Our Backyard Reno

[jaspn]

Hi guys,

Let me share with you our backyard reno story.

We bought our PPOR about a year ago. The vendor was selling it privately but was struggling to find a buyer. You'll see why in a minute. We bought the property at a good price, but it required work. For a property just 10 years old it really had been 'let go'. The worst part was the back yard, which looked like a failed attempt at building a backyard oasis. Some people like that sort of thing, but not us. Each to their own I guess. The idea was to strip it all back to nothing and grow grass with a simple hedge along the boundary fences, for extra privacy. In this photo you'll see my wife ripping off a net which covered a fish pond that was leaking. Our dog somehow got herself stuck in it the day we moved in and was drinking the fetid water.

The side yard had loads of cane berry bushes - blackberry, raspberry, mulberry, strawberry, everything, and was really out of control. That's an overgrown cherry tree in the middle.

 

[jaspn]

We began by demolishing and clearing what was there. Sounds easy enough right? What can't be seen here is the amount of buried bricks, concrete slabs, gravel, and other rubbish the previous owner had collected buried. He was a hoarder and it showed. It took 10 ute loads to the tip to remove it all. We seriously underestimated how much matter needed to be removed. We gave the cherry tree a good prune and left it in, which was pretty much the only thing that remained. At the same time I had my dad build a lattice and mesh screen extension onto the back fence. It was only 5ft beforehand, and I didn't trust the vicious dog in the neighbouring yard. We also took this chance to wire up the shed, which included data. My brother is a sparky so we paid for materials at wholesale price + beer as payment.

The final load (cue angels singing):

 

[jaspn]

Some of the vines and stubborn plants refused to die, so over a couple of weeks I gave the whole area two hits of strong Roundup. When all non-dirt material was removed I hired a petrol driven rotary hoe for the day to churn up and aerate the dirt. I was then able to create a nice even level with a slight fall towards the fences for drainage. Seed and starter fertiliser was raked into the topsoil, watered twice a day. The seed dried out a little the day we hit 43 degrees, but seemed to germinate okay.

The laundry door had been damaged by a dog trying to get in. I filled/packed in the damage with a wood putty, and replaced the quad trim which was too damaged to repair. Then it was just a matter of sanding back to the right level and painting. We had the hardware store match the paint colour by taking in a sample of the cream. I also swapped the handle and deadlock with a spare that wasn't rusted.

 

[jaspn]

We chose Silver Sheen Pittosporums for the hedge - 60 in total - as they are fast growing (75cm/year), really hardy, and have a lovely green leaf. They seem to thrive in Tassie conditions. The cheapest we could find locally for this quantity was $7 each, so we ended up getting these online from Victoria for less than $2 each which included postage. I tested the pH level of the soil (which was fine) and mixed through a few bags of gypsum to soften up the clay soil. On top went weed matting and pine bark.

 

[jaspn]

A high pressure hose was used to clean the concrete, which came up quite well. A few months and lots of watering later we have a low maintenance yard, great for the dog and our future children. In 2-3 years we'll have a dense hedge which I'll square off at around 7ft.

 

[jaspn]

This was an on and off project which spanned a few months. If it were for an investment property, considering my wage cost it would have been cheaper and quicker to get a professional team of guys in with machinery. However this was something we did at our own pace while learning lots in the process. We really enjoyed the work and the end result.

 

[nww]

Its amazing what a little grass can do to tie it all in.

 

[jaspn]

Its amazing what a little grass can do to tie it all in.

"You can't grow grass here. It just doesn't grow". That's what the vendor told me. He didn't believe his eyes when I showed him what we'd done.

 

[TMNT]

amazing!
how much did it all cost you?

and was it just me but the photo with the dog in it, I can tell the dog was thinking "hmmm, new grass, looks good, I think I can get it back to how it was looking like before within 2 weeks, damn owner"

 

[jaspn]

amazing!
how much did it all cost you?

Thanks!

I didn't keep a close track on costs as we pretty much did it all for as cheap as possible. There was no rush so no need to go all out at once. For the back yard alone a quick calculation comes to just over a grand. Here's a rough breakdown

Seed + fertiliser: $100
Weed mat: $50
Trees: $110
Gypsum: $20
Fuel: $100
Tip fees: $70
Fence materials: $500
Water (at a guess): $100
Tools and sundries: $100
Grey gravel rock below laundry steps: $100
Labour: $0

I haven't included wiring the shed as that's a separate job really. For that we paid about $500, but that included electrical cable, data cable, and conduit from the house via the trench, 4 double power points, 1 data port and 2 dual tube fluorescent lights. From memory I paid my brother two cases of beer for the work

 

[jaspn]

and was it just me but the photo with the dog in it, I can tell the dog was thinking "hmmm, new grass, looks good, I think I can get it back to how it was looking like before within 2 weeks, damn owner"

Haha, our dog is magnificent. She's a two year old lab who's responded to training really well. She doesn't even try and wreck the grass, and only toilets on the grey gravel rock down the side. It means we don't end up with brown patches on the grass or step in any unwanted surprises.

 

[DaveM]

Looks great jaspn!

 

[jaspn]

Looks great jaspn!

Cheers Dave.

 

[wylie]

Great job. What a different a grand can make (plus lots of elbow grease).

If the house you bought a year ago had looked like it does now, how much more do you think the vendor would have made on the sale? I'll bet they are thinking "hmmm, should have done that" and kicking themselves.

 

[jaspn]

Great job. What a different a grand can make (plus lots of elbow grease).

If the house you bought a year ago had looked like it does now, how much more do you think the vendor would have made on the sale? I'll bet they are thinking "hmmm, should have done that" and kicking themselves.

Thanks wylie.

It's hard to gauge how much CG is due to the yard work alone - we did some work to the front yard and painted/installed blinds internally which looks way better. Desktop val was $36k more than we paid for it, but that doesn't tell us much. I reckon that val would have been pretty close to the money if we were to sell it, looking at similar properties in the area.

Our neighbour was only telling me the yard used to look pretty much like that before the previous owners moved in. So all their 'hard work' over the years was really devaluing the property.

 

[Spades]

Nice work jaspn!!

Good pickup,10 yr old house to which potential buyers couldn't see past the hedge.

Congrats!

Are you close to cbd?

Also,i have no idea how your grass will stay green in taz and with the maintenance etc.

See how it is in a few months i suppose and assess.Maybe synthetic grass would be a better option?

Cheers Spades.

 

[Spades]

Ps.Labradors are a great dog.

 

[jaspn]

Are you close to cbd?

Also,i have no idea how your grass will stay green in taz and with the maintenance etc.

See how it is in a few months i suppose and assess.Maybe synthetic grass would be a better option?

Hi Spades,

No, not near the CBD (been there done that, not for me any more). We live about 20 minutes out, near the beaches.

The grass has already seen a full winter, in which one area received no sun at all. The grass in that area looks better than the areas which did receive sun, believe it or not. All areas receive sun at this time of the year being higher in the sky. I have no doubt organic grass will be just fine.

 

[Spades]

Hi jaspn,

Nice,close to the beaches with mountain views i see.
I prefer to live further out also.

I would have funked the grass would have browned during/after winter.
It appears the grass likes it's new abode

Vegie patch on the cards?

Cheers Spades.

 

[jaspn]

Hi jaspn,
Nice,close to the beaches with mountain views i see.

Vegie patch on the cards?

Yep, best of both worlds.

I have a veggie and herb patch down the other side of the house with a myriad of awesome edibles growing