Any landscapers on CP or know of anyone good?

[gildo]

Looking for a pretty simple job to be done I am buying 4 (15 gallon Swedish Aspen's and need to put in my backyard)...I would do it myself but haven't hd much luck with trees in the past staying alive after I put them in! Would rather have a professional (or someone with a green thumb) do it....hopfully for a good price. I would pick the trees up and have them at my place so all I need done is for someone to come over and put them in for me. Thanks in advance for any tips.

[CMPunk]

Fata

http://forum.calgarypuck.com/showthread.php?t=109042

[gildo]

Sorry not sure why it posted twice....my apologies.

[MrSector9]

give this guy a call for a quote on the work, tell him bj gave you his number

Matt Stymeist
Elite Landscape
403-606-0697

[ken0042]

Trees are easy. Just dig a huge hole; at least double the size of the root ball or an extra 2 feet on each side of the ball and below. (Whichever of those two is bigger.)

Then replace the clay you removed with good soil; I mix loam, a bit of fertilizer and peat moss. Add the tree, apply Myke's around the roots, and fill in the rest of the soil. You want the soil to be a good 6 inches above the roots. Don't get "greedy" with tree height- a healthy tree will grow fast enough.

[MaDMaN_26]

I know one that sucks... wanna see my gravel rock area that has a lawn I can't mow growing in it...

[Rathji]

Originally Posted by MaDMaN_26

I know one that sucks... wanna see my gravel rock area that has a lawn I can't mow growing in it...

Very typical. Filter cloth is a common area for a smaller company to skimp on, since it will work for a year or so, but quickly break apart. Just apply Round Up liberally a few times a year and it wont be so bad.

As for the OP, planting trees is simple. Ken pretty much has it right but I wouldn't bother with peat moss since it doesn't compact as well, which can lead to the tree tipping. fill with loam a couple inches above the root ball at most - any lower and you risk drowning the tree, you should double check with the place you bought the tree from though, they can verify for you. Once it is firmly in you can either cut back the wiring and burlap right away or just bend it back at first, and wait for a while to do a final cut - since trees are easier to straighten with the root basket intact.

[return to the red]

Just to add, try to get trees that are grown locally, or in the same climate that you are planting in.

There is a reason that you can drive past the dumpsters at Canadian Tire every year and find a lot of dead cedars in there.

[Rathji]

Originally Posted by return to the red

Just to add, try to get trees that are grown locally, or in the same climate that you are planting in.

There is a reason that you can drive past the dumpsters at Canadian Tire every year and find a lot of dead cedars in there.

Yeah, cedars will only grow in an extremely sheltered area in Calgary, so if you are not planting it some place like that, you are better off getting an actual juniper or spruce variety for a similar look.

[return to the red]

Originally Posted by Rathji

Yeah, cedars will only grow in an extremely sheltered area in Calgary, so if you are not planting it some place like that, you are better off getting an actual juniper or spruce variety for a similar look.

Not only that but the Cedars from Canadian Tire are grown in the interior of BC in pots from seedlings. They are not suited for Southern Alberta winters. The same could be said about some other nursery stock.

[Brotato]

*bump*

I am looking to have a decorative raised retaining wall/planter done along my back yard, so I can add some elevation to my flat, square yard. I have never done much landscaping myself, so I thought I might hire someone. Any recommendations? Looking to do about 20" inch or so high, and maybe 45-50 feet long by 4-5 feet wide.

I have a gutter running along the back of my property against the fence, so I want it to come up to the gutter, so it hides it... Basically a raised brick/rock planter the length of my yard!

Any suggestions on affordable places that do a good job on stuff like this, or alternatively some good reading on how I may do this myself? But without a truck or wheelbarrow and very little for landscaping tools, I am thinking the cost of getting the stuff to do it myself will make hiring someone look more appealing

[bc-chris]

hey brotato

what you want to do doesn't sound to complicated

when we built our place, we did two 4' steps at the back of our property. (my dad and i did all the work)

i wanted to make sure my wall was deadly straight and wouldn't settle, so we did a small footing to put the retaining wall blocks on... it made doing the wall soooooooooooooo much easier - no messing around with trying to level the blocks as we went as the footing was level.









i'd make sure you have really good drainage if you have a gutter running along where you want to put the wall. our neighbours didn't do great drainage for their retaining wall and it has bowed out a ton. i'm actually surprised that it hasn't collapsed.

i can't really help you with finding someone, as i'm in kelowna, but like i said above - it isn't that difficult of a job and you can save yourself some $$ if you do it yourself


....here's the final product:

[Rathji]

Originally Posted by Brotato

*bump*

I am looking to have a decorative raised retaining wall/planter done along my back yard, so I can add some elevation to my flat, square yard. I have never done much landscaping myself, so I thought I might hire someone. Any recommendations? Looking to do about 20" inch or so high, and maybe 45-50 feet long by 4-5 feet wide.

I have a gutter running along the back of my property against the fence, so I want it to come up to the gutter, so it hides it... Basically a raised brick/rock planter the length of my yard!

Any suggestions on affordable places that do a good job on stuff like this, or alternatively some good reading on how I may do this myself? But without a truck or wheelbarrow and very little for landscaping tools, I am thinking the cost of getting the stuff to do it myself will make hiring someone look more appealing

I highly doubt this part. If you are willing to do the work, you don't need much as far as owned equipment to do a job. Most of the equipment is cheap, and the stuff that isn't can be rented for a pretty reasonable rate.

Now, as for your project. Make 100% sure there are no restrictions building right up to your gutter in the back. When I ran a landscaping company, one of the most common quotes I did was to fix something that was done without regard for easements. Your RPR should show you anything that would apply.

You want 20" high to be the height of the wall, the max height of the mounded soil, or the height of the plants that you plant there?

All my work (that didn't suck) was done using Allen Block material. I found they were the easiest for working with and getting the curve that looked good. For something like this I would suggest the Allen Block Jumbo Junior since it is a bit smaller and can curve nicely and not too heavy to work with.

Install is reasonably simple but needs to be done right. You can get documentation online or at your product provider about how to do the install. Tools you would need aside from a standard wheelbarrow and shovels are a plate tamper and a masonry/concrete saw.

If 20" of retaining wall is your goal, you are looking at 100-110 feet of 3 concourses of blocks. I whipped up a estimate of materials using the calculator located here and got

Design Parameters
Wall Number: 1
Conditions Above Wall: Level
Wall Height: 1.9 ft *Including Buried Block
Wall Height: 3 Courses
Block: AB Jumbo Junior
Wall Length: 100 ft
Wall Area: 188.6 ft^2 *Including Buried Block


Material Estimate
AB Jumbo Junior 411
AB Garden Accent Cap 172 Caps
Base Rock 3.7 yd^3
Wall Rock 9.8 yd^3
Drain Pipe 100 ft
Cap Adhesive 2 Tubes


Wall rock and Base rock you can use 3/4" road crush. At 14 yards, is 2 full loads worth of delivery cost. Allen Block would be about $100-200 extra for delivery.

I won't include prices for materials, since I have been out of the business for quite a few years and they would be wrong. Look at Home Depot (or Lowes Rona etc) websites for a quick idea though. My advice though is finding someone (a contractor) who can buy from Exprocrete or CCI industries directly, because the rate will be quite a bit better than you would get at some place like Home Depot. if you can't find someone like that, check out Ornamental Garden Supplies (behind Deerfoot Mall) as they might give you a better rate than a big box store.

[Bean]

Not to derail but I can only suggest to not use Kevin G. of Creative Stoneworks. Send me a PM if you want details.

BC-Chris . Nice job!!

[return to the red]

Originally Posted by bc-chris

hey brotato

what you want to do doesn't sound to complicated

when we built our place, we did two 4' steps at the back of our property. (my dad and i did all the work)

i wanted to make sure my wall was deadly straight and wouldn't settle, so we did a small footing to put the retaining wall blocks on... it made doing the wall soooooooooooooo much easier - no messing around with trying to level the blocks as we went as the footing was level.









i'd make sure you have really good drainage if you have a gutter running along where you want to put the wall. our neighbours didn't do great drainage for their retaining wall and it has bowed out a ton. i'm actually surprised that it hasn't collapsed.

i can't really help you with finding someone, as i'm in kelowna, but like i said above - it isn't that difficult of a job and you can save yourself some $$ if you do it yourself


....here's the final product:

shiat dude! you did all the yourself? That's pretty damn impressive, are you landscaper by trade?

[Brotato]

Thanks for all the replies everyone!

I might try doing it myself. I could rent the Home Depot pickup if I buy the Allen Blocks from there, so that might work, just need to scrounge up a wheel barrow from a neighbour!


So for laying the allen blocks:

I am not actually making a retaining wall so to speak, but more a 20" high (from ground level to top of bricks) raised planter / giant-ass shrub container. Do I need to do a layer down in the ground first? I imagine so, as a decent amount of earth will be contained inside the planter.

Rathji: That's a great point about easements, I will look into that before I do anything.

[Rathji]

Originally Posted by Brotato

Thanks for all the replies everyone!

I might try doing it myself. I could rent the Home Depot pickup if I buy the Allen Blocks from there, so that might work, just need to scrounge up a wheel barrow from a neighbour!


So for laying the allen blocks:

I am not actually making a retaining wall so to speak, but more a 20" high (from ground level to top of bricks) raised planter / giant-ass shrub container. Do I need to do a layer down in the ground first? I imagine so, as a decent amount of earth will be contained inside the planter.

Rathji: That's a great point about easements, I will look into that before I do anything.

Just to clarify, you wont be hauling 450 Allen blocks + cap stones in a pickup truck. That is at least 3 pallets of blocks and 1 pallet of capstones. It will be delivered. Same thing with your soil, gravel etc. You are talking about having a couple dump trucks full of material dropped off. It would take forever with a pickup truck. The only reason a pickup would be useful would be to haul away some scraps.

And you are building a retaining wall and should follow the spec accordingly. You need to pretty much need to dig your trench, lay and pack your gravel, and lay your first level, install proper drainage, fill with gravel and then put your your soil in the middle and drainage material right up against the stones. Repeat this for each layer and then cut the capstones. If you don't do any curves, the capstones are simple to cut (a miter or even just a straight cut at the end of each section).

[ken0042]

Originally Posted by Brotato

just need to scrounge up a wheel barrow from a neighbour!

My recommendation- don't borrow one. Buy one; a good one.

What is the budget for this project? If your budget cannot handle an extra $200 for a nessecary tool, that you need to re-examine the project. Also what you are proposing will be hard on a wheelbarrow; so you won't be returning the wheelbarrow in the same condition you got it in. Or even worse; your neighbour has a basic wheelbarrow that won't be up to the job. So you will be buying him a new one, and then one for yourself that can handle the job.

[return to the red]

Originally Posted by Brotato

Thanks for all the replies everyone!

I might try doing it myself. I could rent the Home Depot pickup if I buy the Allen Blocks from there, so that might work, just need to scrounge up a wheel barrow from a neighbour!


So for laying the allen blocks:

I am not actually making a retaining wall so to speak, but more a 20" high (from ground level to top of bricks) raised planter / giant-ass shrub container. Do I need to do a layer down in the ground first? I imagine so, as a decent amount of earth will be contained inside the planter.

Rathji: That's a great point about easements, I will look into that before I do anything.

Well you don't have a ton of weight in behind it or on top. I built about a 30" x 18' planter out of allen blocks in the front of my place and excavated a trench about 2 inches larger on either side of the width of the blocks. I used some base rock that I picked up from totem. It's wet out of the bag so it compacts nicely just be sure to tamp it, Did about 4-6 inches of it but I live in Lethbridge and our soil here is clay so it's a pretty solid base in itself. It's been 2 years now and haven't noticed any sagging.

Here's a tip though that one of my landscapers gave me that not many people think about. After you are positive that you have everything the way you like it take some PL400 and put it underneath the caps. It is pretty annoying going out and seeing your caps all out of wack because the kids or animals have been walking across the top.

[Brotato]

Thanks guys,

So one question. When I am doing this, it talks about wall rock going behind is a few inches and inside it. Is that just a highly compressable crushed stone then? So I add a few inches of that, then a few inches of for right up against the AB? Then dirty behind that?