Backyard & Retaining Wall Upgrade - Input welcomed
jmaxwell3333
6 years ago
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Comments (106)Miranda You appear to be making all the right choices in life. I will be a little bit presumptuous by offering some advice on helping you to raise your child in touch with nature in this age full of all the electronic lures that keep the kids indoors. or, when outdoors, glued to a small screen, rather than the glory that surrounds them. I am writing a book about landscape architecture and have a section regarding the importance of embracing nature in the preschool years. - which I would like to forward that section to you. However, my computer skills are limited to email and US Mail. I don't even know how to attach a picture to the text. If you would like to receive this draft from my future book, send me your email or postal address, and I'll get it right off to you. My email is cascio.offsite@gmail.com Good luck with your new challenges and opportunities. Joe Cascio...See MoreCladding non-mortared/drystack retaining wall?
Comments (27)Hi all, Sorry for the slow replies and thanks for the input so far. From what I've read online a re-inforced besser block wall should be about $600 p/sqm including footings in Sydney (Hornsby shire council area). Given the wall is 1m x 10m it should be let's say $7k including design and DA or am I way off? I'd also need to dispose of the current wall + footings but I could probably give the blocks away. The paved area is about 40sqm. Would it be safe to assume $200 p/sqm for concrete base, paver supply (travertine) and install (coping and surrounds)? So the wall and and paving would cost let's say $16k + fencing + cladding. This isn't too bad considering how much better it would look and the value it would add to the house. I like the flexibility the besser would give - render, cladding etc are all options. I'm not sure how bad it is structurally it just has a couple of spots where I can see the blocks have pulled apart over time. Below are some pictures of the bad spots. Also looking at the Amber website it says the maximum courses is maximum non reinforced wall height of 972mm (6 courses). It looks like my wall is actually 7 courses un-reinforced. The wall and pool was built back in 2003. I definitely think planting in front of the wall would help, as would removing the lights but I'm in two minds about whether to bite the bullet and do it properly or just hide it....See MoreRenovated house need landscaping street appeal! Go!
Comments (4)Down the side of the house with the strip driveway you could do a few things. Between the concrete strips and the houses -Improve soil and re turf - make sure you have the right amount of light, soil and grass for it to stay nice and well growing -Improve the soil and plant some low lying ground cover - a little more maintenance but a nice feature -Pebbles - a little more expensive but the pebbles are neat, fast and a good security measure as you can hear people walking up the side of the house -Mulch - just make sure it is bug free and your termite inspections keep up to date -Pave or brick between the concrete - be sure they add to your current colour scheme. I wouldn’t suggest the red brick shown in the picture for your house. -Otherwise you could tear it all up and put a full width concrete driveway - not as cheep but tidy and no maintenance. I hope that helps with some ideas as I procrastinate about my own garden design ideas...See MoreAdvice on Outdoor Area & How to Complete our Backyard
Comments (0)Need assistance with doing our back yard and outdoor area! GARDEN We have top soil down in our garden beds ready for plants but are undecided about what to put in! We love contemporary style gardens, just not sure what's possible with such a narrow garden bed (approx. 400mm). We don't want to block the view from the kitchen / dining area by having plants any higher than the fence (approx. 1.9m-2m) but would like something a little higher along the 12m stretch as this will give the neighbors behind more privacy too. Other plants we have at the front of the house include Luma Apiculata, Magnolias, English box hedges and also some small (so far!) evergreen pines. We love the pleached look with hedging underneath but aren't sure if this is suitable for our area? We live in north-west Tasmania in a pretty mild climate (around 22 degrees average in Summer, 12 degrees average in Winter) but also are on the top of a hill so get quite a lot of wind. Link to the ideabook we created for gardens here: https://www.houzz.com.au/ideabooks/145464328/list/gardens The green straight lines indicate where we have English box hedges planted already, the 7700mm and 9000mm lengths are where we don't want anything too much higher than the fence, and the 12000mm length we would like something a bit taller if the small garden bed allows. OUTDOOR AREA Current under cover area for our outdoor eating area is 6200mm x 3800mm. We have sliding doors between our dining and outdoor areas, and bifold opening doors between our dining and outdoor areas. We would like to extend the roof (somehow?!) so that it goes to where the retaining wall starts, then follows along parallel to the dining room. There are 3 large windows from the dining room looking to outside currently, which we don't want to lose all the natural light if possible so were considering a louvered roof? Or some kind of glass? Just not sure how to join it up with the existing roof sections of the house at the same time as making it flow. We wanted a fireplace with a double wood box directly opposite the sliding doors from the dining / lounge area (central to the current outdoor area), with a built in BBQ area somewhere to the right? There must be some kind of way to close this new section in if need be as it can get very cold and windy especially in winter. There are also some air-conditioning units that we don't want to move... Idea book as follows: https://www.houzz.com.au/ideabooks/142049645/list/outdoor-area Existing clothesline space will definitely be moved. Any ideas would be most welcome!!...See Morejmaxwell3333
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