Between 705 & 1200 SQ/FT ZMotorsports Home and 50x60x16 Shop/RV Garage

[zmotorsports]

I know the feeling, we had 20 yards of mulch delivered a week ago…



We need 10 more!

Oooof, that's a LOT of mulch. Glad it's not me.

 

[kj_mustang]

Yeah, my almost 65 year old self is not looking forward to the probably 9-10 yards of mulch I will have to haul on the trailer and spread around my place soon. Based on my past purchases, I am not sure that is a 20 yard pile. Love these landscaping companies that think a 5 foot skid loader bucket holds a yard.

 

[zmotorsports]

I was able to get quite a bit done in the yard last night, before my son and his family arrived, then my grandson ran around the yard and helped hand me tools and fill in holes.

I had another delivery of 2 cubic yards of rock delivered yesterday afternoon so my pile is about the same size as the first 4 yard delivery. While I think my math worked out on what I calculated needing, I think I may have underestimated just how much I would use in the front yard alone. The calculations for the new rock beds landed around 2.75 yards and I "thought" I would use the other yard and a quarter to just fill in some low spots around the property in the other existing rock beds.

When I just kept loading cart after cart of rock to fill in those low spots I don't think I realized I probably hauled two yards to the front yard alone over the past two evenings.

But overall I am pleased with how the front yard looks as the low spots are gone and after a couple of rain storms and some sun, the rock will blend together and look the same without the various shades or tones in the rock.

Here is the last cart of rock hauled to the front just as the driver showed up with another 2 yards of rock to dump in the back yard.


The front landing has probably about 8-10 carts full of rock, which is probably a yard in itself.













After finishing up with the rock in the front yard and still plenty of daylight remaining, I thought I would tackle the sprinkler heads that I planned on removing along the foundation of the house and shop. I removed and capped off four sprinkler heads along the east side of the shop and had just started digging the ones up on the east side of the house when my son, DIL and grandson arrived. My son wanted to come to help after work, but there was really nothing for him to do by then, so I had my grandson help me finish up capping the lines and backfilling the holes and then we had to walk around the yard to make sure we picked up all of the tools. We ended up around the side of the shop sitting on the trailer talking and he is just so full of energy, and his imagination is on overload.

I have the curbing company coming on Friday to do the curbing and then I will plan out the last part of the rock bed project so I can get back on my other projects already in progress.

Thanks for looking.

 

[Sifan]

If only you had a wheelhorse tractor to pull that cart

 

[zmotorsports]

If only you had a wheelhorse tractor to pull that cart

Touche. It really rolls quite easily, even fully loaded. Even if the tractor was restored, I think the only reason to use it would be let it see the outdoors, and to "show it off".

 

[Firstram]

Yeah, my almost 65 year old self is not looking forward to the probably 9-10 yards of mulch I will have to haul on the trailer and spread around my place soon. Based on my past purchases, I am not sure that is a 20 yard pile. Love these landscaping companies that think a 5 foot skid loader bucket holds a yard.

The dump truck was FULL, I’m not going to complain! My only point was that I generally seem to order 2/3rds of whatever I need.

 

[bigdave_185]

I’d offer to bring some from the pit that sandees gets it from but I’m still out of work and truck is still red tagged inoperable

 

[zmotorsports]

I’d offer to bring some from the pit that sandees gets it from but I’m still out of work and truck is still red tagged inoperable

Appreciate the offer Dave, but I "hope" I have enough now. Sorry to hear that you are still not back to work though.

 

[bigdave_185]

Appreciate the offer Dave, but I "hope" I have enough now. Sorry to hear that you are still not back to work though.

The exact definition of play stupid games win stupid prizes.

You interested in another oil drain plug repair?

 

[zmotorsports]

The last week and a half I've been busy with some yard improvements in the back yard. With the addition of some rock in the front yard completed, I had a curbing company come in and add about 110' of curbing to match the other curbing around our property. I think they did a great job and it matches perfectly.



















Stay tuned for more.

 

[zmotorsports]

After giving the curbing a few days to dry and attending to other matters, I went in and dug up several sprinkler heads to remove along the shop and east side of the house. I also moved three rotary heads from the lawn side of the curbing around the shop up closer to the curbing, which was about 16-18 inches. In addition, I moved 2 pop up heads on the south side of the house from along the foundation out to the lawn side of the new curbing as well. That south side of the house gets hot from the sun, so just a little extra water along the new curbing will help with the overlap from the rotary heads further out. All in all, I ended up removing 8 pop up sprinkler heads in total between the house and shop. That is water I can use elsewhere in the yard and not right at my foundation.

I noticed last fall I had a small area near my east gate that had sunk just a little, so I cut the sod and rolled it back to add some fill dirt, compact and put the sod back.


Leveled, compacted and sod put back in place. Should be undetectable in a couple of months.


Once I felt comfortable working around the new curbing, the old sod was removed and area leveled. This area had one pop-up removed over near the downspout, and two others relocated to the lawn side of the curbing, they can be seen here at the intersection of the stair landing and the new curbing, then about 12' to the right, a few feet before rounding the corner. Grass also put back and compacted to create a seamless transition within a couple of months.


Three pop-ups were removed along this side of the house as there are rotary heads at the fence right where the curbing ends and one just at the corner. The guys doing the curbing were able to place the curbing right next to the rotary heads so I didn't have to move these.


I then added some soil sterilization before the 6 oz. landscaping barrier started to go down.

Continuing on.


The 2 yards I got for the front yard weren't too terribly dirty, but this load of 4 yards was horrendous with dirt and silt. I am kicking myself for having it delivered because I think they scraped the bottom of the pile and I got all of the ****. When I went with my trailer and got it I could watch them and instruct them to take from the top of the pile, but without me there to watch, I got all of the **** in this load.


I would move rock, wash it and then wheelbarrow it over to the rock beds, then lather, rinse and repeat. At the end I had several piles of silt and mud that I let dry and then disposed of before washing the concrete down.







What a mess that turned out to be.


Stay tuned for the final pictures.

 

[zmotorsports]

Continuing on with the final pictures of the new rock beds around the house and shop.










I then decided to add some pathway lights to the new rock beds, however, I couldn't match them exactly as my others are about 5 years old now. I found some that were as close a match as possible, and I added the new ones to the front kidney and front corner area and used them to complete the area next to the house so they match the existing ones under the deck. I also purchased some #4 rebar and cut to 12" lengths as I don't like the cheap plastic spikes that the lights use.


Lights around the house all matching and completed.


The lights around the shop are the new style ones. I figured they are far enough away that the small difference won't be noticed. ****, now I told you so you'll know.


From the deck looking down around the house.


From the deck looking towards the shop.




Stay tuned for a few more at dusk and nighttime shot.

 

[zmotorsports]

Lights coming on at dusk and night.









Thanks for looking.

 

[fouckhest]

Wow, that looks great, Mike!!!

 

[zmotorsports]

Wow, that looks great, Mike!!!

Thanks Mike. It was lot of work, but I think the end result turned out nice.

 

[larry4406]

That looks really nice!

That curbing extruder machine is slick! I have not seen a small residential scale version before.

I am sure the curb will make yard maintenance easier.

 

[zanyad]

Nice upgrade! Are those lights wired or solar?

 

[zmotorsports]

Thanks guys.

@zanyad , they are solar.

 

[SilverJimmy]

Mike, when they did the curbing did they use any kind of rebar or wire reinforcement to control cracking or just fiber? You washing the rock made me laugh cuz when I was a kid my dad was a concrete contractor and his specialty was doing exposed aggregate sidewalks and pool decks. When I’d get in trouble he take me to work with him and have me wash the rock. Picture a dump truck load. He’d hand me a shovel, set up a lawn water sprinkler and then tell me to throw the rock thru the water spray into a pile, and then when I was done, he’d tell me to move it back, thru the sprinkler again. I tried really hard to not piss him off again but you know how it is with fathers and sons!

 

[zmotorsports]

Sterling, no rebar. Actually, I've never seen rebar used in these types of curbing. The machine just compacts it and "poops" it out as the compaction advances the machine. Afterwards they come by and partially score lines in to act as the controlled cracks.

 

[Nolift911]

Looks great! That must have been a workout!

 

[zmotorsports]

Looks great! That must have been a workout!

Thank you. Yeah, I felt that. Actually, still feeling it.

 

[Blackbyrd]

Nice work!

Im thinking im gonna be doing a lot of those projects this spring as well.

 

[zmotorsports]

Nice work!

Im thinking im gonna be doing a lot of those projects this spring as well.

Thank you. I'm glad that one is done and now I'm ready for spring.

 

[rharman]

That looks really nice!

That curbing extruder machine is slick! I have not seen a small residential scale version before.

I am sure the curb will make yard maintenance easier.

Sterling, no rebar. Actually, I've never seen rebar used in these types of curbing. The machine just compacts it and "poops" it out as the compaction advances the machine. Afterwards they come by and partially score lines in to act as the controlled cracks.

Gotta love the curb pooper.

When we were thinking about curbing, my wife was doing research and said "You have to see this curb pooping machine! I want that for our yard." So, we've always referred to it as the curb pooping machine. Pretty slick with the various profile heads they can use with it and the color matched concrete.

 

[bugnut]

Mike the homestead is looking sharp!

 

[steves_001]

Looks fantastic! Really like the lighting too. Now you’ve gone and done it, I need some too!

 

[zmotorsports]

Gotta love the curb pooper.

When we were thinking about curbing, my wife was doing research and said "You have to see this curb pooping machine! I want that for our yard." So, we've always referred to it as the curb pooping machine. Pretty slick with the various profile heads they can use with it and the color matched concrete.

Roger, the machine is pretty slick. At our last home we had the "tapered" style of curbing added around the house and although I like the looks of it, the short side was touchy to trim up against as the lawn grew over the years. When we purchased this house, the previous owners had a little curbing added around the front and under the deck as well as a "kidney" in the front yard. We added a little extra as we were putting in the yard, but I kick myself for not doing everything around the foundations at that time.

I like the color matched ones, but it gets quite pricey once you add either color or stampings to the curb so I just wanted to match the existing to make it look like it was all done at the same time and this will be nice and smooth to trim up against once the lawn fills back in up to it.

Thanks for the comments and for checking out my shop and home thread.

Mike the homestead is looking sharp!

Thanks Joel.

Looks fantastic! Really like the lighting too. Now you’ve gone and done it, I need some too!

Thank you Steve, the lighting was actually an afterthought if I'm being honest. Once I was done hauling the rock in and stood back and looked at it, I thought "hmm, maybe I should try to match the lighting and add a few". So I hurried and ran to the big box store to grab some before the wife arrived home from work so she'd be surprised as we didn't discuss adding lights. She was very pleased, and surprised.

 

[zanyad]

She was very pleased

Happy wife, hair happy life! Cliché but still very true.

 

[Finallygotit]

Happy wife, hair life! Cliché but still very true.

Hair life??

 

[zanyad]

Hair life??

Good grief. Happy life.

 

[zmotorsports]

Good grief. Happy life.

I knew what you meant, I think..

 

[signcrafter]

Yard looks really good Mike!

 

[zmotorsports]

Yard looks really good Mike!

Thanks Scott.

Saturday morning coffee on the deck was an awesome feeling seeing everything completed and our trees in full bloom.

 

[signcrafter]

Thanks Scott.

Saturday morning coffee on the deck was an awesome feeling seeing everything completed and our trees in full bloom.

Always nice to be able to sit back and enjoy your work for a while before jumping into the next project. Enjoy it!

 

[jbmatth]

I like the curbing and rock, I may have to steal that when I get to that point on my place.

JB

 

[zmotorsports]

I like the curbing and rock, I may have to steal that when I get to that point on my place.

JB

Thanks JB. It's funny how just a hundred feet of curbing and some colored rock can completely transform the backyard. I was pleased with the way it looked last year, but now I am ecstatic.

 

[zmotorsports]

It's amazing what two days of rain has done to green up the lawn and begin to close the gap up around the new curbing.












Springtime in Northern Utah, if you don't like the weather, wait 5-minutes...

Shortly after arriving home, I heard the pounding on the shop doors from the hail and wind.






And a few minutes later the sun was out...



Thanks for looking.

 

[PhantomEB]

I need to get mulch for the spring plans this year. Plan is to raise up the cedar patch in the back yard by 6” and fill in with cedar mulch as well fence off so the dogs aint in there.

same with around the cedars out front after the sprinkler system goes in.

 

[zmotorsports]

After several days of wet weather last week, the lawn really greened up. Saturday I was able to trim, edge and mow the lawns before a family gathering on Easter Sunday.








Thanks for looking.