DIY Concrete Edger or Retaining Curb

During our backyard remodel project last year, one of the biggest projects we took on was creating a concrete curb to surround our play structure. We were going to be adding 6 inches of playground mulch to the area (in the hopes it would keep our crazy son from breaking anything). But, before we could load up that area with mulch we needed something to contain it.

Enter: the curb idea. It was so simple at first. "Hey! Why don't we put in a concrete curb like you see at the park! That way we can make it into any shape we want!". Poor, dumb people.

Professional curb installers use what is called a "curb extruding machine". Sadly, no where around these parts rents one. This left us to figure out how to do it on our own.


Supplies:
4x8 Hardboard: Have the people at Home Depot or Lowes cut it into 6" (or whatever height you want your curb to be) lengths.  You get 8-8' pieces out of each 4x8 sheet.  You need enough to go the length of the curb times two.
Concrete (27 bags at around $2.70 a piece)
Concrete mixer ($25 rental)
Water
Wooden stakes
Screws (any kind will do)
4x8 OSB: cut to size for spacers ($8)
Pam cooking spray
Flat head shovel
Broom
Concrete curber
Concrete scorer
Concrete float
Garden hose
Several helping hands: we did it with 4 people, but 5 would have been nice
Beer!

Overall cost of project (with borrowed tools): around $125

First you want to mark out your border. The easiest way to do this is to lay an old garden hose on the ground and shape it until you are happy with how it looks. I would advise to keep your curves large and smooth. Avoid sharp turns, as the hardboard may crack when forced into extreme angles.

Next, take a flat shovel and begin smoothing out the area, following the shape of your garden hose. Once you have smoothed out the shape clearly with the shovel, move the hose and go over it one more time with the shovel.

Next hammer a few wooden stakes along the perimeter of your shape.

Depending upon how wide you would like your curb, cut a block of wood to use as a spacer. This will be the block of wood you wedge in between the front and back board as you go along, ensuring the curb is uniform throughout. In our case, our curb was 4 inches wide and 6 inches tall. So our spacer was 6" tall and 4" wide.

Attach your hardboard to your steaks using screws. Make sure you place your spacers as you go along. We would adjust the position of our steaks and hardboards to ensure a snug fit with our spacers.

Once you have your curb outlined with steaks and hardboard, with spacers placed throughout,it's time to bust out the Pam. That kitchen helper isn't just for pans you know. Spray the inside of your form generously with pam. This will ensure the forms separate from the curb cleanly. Now you can begin the concrete process.

We rented a cement mixer from home depot, and with the help of a friend with a truck we brought it and 27 bags of concrete mix home.

Trent began mixing the concrete following the directions on the bag. This was how he spent hours of his day. Once a batch of concrete was mixed, we dumped it into a wheelbarrow and trucked it over the the edger.

We had to work fast as it was another hot day (which is everyday between March and November) and the concrete was setting fast.

We shoveled concrete into the forms one small section at a time. As we poured in the concrete we would remove the spacers.

 

Using a concrete float, first I stabbed down into the concrete to release air bubbles, then I smoothed the top until there was a nice sheen of water. Then we would pour the next section and repeat.

If you want the curb to have nice rounded edges, you can purchase a concrete edger. Once the concrete is partially set (doesn't look shiny wet), you run it along the edges and it creates the smooth edge you see in professional curbs.

At this point you should lightly brush the top with a broom to create a texture.  This gives the concrete a more pleasant appeal, and creates a non slip surface.  Since the kiddos would be playing on the curb, this was very important.

Make sure that every two feet you score your curb. This means creating a line indentation along the top. When dry, concrete wants to crack. It needs to crack as part of the settling process. Creating score marks gives the curb a place for pressure to be released and crack if it needs to.

Keep your forms on and concrete wet according to your concrete bag instructions. For us, we watered it multiple times a day for 48 hrs. This allowed it to cure nice and strong before we took off the forms.




 Right after we removed the forms.

Look! A concrete playground edger!!

After all that hard work, when the weed cloth was laid and the mulch poured in, it was worth it!

 Before:

After:

It was an all day project, and it sure left us sore the next day. But in the end we had a nice safe place for the kids to play. Worth it.

Picture This...

Some things are best described in pictures.
Here is a brief glimpse into what we have been up to the last few days:

Trent working the trench digger as we prepare to install our sprinkler system.

Our yard looked like a mutant gopher had attacked it.

 Oh, 975lbs of hot tub? No problem.

 Busy, productive, and a little painful. Now for some advil.

DIY Backyard Landscaping: Above Ground Pool

The work has been a consistent daily grind around here. But when you see how it is all coming together, it all seems worth it.

We a started with a swing set, a trampoline, a garden and a whole lot of dirt. I am talking a wasteland of dirt.

While the dirt is still present and accounted for, its numbers have been shrunk considerably.

Here is our goal:

Not to scale.

Grass for us to run on, play soccer, and spread out a blanket to watch clouds. A pool for the hot summer days. A pool deck for us to relax and watch the kids jump in the trampoline or play on the jungle gym. A great fire pit for the adults to chat around at night, enjoying a drink or two.

We still have sprinklers to install and sod to lay down, plus a little cleaning up, but until then I thought it would be fun to post about each of the projects.

First up? The pool!

Before

We started with this rather sad stretch of yard next to the trampoline. I knew we would have some leveling to do as my garden boxes used to be over here and they had caused some dips. But wow, it was so much more than a few small dips.

One of the former owners of this house must have hardscaped this area at some point because everywhere we dug, we hit gravel. A huge compacted bed of gravel.

We started by using a flat front shovel to remove all the thatch and roots and to create a base to determine the slope.

Once that was done and we could clearly see where the lowest spot was so we got started. When preping an area for an above ground pool, you always want to level the area to the lowest point. Never add dirt to raise the lower area up! Under the wieght of all the water in the pool, that added dirt will compact and suddenly your nice level pool will sag and risk collapse.

Sadly, our low spot consisted of one 4 foot by 2 foot corner. Eight square feet caused us to dig out and level 192 square feet to match it. Yeah. Less than fun.

To level we taped a four foot level onto a 2x4 piece of wood. Starting at the high point we would place the level then use the 2x4 to scrape dirt down until it was right. Over and over again we repeated this process until the entire area was level within 1". Not fun. Beer helped.

Really hard to get a good photo by flood light.

4' level attached to a 2x4 with tape

After we walked the area to ensure we had gotten all of that pesky gravel out,  we began to assemble the pool. Now, typically you would do two more steps of prep. First, lay down a sand bed to help protect the pool from anything poking through. Second lay down foam insulation boards(from the hardware store). Not only does this provide an extra layer of protection, but it also creates a soft smooth surface for walking.

Because we bought this pool used and there was no guarantee it would remain usable after reassembling, we didn't want to invest that extra money. Instead we just used a 10mm tarp under to pool to help protect the vinyl from any rocks or roots we missed.

This particular pool is a 9'x19'x52" Splash-a-Round soft sided vinyl pool. We just followed the directions for assembling it, which was the easiest part of all of this. We would then spend the next three weeks replacing broken pump valves, patching holes in the bottom of the liner, and fixing leaking parts.

Pool up, working on fixing it.

Once everything was fixed, we focused on the extras. The pool came with an old deck that needed a lot of love. Sadly, without the deck we could not get into the pool. Stairs and all, you know. So hubby began replacing rotten boards and strengthening the supports. We knew from the start that if we liked the pool we would build a big wrap around deck before next summer, but for now we needed to make this one safe for everyone.

Still a work in progress. Needs rails.

Once the stairs for the deck were up it was time for some prettying up! First we installed a reed cover to hide the big blue eyesore.Next we marked out where the future deck wrap around deck will go and after weed spraying, laying down weed cloth, and putting in an edger we spread out 2 yards of basic 3/4" gravel. We also repeated the process for under the trampoline. No more weeds growing under there! Looking better already!


While the whole process was heartbreaking, frustrating, and back breaking to say the least, we have loved having the pool. Or as Gabe calls it, the cool!

Next up, how to make your own concrete edger or curb!

Fun Facts

I have spent the last several weeks fighting with the used pool we bought off Craigslist. Around children and polite company we refer to her as the Big Blue Bohemith. In private, I refer to her as something far more colorful. Five patched holes, two replaced valves (four if you count the first two we bought that were wrong), two fixed plumbing leaks, and some pool chemicals later we may finally be able to swim in her tomorrow. Hm. I'll wait and see on that one.

Isn't she soooo pretty? Maybe not now, but she'll clean up well.

While digging holes under the legs of our swing set today in preparation for concrete supports, I uncovered a large section of tree root. Directly in my way. Of course. Forty five minutes, a jigsaw, a handsaw, a hammer, a screwdriver, and a pick axe later we broke off six inches of it. The hubbs and I declared it good enough and went inside to commiserate over a beer escape the heat.

Tree gives shade, roots trash my yard. Tough fight.

The family and I will be spending all day in the yard tomorrow. We have playground mulch being delivered this weekend, and need to get the weed cloth down under the swing set first. Hubby will be spending his morning finishing up the re-purposed deck that came with aforementioned Big Blue B. Without the deck we will have to pole vault into the pool. How very Olympian.

Concrete retaining wall done, and the forms are now cleaned up.

Next week we rototill the backyard, level, and install a new sprinkler system. In three days. Don't tell my husband, but even for us I think that is pushing it.

I walked into my garden last night, only to find these little visitors. While they were cute, I told them they had to go home and wrangled them back into the neighbors yard. Momma dog was very pleased.

Eight little puppies in all.Including a chubba little girl who got stuck trying to push through the fence.

I think I am going to start eating smoothies for lunch. I have a really healthy meal every day for breakfast, and typically eat a healthy dinner. But lunch. Yeah, not so much. And my waste line is reflecting this.

Lately Gabriel will pretend his food is talking to him. He does it quietly and with such absorption I don't have the heart to tell him not to play with his food.

Carrots and zuchinni, oh my!

Abigail thinks hats and sippy cups are hilarious. They are a sure fire attention getter and guaranteed giggle maker for the little love.

My brother starts his Jr. year of high school next month. It still blows me away how quickly he has grown up, and the kind of man he is becoming. I am so proud of him.

That's it. Tomorrow is What We Are Eating Wednesday, and another post on a controversial topic in these parts: pancakes. Serious stuff, I know.

DIY Backyard Landscaping

Around here nearly everything we do is DIY. We do this because we love to use our hands to build our home and put our touch on our lives. In addition to doing most everything ourselves, we also like to do things on a very tight timeline. We do this because we are crazy confident.

Our latest time crunch project revolves around my amazing sister-in-law. She is currently baking the newest addition to the family, a little bubba love due in October. So when this darling, amazing, wonderful lady asked us if she could have her baby shower here, of course we said yes!

Only problem? Our yard is not really dressed for company.

 

See what I mean? A whole lot of dirt, weeds, and random construction leftovers. 

At first we had small remodeling thoughts. "Hey, let's just add the concrete supports to the swing set so the kids coming to the shower can play on it without it wobbling." But then, like always, our thought pattern went like this:

If we are going to anchor the swingset, we should add playground mulch

If we are going to add the playground mulch, we need to put in a concrete curb to hold it back

If we are putting in a concrete curb, we should weed, level, and put gravel under the trampoline

If we are weed spraying that area, we should weed spray the whole yard.....

And on, and on it goes. Now our project encompasses sod, sprinkler system, new fire pit (bigger!better!square!), and oh this bad boy....

Please pardon our mess. 

A big-blue-pool. We had talked about eventually getting an above ground pool. But when I happened along this big guy on Craigslist, we couldn't help ourselves. It's  9'x19', and 52" deep. Big enough for all the floaty and pool noodles our family needs. 

We didn't even let our small borrowed truck stop us from taking the pool and it's bonus deck home.

the hubbs and my glorious mother-in-law

"They loaded up their truck, and they moved to Beverly. Hills that is."

Of course, buying a used pool means you have to set it up quickly. The longer it sits, the more likely the seams are to rot out. 

That would be why we were working by flood lights until midnight getting our area level and the pool set up. Turns out the area we wanted to put the pool had a slight slope. Slight, as in the right area by the trampoline was 4" higher then the left side. As you can't add dirt to the low side to level it out(the weight of the pool will just compress it down again) you have to put the work in and scrap out the high spots. The pool area is 13' x 23', which means there was a whole lot of scrapping going on.

Me, dragging a 2x4 with an attached level to scrap down the high spots

I wish I could say this is a rarity for us. But the truth is we are somewhat notorious for late night, back breaking, time crunch projects. Thus our reputation for being insane ambitious. But we always find a logic to our madness. And our loving family always steps up to help us. My mother-in-law, sister-in-law, and her boyfriend were all out there digging out the dirt, cursing the stupid 4" grade difference, and laughing at the endless silliness that comes with exhaustion. We are really so very blessed to have them.

Now the big blue bohemith is sitting in our yard, almost full of water. We have to buy a few hose connecters tomorrow, and then the pump will be running, and the salt water system will be up and going.  The deck we got with the pool is getting a bit of a make over, and will be up this week too. It will be nice for the little man to have a water source to play in other than our sprinklers (which, incidentally only water weeds).

Our sweet little man enjoying sprinkler sprayed trampoline jumping. It's an official sport.

Now my sister-in-law will be able to enjoy a relaxing baby shower in a place she can be proud of.  After all, there are only a million projects left to do in the next three weeks. That's is totally doable.