in the city of Seattle. Many people want to get rid of dirt. But I found one guy on the other end of town who would take two loads (the truck holds 5 yards). That barely put a dent in the pile and the dirt generated by grading the yard, so I scrambled and found another guy very near our house who took two more loads. Yet another load was all sod, which I had to pay to dispose of at a topsoil company (they compost it and mix it into topsoil).

After all that (and at 8:30pm) we still had a pretty good pile to get rid of. We loaded up the truck and Frank's dump trailer and headed to their house in Puyallup where we dumped the material in their horse pasture. Frank will spread it around later. I got home at 10:20pm, but we had made huge progress. None of us can believe that we removed approximately 35 yards of material.

Carol and I had no plans for this weekend so we dedicated the whole weekend (and the next several weekends) to trying to get the back yard done in one big push. We've been thinking about this project for two years, so we have pretty clear ideas what we want to do.

Yesterday wasn't the most auspicious day to begin. We've had colder than average weather for all of 2008 except for two weeks in February, but suddenly Friday and Saturday we had a heat wave. Saturday it was 90 degrees. Our thermometer, which is in a spot that gets heated by the house, read 108 in the afternoon. But we toiled away digging out the weeds and sod along the edges of the yard where Frank couldn't reach with his scoop. After two fulls days of work we achieved our initial goal: getting rid of everything green except the lilac bush and the birch tree (everything else was weeds or overgrown grass).

Today we staked out the flower beds along the house and garage and the raised beds for vegetables in the north part of the yard (former home of the dirt pile). We still need to stake out the play area, which will get a bunch of bark for a soft landing zone. We will install a play structure with at least swings, plus a playhouse, in that area. The main part of the yard will get new sod. Finally, a fence to close off the back yard from the alley will allow Carol to let the kids play in the yard without worrying about the occasional speeding driver in the alley.

I think if we keep at it (and we don't run out of money) we might be able to finish by mid-June. Stay tuned for updates.