Phoenix backyard build under way! Follow along!

HX_Guy

0
Nov 13, 2013
83
Build is on full force! Kind of crazy to juggle...so many different things going on at once but it's kind of fun seeing it all come together. Hoping to have everything wrapped up in the next 2-3 weeks.

This is the design we came up with, which I've posted variations of on here before.
We have pavers (brown areas) all throughout with chaises for the pool in front, an area for a table and future built in BBQ on the right and then an area for a future fireplace and seating on the left. 4 Trees in the lawn areas, paver border all around with a few boulders like we did in the front yard. Gravel on the outsides with shrubs/bushes/ground cover.

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Started out by spray painting everything out so I could estimate how much material we need. The plan is to slope dirt upward on the back fence about 3 feet to take away from some of the wall height since it's giant. According to the company I bought dirt from, we need 51 tons of dirt. **** seems ridiculous so I only ordered 10 so far, should be delivered later today, so I can get an idea of how much that is and then I'll get more. Also got 10 tons of gravel, 7 tons of ABC and 3 tons of sand (both for the paver install)

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First thing before everything was to stucco the fence so it doesn't look like a **** prison wall anymore. Freaking 60 90lb bags of stucco! It has to cure for about 2 weeks and then we're going to paint it to match the color of the old fence/neighbors so it doesn't stick out all weird.

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All done with the stucco...
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Yesterday, a buddy and me built an enclosure for some of the pool stuff behind the water feature...this area will be filled with dirt and obviously don't want it to cover up the pool stuff. Came out pretty **** good considering neither of us had done this before. Still not finished, have to fill up the holes with concrete.

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Had a company come out and do the gas line to the future fireplace and BBQ. Weird that they use a yellow plastic tube but I guess that's the standard now vs the old galvanized steel.

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ABC and sand were dropped off this morning along with the pavers...

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Biggest forklift I've ever seen. :p

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And that's were we are now. Next step is to have the gas line inspection, then install the pavers next week, bring the dirt in, install irrigation, trees/plants and finally gravel. Hoping my 2 weeks isn't too optimistic.
 
Your Pygmy Date palms look great and so does your pool. I have several of them and they all got burned really bad this year by the freezing weather we had in Texas. I think they will pull through but can't wait till they look like yours again.
 
Update time! :D

Busy week this week...got a lot of things installed and the major stuff is done with really. All the pavers are in, ran 3 electrical outlets throughout the yard, figured they'll come in handy down the road, brought in 40 tons of top soil to slop against the back wall and fill in the yard to the level of the patio/pool deck and painted the stucco fence. Up next is to complete the irrigation, then plant the trees/shrubs/etc ,bring in gravel, and finally to lay down sod.

Pictures from this morning...finished right on time as it rained pretty good last night...great for settling all the top soil that was brought in.

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The area in the middle will have sod back to the border and the gravel and plants along the fences.
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Gravel and plants on the right by the house.
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Flower bed or herb garden in the "eye" shape up front and the sod in the middle...
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Sod in the small area behind the walkway...
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Some pics along the way...picked up all the irrigation pipes and some concrete.
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Electrical runs and gas...
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Some irrigation I ran for the palm trees...
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Pavers being worked on...
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And finally a comparison of the back "jail" fence without the stucco and without the sloping dirt. I think it definitely helped to make the fence feel less imposing and the backyard to feel bigger/wider.[/b]
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Holy cow what a couple of days! Note to self and others...do not try to move 1000LB trees, you can't do it. :smack::p

We went out to the nursery yesterday to pick out the trees and plants we wanted. They had a great selection...the only down side is that first available delivery was 2 weeks out! Didn't want to wait that long so I had a great idea, I'll rent a truck myself and bring the stuff home...how difficult could it be? :D

Getting the stuff home wasn't a problem...kind of fun driving a humungous 26' truck with an actual semi-truck horn pull rope thingy. Unloading the plants, no problem, feeling pretty accomplished. Now the trees. :( I got a truck with a liftgate and rented a special "tree dolly". Yeah, could not even budge them with the dolly, the bottom of the dolly barely fit a few inches under the tree. So 4 of use guys wiggled the tree back and forth and back and forth until we got each on the liftgate and brought them down to street level but how to move them to the backyard?

I got the great idea of renting a skid steer from Home Depot...that should do the trick! Guess again...the thing literally tipped forward when we tried to lift the tree! Jesus Christ! :smack: Loaded it back up, went back to Home Depot and luckily the guy just voided out the sale since we were literally gone for like 15 minutes.

How did we finally get them in the backyard and planted? Called up the nursery we bought them from, Whitfill Nursery for the locals, and they were AWESOME! I guess deliveries were out 2 weeks but the install crew was available and they actually came out 2 hours later. I was in amazement. The way they manhandled the trees was nuts, pushing them around, moving them...the tree was in the backyard in 30 seconds! Even with 4 of their pro guys though, it took almost 3 hours to properly plant the trees even though the holes were mostly dug (they still had to dig out a bit more so the base of the tree was level with the ground). Big props to the nursery though for coming through so quick and at a very reasonable price (compared to another nursery I called that's much closer to me), I'm definitely going to give them some good reviews online and let the owner know how great the crew did.

Picture time! :)

The big rental truck that we brought the trees and plants home in...
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Plants unloaded in the backyard...
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Trees unloaded and the dolly I *thought* was going to do the job...
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Digging the holes...
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Skid Steer that again, I *thought* was going to do the job...
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...
 
And the pros arrive! They obviously had the right equipment and knew their stuff.
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First tree going in (Fan-Tex Ash)
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Second tree in the back corner (Museum Palo Verde)
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Third and fourth trees in (Fan-Tex Ash and Mayer Lemon)
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All the trees in place!
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Next step for tomorrow is to plant all the other plants and dig the trenches for the irrigation. Hoping to finish up the whole project by the end of the week.
 
It's done! :w00t: Freaking finally but if I may say, I think it came out pretty well and very professional looking. :D It was a huge amount of work though, way more than I had imagined or allocated for and I had "workers" doing the hard stuff but was out there for hours upon hours everyday putting in work myself.

On to the pictures and some notes...comments welcome! :)

First the finished project and then some more build pics...
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...
 

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