COMPLETE Backyard Makeover (Part 1)

Jason Garrett:
Hi, this is Jason with Pearce Scapes Landscaping. We’re on site in Hockley, Texas today working on a job. We’ve been out here for a few days now. What’s unique about this job is it has a certain flare of a lot of things that we do at Pearce Scapes. One thing is drainage. This is a job that had drainage in it. We also are putting in paver work. We’re doing lighting, and we’re doing a flower bed installation. So let me walk you through kind of how we ended up here and what we’re doing. This is a relatively new home, first-time owner of this house. They wanted an outdoor living area that they could enjoy, and what we did is we came up with a design that would feature a lot of things. And the first thing we did is we put drainage in. And you may say, why drainage in a brand new house?

Well, if you see with the pathway that we created here, it creates a lot of blockage with the way that the water’s going to drain out of here. So you could come in, and you could put the pavers down, but you’re going to have an issue with water getting backed up. It’s going to have your pavers settled. So we put in about seven catch basins along the way, and it will follow you out as you walk along the pathway. And the drainage will run all the way down this pathway to the street and exit. So that was really the first step is let’s get the drainage done. Let’s get that taken care of. The next step of this process is laying the paver work. At this time, I’d like to turn it over to Bob who will talk to you a little bit more about how the paver installation process works.

Bob Keenan:
So what we do first is we mark out the paver line with marking paint so the crew knows where to start and where to finish. Take out all the grass. And then, what we do next is we put crushed granite down and a little bit of sand. The biggest problem I find that pavers aren’t working correctly is people put too much sand down because sand tends to move. The only reason I put the sand down is when we pop the pavers, that little bit of sand comes up into the cracks, and it helps hold. So that’s what the sand’s for. Then, after it’s all put down, cut, we use what they call a polysand, which has a little bit adhesive to it so it doesn’t move either. And then, we take cement, and we make a band all the way around the paver area so that doesn’t move. And fairly simple, but it’s a lot of labor. It’s a lot of intense labor.

Jason Garrett:
When we put the finishing touches on this paver work, there’ll be a concrete band that will go on the outside that will solidify so the pavers aren’t moving in and out. Once we finish with the paver work, we can then transition to the landscaping work that we’re going to be doing here. You can see there’s a bed back here. We’re going to take out some of these plants. I think a magnolia is going in this corner. That’s where I mentioned we’re going to be doing some landscape lighting. We’ll have an uplight on this magnolia tree. We’ll have an uplight back on another tree that we’re putting in along the fence line. Also, you’ll notice over by the generator, we built this trellis. This is not a trellis that is purchased off of Amazon or bought at Home Depot. This is the trellis that we bought the lumber on. We did all the work. This will be a privacy screen that we’ll put some ivy on, and that ivy will block the generator from being seen. We’ll also put river rock in there to have a nice base around the generator.

So now, we’re looking at some of the flower beds that we’re going to take care of. This was an existing flower bed that was here before we started work. What you’ll notice, the hydrangeas look a little sad. These hydrangeas are getting a ton of afternoon sun. Hydrangeas do not do well in a sunny environment, but what we’re going to be able to do is put some plants in here that will thrive in afternoon sun. We’re going to take these hydrangeas, and there’s a spot on the side yard with a lot of shade where we’re going to get those replanted, and I suspect that they’ll thrive in a shady area. So that’s going to be one of our flower bed changes that we make.

Here where I’m standing on right now is the finish of the hardscaping. This is where it’s going to terminate. The plan that the customers are going to have here is they’re going to have a little sitting area. I think they’re going to get a large umbrella that they can put over another area that they can sit and now enjoy their outside area. And if you continue walking back this way, this is where the drains continue to run, another catch basin. And so, we got to make sure that we get all of this water out of the backyard. And we’re going to continue to exit out through this pathway, another catch basin right at the gate so that all the water is gone behind the door. Then, you step out, the drainage continues, the water will exit to the street, and then this will be the end of where we stop our work.