I've documented some of the landscaping challenges we've been working on the past 2 years.

We totally closed off the entire dog yard for all of last summer to let the new grass get a head start.

Tank was not happy, but worked out OK.

Last summer:

This summer:

A-Jay

I'm about to embark on my annual deck staining exercise. Have to replace another board too.

Will post photos before and after.

Phase 1 (yesterday): remove old board, replace, and power wash the deck

Phase 2 (early this morning): re-stain all horizontal boards

Phase 3 (after the stain): dry time

I started the staining around 7am this morning and finished around 9am before it got too hot. Most of the deck was also in the shade so I wasn't out there in the blazing hot sun.

I will embark upon this soon as well, although I may wait for the fall…

2 hours ago, VolFan said:

I will embark upon this soon as well, although I may wait for the fall…

I have to say, it's a pain in the rear. I can see why people go with composite decking. At some point I'll probably replace all the horizontal boards. For now though, most of them are still in good shape.

I needed a few days of dry weather that coincided with my own work schedule, otherwise I wouldn't have done it when it was so warm out.

I 100% understand- I did it two years ago in 98 degree temps. I thought I’d be done before the sun got too high and was sadly mistaken. Pressure washer and a good scrub brush do make it quicker and better though.

I feel your pain. I also strongly agree with the stain color😂 I just had a guy out to do my decks. Waaay too many for me to tackle. The guy I hired did a great job. The last guy didn’t even stain the boards facing away from the house. I had to have some boards replaced. I already replaced a big section of the rail on the lower deck that a branch took out. The new guy sealed the ends of all the boards and used a brush to get in between the boards before he rolled them. He also sanded and painted my foundation so he really earned his fee.

@gim - that looks awesome. Well done.

For anyone that needs to pressure wash a flat surface like a deck, concrete, or a fence, I highly recommend the karcher surface cleaner. For $100 they attach to your pressure washer and instead of dealing with spray all day it is like running the vacuum.

Not quite landscape but certainly a project in the sun. My father in law and his buddies built his house 45 years ago from a hunting cabin. I don’t know when the board and batton went on, maybe it was original from their build. But when he raised the garage roof to put in a peak and upstairs storage this side had to come off to tie in the roof. That was at least 8 years ago. And the wood siding never went back on. It has been tyvek for that long. A month ago when we were home he asked for a hand putting new tyvek on. I knew we were coming back this week so I said let’s plan a day to put the wood on. I thought it would take a half day, but I overestimated my level of helpers. And we still didn’t get the stain on it. But the hard work is done. Rough cut hemlock. Every board was two cuts except for 3. All the battons had to be hand ripped to width. And the downspout had to be relocated.

Before and after.

This is my holly hedge. It is between 10 and 16 ft tall front to back and about 10-14 feet wide depending on where you’re standing. I have to trim it twice a year. July and November usually. November is easy. July is the 7th level of hell. Up the ladder with the gas hedge trimmer, get about an 8 foot swath, down the ladder. Rinse and repeat. It takes 2-4 hours of that plus clean-up of all the trimmings and spiky leaves. At some point I may rent scaffolding with wheels and just have my wife push me down the driveway.

1 hour ago, VolFan said:

This is my holly hedge. It is between 10 and 16 ft tall front to back and about 10-14 feet wide depending on where you’re standing. I have to trim it twice a year. July and November usually. November is easy. July is the 7th level of hell. Up the ladder with the gas hedge trimmer, get about an 8 foot swath, down the ladder. Rinse and repeat. It takes 2-4 hours of that plus clean-up of all the trimmings and spiky leaves. At some point I may rent scaffolding with wheels and just have my wife push me down the driveway.

Strong work.

Looks nice.

That is no joke.

At some point I am paying a professional and going fishing.

A-Jay

1 hour ago, VolFan said:

This is my holly hedge. It is between 10 and 16 ft tall front to back and about 10-14 feet wide depending on where you’re standing. I have to trim it twice a year. July and November usually. November is easy. July is the 7th level of hell. Up the ladder with the gas hedge trimmer, get about an 8 foot swath, down the ladder. Rinse and repeat. It takes 2-4 hours of that plus clean-up of all the trimmings and spiky leaves. At some point I may rent scaffolding with wheels and just have my wife push me down the driveway.

Haircut police approves.

@A-Jay - It’s not about money…it’s about pride! But at some point it’s going to be about safety and the two days I lose to shoulder soreness. My wife made sure there wasn’t a ‘stupidity’ clause in our life insurance policy…