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Front landscaping with deck and crazy paving

When we bought our house, we knew that we wanted to redo the front landscaping. I ripped out the sinking retainer wall, hired a kanga and excavated the complete yard. Extended the front deck, concreted footings for my new retainer wall, installed drainage, crazy paving, built a new solid retainer wall with some neat curves, and began planting away. I installed a sprinkler and drip system for the whole yard, and it has created a nice haven for us that we enjoy everyday 🙂

I did need to get a friend in to install the large boulders with his excavator, no chance on me lifting those!

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Comments

MitchellMc

What a fantastic transformation, @Jimi. I love your combination of timber, crazy paving and stacked stone retaining wall.

Did you point all the crazy paving yourself? That would have been a bit of a job. Did you have much trouble keeping the mortar off the face of the slate? We have a discussion at the moment about re-pointing a large area and whether you need to point each gap individually. Perhaps you might have some input.

Does the Kanga require any special licensing? It certainly looks like it made your life easier.

Many thanks for sharing, as I trust your make-over will prove to be very popular with our members.

Mitchell

Jimi

https://www.workshop.bunnings.com.au/discussion/comment/16908#Comment_16908

Thanks Mitchell. Yes I did do the crazy paving myself.

It wasn't too much trouble keeping the mortar off the face of the slate, when I laid the pavers I tried to keep everything as clean as possible, a clean bucket of water and sponge was always handy. When I applied grout, I used a dry mix and swept it in followed by a mist spray of the hose every few minutes. The whole time I tried to keep everything as clean as possible to limit the attempts to clean afterwards. I then used a particular acid to remove any excess grout on the tiles. Previously I had done the same paving in the backyard but about 50m2, I relied heavily on the acid doing its job but it also removed a bit of the grout itself. I found the deeper/cleaner the lines to grout were, the easier it was to apply and the less likely it was for the grout to break away in time.

The kanga doesnt need any licence, in 1 hour you'll become an expert and above all, its incredibly fun and satisfying.

Noyade

https://www.workshop.bunnings.com.au/discussion/comment/71044#Comment_71044

Yes, incredible transformation! 🙂

JonBee

great job - what is the name and manufacturer of the "stacked stone" retaining wall product you used? they look like they are blocks? thanks

MitchellMc

https://www.workshop.bunnings.com.au/discussion/comment/17411#Comment_17411

Welcome to the Bunnings Workshop community @JonBee. It's incredible to have you join us, and many thanks for your question about this fabulous project.

Let me mention @Jimi, so they are alerted to your question. Hopefully, they'll be able to get back to us shortly. In the meantime, you might like to check out our Adbri Masonry 300 x 160 x 100mm Sandstone Natural Impressions or the Decor8 stacked stone options.

We'd be keen to hear all about your project, so feel free to start a discussion if you need advice or would like to share it with us.

Mitchell

JonBee

https://www.workshop.bunnings.com.au/discussion/comment/71322#Comment_71322

Thank you for your response Mitchell.

Jimi

https://www.workshop.bunnings.com.au/discussion/comment/71322#Comment_71322

Hi @JonBee ,

Thats correct what @MitchellMc has listed as the stones I had used - Adbri Natural Impressions. They are a fantastic block and easy to work with as long as the concrete footings are level and solid. If creating curves like I had done, you can just chip away (hammer/chisel) the lip underneath the block to allow for the curving. As extra reinforcing on all curves and the capping, I used Landscape Liquid Nails.

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