Landscape Architect Articles

Yes, In My Backyard03-01-16 | Feature

Yes, In My Backyard
By Matilyn Ozment, Redi-Rock International

When the owner of an excavation company set out to enhance the backyard of his own home near Spokane, Wash., he received unexpected help from a passerby – a sales representative from the local Redi-Rock manufacturer, Wilbert Precast, who helped create a design that would tame the 8' grade change with a terrace of retaining and freestanding walls, paved surfaces, a cascading water feature, fire pit and pool.

Mark Hattenburg wanted to add a terrace and pool to the backyard of his home near Spokane, Washington, but he had no design plan and wasn't quite sure where to begin. He knew he would need to do something about the eight-foot grade change of the property and he really wanted something that would look good.

While driving down Little Spokane Drive one day, Rick Lindberg from local Redi-Rock manufacturer, Wilbert Precast noticed an excavator in the field behind Hattenburg's house. Curious about the project and knowing it would require a retaining wall, he spoke to the crew who told him that Hattenburg, who Lindberg knew from previous professional dealings, was going to build the wall.

"I called (him) up and he said he knew he needed a wall but he just didn't know what he was going to do," says Lindberg. With a background in the landscape industry, he offered to help Hattenburg out by designing the backyard upgrade, which incorporated Lindberg's products.

"It was a fairly technical wall project with a lot of ninety degree turns and a lot of step downs," Lindberg relates.

Since Hattenburg owns his own construction company, Hattenburg Excavation, and had installed walls using those products in the past, he knew it would be a good fit on this project too.

It is a precast, large block retaining wall system, engineered to harness the power of gravity to build tall retaining walls. The blocks stack together like giant Legos to install quickly, without the need for additional reinforcement in many applications.

The Hattenburgs were happy with the design, which included gravity retaining and freestanding walls, plus coordinating columns, steps, and caps, all in the cobblestone texture.

Because of his professional experience with the product, Hattenburg installed the walls himself explaining, "It was pretty straight forward, we didn't really have a whole lot of challenges once we got the plans set."

All stairways were poured in place with step lights set into some of the risers. Two-sided blocks were used for the corners of the columns.

Over 500 blocks were used to complete the beautiful yard and pool area with walls that went up to 10 feet high at the tallest point. The wall system ended up totaling 2,533 square feet.

A waterfall feature was incorporated into the design to act as a cover for the utilities and septic for the pool. It was built by lining the course with a layer of sand, followed by a rubber liner, and topped with concrete. With the help of an excavator, slate boulders were installed around it. Smaller pieces of slate were then added. The water is circulated from the pool's return line.

Patios and walkways were installed with pavers. Steps made of poured-in-place concrete navigate the grade change and have step lights set in their risers. The pool coping is concrete with tooled-in-place joints. The pool deck is also concrete. A natural rock fire pit is flanked on two sides by rock benches made from slabs of granite.

Hattenburg and his family are very pleased with how their backyard turned out. "They all like it...we're always in the backyard in the pool," he said. In fact, they are now using the product for more property updates.

"We're working on designing his entry now. Every time he sees me he buys more blocks," said Lindberg.

The home has become a great showpiece for the manufacturer, and the people agree, which is why this project is the recipient of the 2015 "People's Choice" Rocky Award, an annual honor recognizing the best of the projects completed each year across the globe using the manufacturer's products.