Rockscaping Project

So you may recall from a previous blog entry that I have this one side of the house that has a big weed problem, and not the fun kind of weeds.  The weeds on this side of the house grow fiercely, especially during the monsoon season.  At least once a year they'd get so tall that I'd get a letter from the homeowners association and have to hire landscapers to come out and clean it all up.

While hiring landscapers is the easy way out, it adds up in costs over time.  Plus it does look pretty yucky out there when all the weeds are fully grown.  So for a while, I've been thinking about laying some tarp down and covering the area up, to help with the weed prevention.  After the section was free of weeds, I laid down the same tarp that I've used in my backyard, which for years has worked very effectively.  I also made sure to do this project during the winter time so that it wouldn't be too hot outside.

Took me about 4 hours across two days to shovel up gravel and lay the tarp down.  After that, it was time to order me some rock and I had my eye on the "rip-rap" type.  I went to two locations in town: Acme Sand & Gravel and D & D Materials.  I started with Acme and they quoted me at needing 6 tons to cover the 220 square feet I wanted to cover.  At about $40 a ton and $60 for delivery, that would've easily run me over $300.  I then went to D & D and they quoted me at 3.5 tons for the same type of rock.  They also let me buy a bag of rock (about 40lbs worth) for $2.50, so I took that home to lay on the yard so I could get a better estimate of how much I actually needed.  In the end, I decided I only needed to order 2.5 tons of their 3-6" Coronado Brown.  At $40 a ton, this ran me about $100 + $60 for delivery.  Not bad.

The rock was delivered on Friday and was a daunting pile to say the least.  I had inquired how much my landscapers wanted to do the job, but they quoted me at $450. :(  That seemed like a lot, so I decided to move it myself and just ask one of my friends to help out.  On Friday, I took a half-day off to start moving the pile with Anthony coming on Saturday to help me finish the rest.  It was challenging on my own since I didn't have a wheelbarrow.  Instead, I used a bin on a dolly to move the rock back and forth from the street to my yard.  Over 3.5 hours, I was able to move a 3rd of the pile.  *phew*  Exhausting work!

On Saturday morning, my legs and back were already sore from moving rock the previous day and there was still a lot left to move.  Anthony arrived at noon and fortunately brought a wheelbarrow with him, although the tire was flat.  We overcame the flat tire and used it anyway, alternating between the barrow and the bin.  Anthony had some experience moving rock and the barrow sped up the process.  After just 2 hours we had moved almost all of the rock over!  After we had covered the entire section of the yard, I still had rock left over that I had to remove from the street and sprinkle over the area.  After about another hour of solo work, I was finally finished.  Exhausting work and in hindsight, probably should've ordered just 2 tons at most (who knows, maybe they even gave me 3 tons).  Regardless, the project is done!

We'll have to see how it holds up, but hopefully it'll be just as effective as the area in the backyard.