Backyard Transformation

By Josh Schmieder, Founder/President of Josh Lawn Care & Landscaping, Inc.

The waterfall is a closed-loop system that takes all of its flow directly from the pool itself. The contractor used a mini excavator to dig and prep the streambed area. After which, they imported natural native rocks to build the waterfall shelves and line the edges of the stream with native natural boulders. The systems use a 5,000-gallon per hour pump, which was plumped right into the pool. This created a closed stream/waterfall system with plenty of flow.

The client of this home was looking for a pool and outdoor entertaining area, and after meeting with the client and the pool contractor, landscape contractor Josh Lawn Care & Landscaping, Inc. developed a plan. The project involved taking an essential naked area of grass on a grade and turning it into a outdoor living extravaganza.

On the client wish list was a swimming pool, a brook and waterfall that runs into the pool, an outdoor fireplace, as well as a patio area to entertain on and steps to transition down the slope into the yard from the driveway and upper deck.

Before the project began, the area was a steep grade covered in lawn. To make the area more traversable, the contractor add two feet of crusher base material to raise the patio's elevation so it would be flush with the pool edge. The patio base was compacted in 3-inch lifts to 98-percent compaction using a Stone plate tamper.

First Things First

The Pool contractor excavated the areas for the pool and ran the necessary plumbing. Once the plumbing was completed, the pool contractor installed the Gunite pool.

Challenges

Josh Lawn Care & Landscaping, Inc. came in for its portion of the project. Rain was a constant struggle on this project and keeping things moving, even though it was always muddy and messy. The landscape contractor started with over all excavation. They installed boulder retaining walls first, and prepped the area for the patio installation. They poured the footer for the fireplace and installed the waterfall.

The pool was built at the base of the hill and one of the challenges the contractor faced was to design a project that dealt with a steep grade. They installed steps and boulder retaining walls to make the transition from a flat patio area up to the top of the hill. The contractor also used the hill to their advantage to create a natural waterfall into the pool. Since the yard also dropped almost two feet from the front side of the pool to the back side of the pool.

The contractor planted all the landscaping by hand, which included black-eyed susan, lavender, hydrangea, perennial Geraniums, Maiden grass, carex grass, Japanese maples, and arborvitae. The contractor stripped any sod that was left and added a 70-30-percent topsoil-to-compost mixture. The contractor then cultivated the beds and planted. Each plant had a small scoop of Plant Tone Fertilizer added around the root ball. This encourages microbial organisms in the soil to grow, helping the plant health. After planting, the contractor dug a deep spade edge along perimeter of the beds; they also added mulch.

The pool beam was approximately 2-feet above grade, so the contractor excavated the area, and fill material was trucked in. Because of the possibilities of settling, the contractor used all crusher run material to back fill and compacted in 3-inch lifts to 98-percent compaction. A mini excavator was used for grading. After compaction, the contractor installed more than 2,000 square feet of Techo Bloc Athena pavers with a 5-man work crew. The patio installation took two weeks, which included: excavation, base prep, laying the pavers, and cutting for the curves. There was no concrete used in the base, however, the bull nose for the pool was mortared directly onto the beam of the pool. Some of the plants shown are Black Eye Susanne, Carex grasses, maiden grass, Japanese maples, Lavender, Hydrangea's and Perennial Geraniums. Irrigation was installed after the plants were installed and before the final mulch was installed around the plants.

Because the pool is a Gunite pool and was a custom design made up of many curves, it took the contractor a week of cutting and mortaring to fit each piece all the way around the total perimeter of the pool.

Dual Jobs Simultaneously

Once those portions were completed, one of the teams started to build the fireplace, while the others started to cut and install the bull nose. The bull nose was a tedious job. Having to cut every piece of bull nose to match the ever-changing curve. Not to mention that each piece was mortared and leveled onto the pool beam. After the long week of installing bull nose and getting the lower portion of the fireplace installed, the team continued to prep crusher base for the patio and started to lay the patio and cut all the curves.

One of the challenges was keeping the water from running under the last fall and out between the liner and the pool. The contractor didn't want to overhang the liner into the pool making it visible, so a concrete pad was poured and pitched toward the pool allowing the contractor to end the rubber liner far enough back from the pool edge so it wouldn't be visible, but also allowing any water that may try to work its way under the last fall to run straight into the pool.

The project area was the majority of the back yard, about 5,000 square feet. The entire project was a nine week project and there were 3-5 team members on this job, depending on what stage of the project was at.

Josh Landscaping used cinder blocks to build the majority of the fireplace. For the curved portion of the chimney, the contractor used a precast molded chimney. They then used natural stone veneer for the fireplace's exterior. Weighing more than 3,000 pounds, the structure was placed on a footer because of the winter frost.

After the patio was installed and cut the fireplace bed prep, lighting and irrigation was finished. The final thing to happen was to grade the yard and plant the lawn. Grading the yard had plenty of challenges, since the pool and patio was almost two feet above grade. Topsoil was hauled in and the lawn area was raised and tapered off so it was a sharp awkward slope. The lawn was then hydro seeded.

Light It Up

To make the nights wonderful, the contractor included Unique Lighting products for the low-voltage system lighting system. They installed the lighting using the hub method, which equally powers every light with the same voltage keeping the lighting color consistent. The system is powered by an 800-Watt transformer located inside the house.