Front Yard – Sod Removal, Reposition Sprinklers, Laying Sod
Well this project started out as putting a wrought iron fence in the front yard. In order to do this, we needed to dig up sod and dirt, reposition the sprinklers (twice), lay more sod, put in edging, plant plants, and bark. Needless to say, some of these projects are still in progress so check back frequently for updated photos and info.
April 5, 2009
The beginning! In order to put a wrought iron fence in the front yard, we needed to dig up some sod. So…..we evaluated what needed to be dug up and dug up sprinkler lines also so that we would not accidentally cut them. There were 3 different sets of sprinkler lines in the front yard! Some were even metal pipes which I’m sure were from the original owners. It was amazing as Holly would dig up the lines to see where they came from, connected, ended, and…..just appeared out of nowhere! And…I only “sliced” 3 lines in the process : )
South side of house looking from back of yard into front South side of house front yard looking into back
South side front of house North side front of house
North side front of house between neighbor and us North side front
North side front yard
Grass area between our house and street. We sprayed some weed killer last fall and it killed the grass instead. Doh….
April 11 - 19, 2009
We rented an 18” sod cutter and went to town! Craig was cutting the sod, while Holly was pulling and piling in the back yard. After this was all completed, I (Holly) decided that we needed another 18” taken out. So I rented the sod cutter again the next day, cut another strip everywhere and hauled the sod to the back yard for disposal. As you can see there were some rough spots that needed to be cleaned up manually, so
South side – front side yard South side - front of house
North side – front and side yard
Front along the side walk – cool shadow picture South side – side yard
Front area between our lawn, sidewalk and street Sod removed from front yard
I was actually able to “give away” free sod on Craigslist, so had most of it taken away!
The next step was to take dirt out. I wanted a nice deep area for the bark to go in, so that I would not need to put down weed barrier. I removed about 4” inches of dirt from everywhere. Again, I gave away “free top soil” on Craigslist and had people fighting to come and get it! In one of the pictures below you’ll see a trailer that someone brought over so I could load it directly in their trailer. Overall, I think I dug up about 4 cubic yard of dirt!
April 20 - 25, 2009
Now that the sod and dirt are gone, the next step is the sprinklers. We dug up where each head was to evaluate if it needed to be replaced, moved, or just twisted around. After this was done, we reburied the lines.
Digging up each spot where the head is to make repairs and change things.
May 10, 2009
Then…..we realized that if someone else put in our posts for the fence, they would not be as careful as us and….they’d slice through every line. So we dug up the entire line which was against the sidewalk or outside of the “dirt edge”, dug a new trench against the lawn, reburied the lines, and made a few more fixes and changes along the way.
Repositioning the entire line from the sidewalk closer to the lawn.
Lines are repositioned, buried, and dirt is smoothed over.
Testing the sprinklers.
June 16, 2009
We decided we wanted to replace the front area with sod again. Easier to maintain at this point and who knows we may change it. I spent the next few days cleaning the edges, digging out a little more dirt, then picked up the sod and laid it. Since this is a foot traffic area, I roped it off with orange tape to prevent people from walking on the new sod.
This is a spot we replaced between us and the neighbor.
More Update Coming Soon!
Check back frequently for the installation of the fence, bark, and plants!