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Landscaping Advice Needed...
Jabba:
Thanks Drew, Chad. Sounds like dem Germans there are nasty buggers to tame... :police:
I've been digging around a little bit to calculate amount of soil I will need. Drew's BOL thinks it's about 2/3 of an acre, I think maybe 1/2 (property include 360 feet of drain ditch, so, based on some reseach I've done...
1 acre = roughly 76% the size of a US football field
A US football field (including the two end zones) is 360 feet long and 160 feet. When you take away the two 30 foot end zones, you get an aproximate acre. (boy am I glad 1 acre is not the size of a Canadian football field, heck, it'd be freakin CRAZY if it was a UK football field... ;D )
1/2 an acre would therefore be roughly 150 x 80 feet
Formula to calculate the cubic yards of soil needed is : W x L / 3 (for 4") / 27 (to get to yards = 148 yards of soil!!! Ouch.
The local guy quoted me $148.50 for 5 yards which works out to $29.70 per yard (delivered)
148 yards will cost (*gulp*) = $4395.00
Man, thats a lot of soil!!!! Just so I can lay grass! Hmm, maybe I can convince the wife to put in a Par 3 while I'm at it....
DrewKaree:
Yeah, if you've got your measurements, it's easier to come close, but you'd be surprised what you can find to do with any extra you might have....two thirds of an acre and round it up to an even 300 yards by his calculations (294, but we'd round off and blend it into your yard) if that's the size. If he's closer to correct, and you DO have two thirds of an acre to deal with there, 150 will get you that 2", which WILL work, but spending that much money, I'd make sure you do what I suggested and beat your yard up NOW, set it aside, prepare for fall, and mix 'er all in and start in fall. He figured half an acre somewhere closer to 180 yards.
For MY area, your quote is only adding $10/yd to the $/yd for delivery, so that doesn't sound too out of line. For an idea of how much dirt that is, those big dump trucks (you know, the ones with wheels galore under them?) will hold 30 yards. 5 dumpers MIGHT be something they just run back/forth for, but if they run two for you, that DOES sound like a deal!
Wanna get some SERIOUS sticker shock? Price out sod!
GameOver:
I'm not a landscape expert, but have successfully planted LOTS of grass seed several times.
Jabba:
Thanks Game Over for the tips....
--- Quote ---I'm curious - how is it you came by such a large area of dirt?
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DrewKaree:
--- Quote from: GameOver on April 10, 2005, 05:25:41 pm ---
Also, I didn't hear any mention of testing the soil to make sure grass will grow there.
--- End quote ---
That was because he's already got grass growing around the rest of the house, , and because he's seeding, he's going to be adding enough topsoil that he'd have to work at making the grass NOT grow. If he was just tilling up his dirt and throwing seed around like a farmer, then you'd do that, or after his lawn has been growing for a year or two and settled into the rest of the yard.
--- Quote ---
Hmmmm 16k could be a good down payment on a pool - forget the grass! Or even put in an 'extra' garage that could double as a GAMEROOM! 8) Heck you could get a pair of decent dirtbikes for <5k and have a good 'ol time!
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BEST. SOLUTIONS. EVER! ;D
I actually just read a story about a guy in Alabama who finally won court cases to keep his entire yard the way it is....are you ready for this? He astro-turfed the ENTIRE YARD!
That should be the goal of ANY landscaping project any of you undertake - make the house look better, while making less overall work for yourself. And take it from me, lose the landscape fabric, and use mulch instead. It'll look nice, and later, when the landscape fabric mysteriously makes its way up to the surface somehow and you STILL have weeds in your beds, you'll want to rip it all out later anyway.