The big strtdv back garden landscaping project (pic heavy)

strtdv

I've taken a few photos as I've gone along (though not really any "before" shots), so thought I'd do a build thread of sorts.

Basically, our house has an extremely steep back garden which the previous owners had built tiered decking on. Unfortunately due to some design flaws it hadn't lasted well, it was in a bad state of repair, and some of it was frankly dangerous.
As well as that, a large part of the garden was very overgrown with 20' laurel hedging, and other overgrown trees, and was really too steep to do anything with.

I came to the realisation that when the time came to sell the house, I'd really need to at least replace the decking, so figured I may as well do it now and enjoy it for the next few years too.
Initially I had wanted to get a landscape gardener to do it, but the quotes we got were in the £15-20k+ region, so I decided to do it myself, and saved ~£15k in the process

I should add a couple of caveats for anyone considering doing something similar: firstly, the decking I put in was replacing an existing structure so planning wasn't an issue (and i get on well with our neighbours and made sure they didn't mind out of courtesy before starting anything). Secondly, my father in law worked as a builder/tradesman and built their house from the ground up so I had access to expert advice if I got stuck (as well as having access to a good chop saw which made life a lot easier).

I started the project in May, and have been doing it in evenings and weekends on and off since then as time allows.

strtdv

I started off by removing the trees that lined both sides of our garden:

https://i.imgur.com/OJxLSpq.jpg

The trunk at the front of the pic is what was left of one of the laurels, there were about 6 large trailer loads of it removed (the pile below is about 20% of it)

https://i.imgur.com/uxvGPPa.jpg

And a view from the bottom showing how much old rotten decking there was to be removed and the overgrown trees at the back left

https://i.imgur.com/EKJhccy.jpg

strtdv

Once the trees were cleared out the next step was to get some timber to build a fence on either side of the boundary to replace a broken old 2 rail fence (thank goodness I have an estate car):

https://i.imgur.com/Yxw8lHm.jpg

Which after a couple more trips ended up looking like this:

https://i.imgur.com/mTgZWRS.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/XdSND07.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/Qaw7lqV.jpg

strtdv

I then cleaned up the paved area at the top and put a bench up there so we could enjoy the sun in the evenings (now that the trees had been removed or cut back)

https://i.imgur.com/xpQaW5g.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/0SmSlMv.jpg

Then there was a couple of weeks break with work and then holidays

strtdv

Once back from that, I started work on the area around the largest bit of decking.
It was a steep slope, and I'd always thought a BBQ area with paving would be nice.

First I had to build a retaining section to build up the ground level (it's about 3 1/2 feet built up):

https://i.imgur.com/nzrzZXy.jpg

Then excavate out the hill by hand:

https://i.imgur.com/YMxpWBl.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/y48JmuN.jpg

Doug

Excellent job so far!, when are you available to sort mine?

strtdv

At the other side of the large deck area was more steep slope that needed levelled/excavated.
I've used a mortarless retaining block system for the retaining walls, which has the advantage of being very easy and quick to put up, and the disadvantage of being more expensive than a conventional bricks/mortar wall:

https://i.imgur.com/UWsEgmX.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/XvPBURO.jpg

strtdv

Here you can see how I've addressed one of the big issues with the previous deck:
the soil was in direct contact with the timbers and made them rot. To solve this I've put posts in concrete with boards along them to keep the soil back. This also serves to ensure the edge of the paving will be pretty near level with the edge of the decking.

https://i.imgur.com/VkYnPvn.jpg

ESBlonde

Nice job. Always satisfying to look back on,   and you get a free workout to save onthe gym membership.

strtdv

With the ground level and compacted (I used a punner rather than a plate compacter), I got some paving slabs to put down, along with a ton (literally, I had to carry it up in buckets), of graded sub-base.

The slabs are stone of some sort (they're napped rather than cut), they're sold as black limestone although I'm not sure I believe that.

Here's one unfinished:

https://i.imgur.com/Jn7p9mS.jpg

I had to resist the temptation to put them down in perfectly even rows, and forced myself to do something more artistic.

Here they are after a hard morning's work, with the first couple of rows of retaining blocks down:

https://i.imgur.com/WAzbP3a.jpg

And here it is with some sealant on it, which is pretty much the colour they are now:

https://i.imgur.com/eAAIDkx.jpg

strtdv

The first pallet of retaining blocks arrived with the sub-base and paving slabs, so I got to work on building the next level/tiered section.

Firstly supporting the ground to prevent any slippage:

https://i.imgur.com/3qGjpYL.jpg

Followed by building up a few rows of the blocks:

https://i.imgur.com/0B8L3XI.jpg

The beauty of these is that you can do curves in them very easily, and they also split fairly cleanly with a bolster and heavy hammer for doing even ends:

https://i.imgur.com/DHv6Xeh.jpg

strtdv

With all the blocks used up for the time being, and the decking boards having arrived, it was time to start replacing the decking.

I tore up the old decking and removed any joists that were rotten. The area at the very top is sheltered under some trees so doesn't really get wet, so the stair stringers were in surprisingly good condition, so they were kept.

As you can see, I'm using a damp course between the joists and the boards to prevent rot being such a problem. It's designed in such a way that the water tends to run off and the joists stay dry.

https://i.imgur.com/m570Cj1.jpg



And after getting the boards down:

https://i.imgur.com/EVW0rTa.jpg

I'm using 4' eased edge posts for the handrail supports, attached with 100mm timber screws which despite holding very strongly are self drilling and don't split the wood.

strtdv

The next phase was to replace the largest bit of decking (~4.8mx4m), which was delayed by the fact that when I removed the decking boards, I discovered the joists were much more rotten than I thought at first, so had to replace all of them.

I special ordered the joists. Standard ones are 2"x6" and would be roughly comparable to C16 timber although they're not as finely sawn/finished. I wanted something stronger as about 1.8m of the decking in one corner is cantilevered, so was able to get 2"x8" C24 graded timber that had been pressure treated. This took a couple of weeks to get hold of, but was definitely worth it.

Here's the joists (before I fully braced them) with some boards just sitting on top to work out spacing and squareness:

https://i.imgur.com/1NXGbpJ.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/p2k1e0j.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/NAV1toN.jpg

strtdv

And once fully braced the boards could go down:

https://i.imgur.com/adZfeoD.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/xbL0DzP.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/zVPKBd0.jpg

strtdv

At this stage I made a discovery about the flower bed in the back garden:


https://i.imgur.com/Y9ERi63.jpg

That's a pond liner!

I'd always wondered why that bed had been so damp, it looks like the previous owner had a pond and then filled it in at some stage with soil without ever removing the liner.

Needless to say I cut out a large portion  of the liner and the drainage is much better now.

meltedbuzzbox

Looking great fella.
You've made me feel inspired to get my patio finished

strtdv

Thanks! There were definitely times I thought I'd taken on too much, but psychologically getting the biggest of the deck areas done was a big boost.

strtdv

Back to more deck building, firstly the joists (again with a separate structure to keep soil back);

https://i.imgur.com/b8nELsl.jpg

I'm using 400mm centre to centre spacing on all of this BTW

Next the boards:

https://i.imgur.com/71Zy1pl.jpg


And finally making steps to get between levels.
For these short runs I'm using 2x10 pressure treated boards. This gives much higher strength than the other options which are basically using 8x10 and having much narrower support sections, or nailing angled risers onto a beam, which in my experience doesn't hold well in the long term.

For every cut, I treat the end grain with preserver (although you can see that the tanalising process has let it soak right through to the centre).

I used the mitre feature on the chop saw to get even cuts, and finished some of the longer cuts with a hand saw.

https://i.imgur.com/zFn5fId.jpg

And with the stairs in place;

https://i.imgur.com/zszOJmq.jpg

strtdv

I had a few frustrating days, with timber and blocks not being delivered when they were meant to be, but eventually made progress.

While I was waiting for the deliveries, I thought about what to do with the left hand side of the garden.

It was steep, but needed to be accessible and low maintenance.

In the end I put in pebbles under mesh to retain them on the slope, and cut in some steps which were then faced with left over joist timber.

Eventually I made some more progress on the decking (also showing a couple of the steps and the pebbles under wire:

https://i.imgur.com/tIhwVG4.jpg


The next job was the short stair section between the deck levels.
You can see they run off in different directions, so had to build the stairs to run from a tilt to the right at the bottom to a tilt to the left at the top.

https://i.imgur.com/jjycbzr.jpg


Which worked pretty well in the end:

https://i.imgur.com/A7XKZnC.jpg

strtdv

The decking is now finished:

https://i.imgur.com/YzTDeWn.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/SFhh4ka.jpg

strtdv

The next load of retaining wall blocks arrived, along with the slate chippings, so I got to building the retaining wall for the BBQ area next to the deck:

https://i.imgur.com/Bhcoued.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/OHbFWf1.jpg

Which again due to the speedy nature of these mortarless blocks only took an afternoon.