Layne's Blog: Backyard revamp

Ever since I moved in last year to my new home, I knew I wanted to redo my backyard to make it more usable. The weed and moss ridden grass was just too much maintenance, and I didn't spend any time out there. I envisioned a backyard oasis with a fire pit, hot tub, movie screen, and of course a wood fired pizza oven. Once I scaled down to something more reasonable, I called a few services I found listed on Angie's List and got started.

First, I needed to remove the 3-story-tall plum tree in the corner that took up space and light as well as dropped icky over-ripened fruit everywhere. Ballard Tree Service came and had it out of there in 20 minutes flat. They even ground the stump and cleared everything out as if nothing had been there to start with. I was impressed.

before and after of tree removal

before and after view from the balcony

Next, I had Hansen's Concrete come take care of putting in a cement patio. They had given me an estimate over the phone after I had sent them pictures of my yard and driveway. The estimate was not only the cheapest, but there were tons of great photos of their work on the website, so that was comforting to see. Steve and his crew arrived on a Wednesday morning, and in no time they had removed the existing slab of concrete patio and all the sod. They then laid out rebar and put up the molds for the concrete to be poured the next day, and were done by lunch time.

The next morning they were back, and this time with a cement truck. They backed it in as far as they could down my driveway (sorry neighbors) and got straight to work by wheel barreling loads of cement to the backyard.

cement truck coming through

me "supervising" by taking pictures of shirtless men

I had to leave for work this day, so I left the concrete pouring to the professionals. I came home that evening to a beautifully poured and stamped concrete patio! The last step was to paint on a coat of sealer. Steve came back the third day once the concrete was dry to finish that as well as remove the molds. I absolutely love how it turned out, and now can't wait to get it furnished and start entertaining!