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JohnnyD · 04-02-2013, 10:09 AM

First, I'll apologize up front. We just bought our first house in December and now that the last bits of snow are gone, I'm finally able to work in the yard. With that in mind, I'll be posting in DIY a lot.

So, the house is 30 years old and the guy who owned it before us was there for 28 years and apparently a master carpenter. With that in mind, I've already seen 100 things that make me go "seriously? He builds houses for a living?"

The yard needs *a lot* of work. He ripped out all the landscaping "to update things" and then never did anything except leave tons of stumps, cut holly bushes too aggressively that they need to be dug up. He put in a sprinkler system (which I appreciate) but with no plot plan of the lines or zones. To top it off, he used poorly treated 6"x6" wood as retaining walls for flower beds that go right up to the house and surround the deck footings and throughout the property.

Exploring the yard, I've found random termite bait stations and that got me to look more at the retaining walls. I'd say 75% have at least some rot and historical termite damage.

With all that in mind, manicuring the yard, planting trees and actually putting in some flowers/bushes has now taken a backseat to getting all of that rotten, termite-friendly wood out and replaced with paver stones.

Any advice on sources, styles, install best-practices, etc?

Thanks in advance.

04-02-2013, 10:09 AM	#1
JohnnyD Registered User iTrader: (0) Join Date: May 2008 Location: Mansfield, MA Posts: 5,238	Paver Stones First, I'll apologize up front. We just bought our first house in December and now that the last bits of snow are gone, I'm finally able to work in the yard. With that in mind, I'll be posting in DIY a lot. So, the house is 30 years old and the guy who owned it before us was there for 28 years and apparently a master carpenter. With that in mind, I've already seen 100 things that make me go "seriously? He builds houses for a living?" The yard needs a lot of work. He ripped out all the landscaping "to update things" and then never did anything except leave tons of stumps, cut holly bushes too aggressively that they need to be dug up. He put in a sprinkler system (which I appreciate) but with no plot plan of the lines or zones. To top it off, he used poorly treated 6"x6" wood as retaining walls for flower beds that go right up to the house and surround the deck footings and throughout the property. Exploring the yard, I've found random termite bait stations and that got me to look more at the retaining walls. I'd say 75% have at least some rot and historical termite damage. With all that in mind, manicuring the yard, planting trees and actually putting in some flowers/bushes has now taken a backseat to getting all of that rotten, termite-friendly wood out and replaced with paver stones. Any advice on sources, styles, install best-practices, etc? Thanks in advance.