10 tons of dirt work done! Updates June29 and July 3 for the backyard landscape project 07032023 (Green Valley: how much)

[bkolodzi]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=orEcyugI0J8

To start with, I am going to stop talking about parts and phases because this project did not end up being linear due to unavailability of supplies such as nursery stones. In addition, we made some decisions such as cutting the Texas Rangers down that added hours to the project. We also decided to get a taller septic tank riser (3' instead of 2') so the tank would be easily accessible when it needs to be pumped instead of having to dig up our landscaping to do the pumping. This cost us several hours, but it was a good call by Heinz to save trouble down the road!!! The really big decision that added several days to the project was to replace the irrigation system in the back yard. New leaks kept popping up, and God only knows how old this system is. I am guessing it is original to when the house was built in 1988. So Heinz and I had to go on a shopping trip to buy the pipe and fittings. Heinz is amazing. While I was doing something else, he drew up a plan and made a list of everything we would need to do the job. All that was left was the labor it would take to do all the trenching, gluing and covering up, and some re-raking. I am really glad that Heinz was willing to take this on and share his skill and experience with me. We have been helping each other with projects for a number of years now, and I certainly have learned a great deal from Heinz. This also helps me with my job at Green Valley Decorative Rock. With what I have learned from working with Heinz, when people ask questions about landscaping, I can now speak from several years of experience and give meaningful answers and suggestions to customers. I have also learned a lot from my co-workers at GVDR over the two years I have worked there as a part-timer (usually Friday and Saturdays), so I am going to share some of that knowledge with you now.

Whenever you need to figure out how much material you will need to cover a certain area, you need to know a few things. First, number of sq ft to be covered. This is length x width such as in my case 60' x 33' = 1980 sq ft. The industry standard for coverage depth is 1.5" to 2" over bare ground. In the case of products like dirt or sand, you can cover 200 sq ft at that depth with a ton, so if I take my sq ft of 1980 and divide by 200, I get 9.9 tons, so I ordered 10 just to round it off to an even number.

For other products like decorative rock, you have to consider size of rock to be used, because the coverage varies.

3/8" gravel will cover 180 sq ft per ton at 1.5" to 2" deep
1/2" gravel will cover 150 sq ft per ton at 1.5" to 2" deep
3/4" gravel will cover 120 sq ft per ton at 1.5" to 2" deep

using 1000 sq ft as an example this would be the amount of gravel required to cover 1000 sq ft at 1.5" to 2" deep.

1000 divided by 180 = 5.55 ton $316.35
1000 divided by 150 = 6.66 ton $379.62
1000 divided by 120 = 8.33 ton $473.10

at $42 to $79 per ton for the different colors and sizes, the size of rock you choose will make a significant different in price. For the example above, lets use a mid price gravel at $57 per ton. Keep in mind that unless you plan to haul the gravel yourself, there will be an additional delivery charge.

There are also different coverage calculations for things such as river rock and rip rap. If you have questions about those or anything else, just drop your question in the comments section!!!

[wildflowers27]

Your project is really impressive - and what a wealth of information in this post! Thank you for including all the data and steps.

For your swale, what did you do to create the slope? Or was it naturally running downward and you carved out a path toward the wall. With the monsoons, you get a lot of water in a short period of time; I'm sure you and Heinz have thought it out well. Wondering if you used a level or were just able to eyeball it.

The nursery stones and gravel around your palm tree and Saguaro is wonderful. Everything looks so professional!

Good luck with the huge gravel delivery and looking forward to your next installment!

[bkolodzi]

Originally Posted by wildflowers27

Your project is really impressive - and what a wealth of information in this post! Thank you for including all the data and steps.

For your swale, what did you do to create the slope? Or was it naturally running downward and you carved out a path toward the wall. With the monsoons, you get a lot of water in a short period of time; I'm sure you and Heinz have thought it out well. Wondering if you used a level or were just able to eyeball it.

The nursery stones and gravel around your palm tree and Saguaro is wonderful. Everything looks so professional!

Good luck with the huge gravel delivery and looking forward to your next installment!

Thanks for the kind words wildflowers27! I am glad you found all the data and calculation methods helpful. Regarding the swale, there was already a natural slope toward the fence, but there were several high spots we had to carve out. Yes, we did give it plenty of thought. There are small slits in the fence, and Heinz tells me that these are to allow for drainage while making the drainage slow enough there is time for the area inside the fence to absorb some of the water before running off. Isn't it amazing that someone had all this figured out a long time ago???? ;-) We used a level as well as eyeballs when carving out the swale. I have a cool surprise coming up in a future update and it has to do with the Grand Canyon!