Well Done! A "pat on your back" thread!

You’ve missed weeks worth of cat gifs…!

cat drinking GIF

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We made a thing. Well we finished a thing. We have been slowly working this backyard all winter. I have to admit, I did not push for speed because landscaping jobs are few and far in between during the winter months, and as long as I have something to do, my company can run.

But now spring has come, and the work is done. Time to move on to other jobs and call this one.

You may remember the steps. We did those a couple months ago (been that long?!) We did not build the shed, alas, prefab outpriced even me. But all the landscaping around it, and the preparation for its foundation was done by us. In the rain. And cold. Only this week, when we put in the grass and flagstones did we get actual sweet spring weather.

Here’s some pix:

I am really happy with how it turned out. Neat without being sterile or hard, organic and flowing without being sloppy. It also should be right easy to maintain, as she can just roll the mower over the flagstones and be ok. The client is at least as happy with how it turned out as I am.

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That’s a lovely place you got there @schurem. Can I rent the shed?

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Any many who can get a paver walk to set level impresses me. I can build a brick or stone wall plumb and straight, but getting the things to set in the ground that way has escaped me for decades.

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You’d have to take that up with the family that owns it :wink:

I’ll ask Donnie to document the process next time I put a bunch in. Tools used were an old bread knife, a small garden scoop, a bucket and bare hands. It’s the skill we all built playing in the sand pit.

First one I took back out five or six times before I was happy. After that they came easier. The soil was compacted before we put in the grass, and I slightly loosened it where the stones went in. Then some loving taps with the rubber hammer to settle them. They’re brittle so tap lightly¡

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That is stunning work. I bet they are over the moon with it. Great job. I’m very jealous as my garden is a square. With some grass and a tiny Patio.

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You do put paving sand underneath, right?

The only way I’ve managed to get pavers/bricks straight and to stay straight is to lay a paving sand base course. I pour more sand on top of the completed paved area and keep pushing the excess sand around with a broom until as much as possible has disappeared into the cracks between the bricks.

Looks great! It must be so satisfying to do what you guys do - it is wonderful :slight_smile:

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That indeed is the technique with the bricks. The white sand also needs thorough compaction and careful levelling. But those flagstones went into black soil.

The old lawn was… Beyond salvage. So we took it all out, about six tonnes of it. Three full trailers. Or was it four? Then in came five tonnes of fresh black soil. We compacted and levelled it, spread a thin layer of compost and rolled out the grass.

The owner’s kid remarked it looks like fake grass. Heh.

So I dug out the grass and three to five cm of the new soil for the flagstones. Underneath is compacted black soil and clay. Those things don’t move anywhere. They may sink a few mm but thats ok. Only makes it look more natural.

It is indeed about the most satisfying job I ever had. Between that and the times when being el capitan is fun onstead of a drag and a worry, I am happier with work than i ever been.

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@schurem Makes sense - nice work. You and your boys don’t have to worry much about getting your gym time in with those tonnages!

I’ve had my fair share of wheelbarrowing / shoveling lately, too. I had an interesting ‘incident’ at my backyard a few weeks back, just before our newborn arrived. Our house is an old 1950’s state house (built by the govt as social housing, however long since released to the private market) and back in the day they did not have sewage infrastructure, so they used concrete cesspits.

We retained the backyard a few years ago and found the old cesspit and at the time I thought, it’s been there for 60 years, why bother do anything about it…I’ll just grow lawn over it. This turned out to be not such a smart move. Should have dealt with it while I had borrowed a digger from a mate and had not built fences all around the back yard yet…

After all those years, one of the concrete walls of the pit gave in, opening a reasonably large abyss in the middle of the back lawn! 1.5m deep, 1 x 3m wide concrete cave, partially collapsed. Taking out the concrete would have been too much work so instead I ordered in a few cubic meters of GAP40 gravel. I had to move it manually from the front of the house to the backyard, one barrowload at a time. Sweaty work!!

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Woof, thats a fair bit of work indeed! Nice choice with the gravel, that stuff can retain a lot of water. You can use the former cesspit as a soak for excess rainwater. Does it still have a closed bottom/walls? Because you’d have to break those up a bit if you want it to do that.

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Yup I broke up the downhill side wall a bit with a sledge so it’ll drain down over time after soaking up some winter rain. Should do the trick :+1:

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The deeper rooting plants and trees around your yard (and the neighbours! ) shall appreciate that.

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Oh wow, sixteen years of trucker logs! …

I’ve always been an excellent record keeper … to the dismay of my wife. :slight_smile:

As of this week, NO MORE paper logs! Apparently there’s an app for that. On Monday my dispatcher asked me, “Why are you still filling out paper logs?”. :slight_smile: It’s cool though. I won’t miss recording stuff on paper at all. :frowning:

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You could always fill out the paper log first and use it for your data entry. Then again if you want a paper backup there is most likely a print option. :thinking:

Wheels

Do you guys think this is broken?

All the fingers close fine but when I open my hand the middle one doesn’t cooperate too well.

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T’is just a scratch.

Also, Mudspike for medical advice!? Go get an x-Ray man! before some German doctor is force to amputate!

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The post here it’s just a way to exorcise the shock, man. :wink:
I’m already there, admitted, waiting for the XR to confirm it’s just a ligament and not the bone.

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That doesnt look good. Sounds a bit like you tore the extending ligament. Did you hear a loud snap when it happened? I would take advantage of that german health care system and see a doctor. You may need an X-ray or MR to be sure what’s going on there.

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@sobek that’s exactly how it went.
Bent the finger and CRACK finger is unresponsive.

I’m at the ER waiting for an XR.

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Finger’s crossed its a just bone and not a ligament or worse, the joint. A clean broken bone is a lot less hassle than the ligament.

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