Muddy Mess in Progress

Putting up the fence this weekend! So awesome. No more homeless people walking through our backyard or people seeing EXACTLY what I'm doing with every gardening dig.

Ken was home with an excavator friend on Friday leveling the driveway and digging a ditch to install waterproofing on the one side of the house. Then we're putting in a drainage pipe along the house, digging a dry well and finishing the driveway project by putting down quarter-minus gravel. That will be a huge check off the list since our driveway turns into a muddy clay mess in the winter.

Here are some pictures of our progress on the retaining wall, fence, drainage pipe and garage:


Drainage Pipe
Kerry leveling the driveway with his backhoe (before digging the trench):


Another view from farther back:



Ken working on the east-side drainage on Friday night. You can also see the old drainage pipe leading from the gutters to the other dry well in the backyard (farther from the house). He's laying the new drainage pipe (white) in the trench:


Here is a closer view of the waterproofing assembly. Kerry and Ken dug a 3 foot trench along the side of the house. A 10 mil plastic sheet (shiny black) was adhered to the wall using a driveway sealant/adhesive (see black adhering to the wall below). Then the plastic sheet was shaped to fit the trench and a perforated pipe with a "sock" covering (to keep out dirt) was placed down the center (see white pipe on left running along the plastic). After the pipe, gravel goes in to improve drainage. Then a weed/dirt barrier goes over the gravel to allow water to pass while keeping out the dirt (see fabric-looking thing). The barrier and plastic are folded together to create a drainage unit and the whole thing is then covered in dirt.



The drainage connection. The white perforated pipe from above (now shown on left in the picture below) drains soil from the east side of the house. The other pipe (12 o' clock below) will receive drainage from the north and west sides (to be done in the spring since we've run out of time this season). Both pipes empty into a dry well buried six feet below our driveway. This drywell is different from the one that collects runoff from the gutters (which is buried in the middle of our lawn).



Close up of the dry well. A big garbage can with holes that is filled with rocks and the pipe emptying into it.


We had 2 yards of dirt left in the driveway and a yard of rock. Thank you craigslist -- it is now almost all gone (3 wheelbarrows of rock remaining)

Retaining Wall
The retaining wall with fence posts sunk in concrete behind. Each block weighs 65 lbs.


View of the retaining wall looking into our yard.



Ken backfilling the trench of the retaining wall. We dug down a bit to fit the first course of stones. You can see the drop between our property and our neighbors comes to the middle of Ken's thigh.


The Fence
Before the fence. Direct access to a parking lot and close to a busy street.


Here's them starting the work:


View from our back deck of the fence going up. Goodbye busy street and hello privacy.


Closer view of the fence going up:


The Garage
The primed garage we've been working on for months. Still no windows. Sadly, it looks almost identical to what it did before. Only now it is structurally sound. Brick shithouse sound. Ken's ordering new gutters and we have just to paint and install the windows/doors before calling it finished.


[EDIT]: Notice the tomatoes in the picture above. Yes, they are as tall as the garage. Some plants are over 9 feet high. Not a lot of tomatoes due to the cold weather this summer, but still, they are nine feet. Crazy. You can also see them in the picture of the fence from the deck.