Looking at your blog it looks like you guys have been doing a chunk of the work yourselves on the rest of the remodel? If money's a concern, rent a jackhammer, get a wheelbarrow, and have a trash company drop off a dumpster in front of the house. Just be sure to let them know it's for concrete so they drop a low-sided box off, less likelihood that you'll overfill it and get nailed for overweight fees.

The thought of covering everything over and pretending it's not there is such a bad idea it gives me hives just thinking about it. No.

I agree that covering up and ignoring what's covered is definitely NOT the way to go. You would eventually regret it. Covering large portions of the yard with some type of granular gravel material seems expensive and impractical. If cost is a concern, why not consider an approach that is much more conventional?

I would suggest you start by posting a to-scale plan showing existing features, including paving, and get some suggestions on what you might remove. You might also consider adding some better (and larger) photos directly to the thread. I would suggest starting with a square-on view, where the house is centered, that shows the whole front yard from the street perspective.

Thank you marcinde and Yardvaark. I had a sense that this would be a bad plan, but I'm always open to considering anything. It's not that we couldn't afford to do it, it is more of a why spend the money if I don't have to. I hear you saying that I should spend the money to clear the site first.

I couldn't figure out how to reply with an image in line with my post, but I took a little time to do a before / after to scale plan of the yard. I am unable to take pictures today.

I'm definitely open to thoughts. It is wildly incomplete, but does show what I intend to remove (almost everything) and what I intend to replace it with in addition to how I'd like to organize the yard.

Thanks for your time and thoughts!

-- Scott

speaking as a tree guy ....

that huge tree... which looks like a maple from afar ... is somewhat problematic ...

it could be a threat to the house itself ... should large chunks fall off ...

and if you do serious bed prep for concrete ... root disturbance ... you may inflict a mortal wound on it ... increasing the odds of the comment above ... [how many years or decades it will take to die is a big question]

below is a pic or two ... of a silver maples root mass ... exposed during a septic field rebuild ... as you can see .. almost all the roots are within.. one b-ball cap distance of the soil surface ... if you were to grade an inch or two off the soil surface ... well ... you can understand ... what you are going to do to the roots ...

you might want to talk about this in the tree forum ... or do a post there.. with an appropriate title.. and using the box below where you type... put in an OPTIONAL LINK ... back to this post ... [which is where you could have put your pix link .... or you could have used the HTML code.. instead of those you used above]

that tree.. is the elephant in the room ... dont ignore it ...

soooo .. we need to ID it ... and we need to understand... how and what you are going to do on the surface of its root mass ...

good luck

ken

{{gwi:234645}}

{{gwi:208954}}

Covering it all up is a horrible idea, because there is no drainage. It will bite you in the butt.

Your lot sketches are too faint to read. Can you darken them and repost?

1 - The square pavers - to Craigslist with a "free if you take them" listing. Quick fix.

2 - the huge driveway area and the concrete can be sliced into chunks with a ride-on paving saw (you might be able to rent one) and hauled off. Home depot might rent a small bobcat for the prying up of the slabs.

Mark out the area you want to keep of the driveway, test it with your cars.

Smallish slabs of concrete are popular as "urbanite" ... recycled into retaining walls and patios. You migvht be able to get someone to haul the chunks if you cut them.

Check your area and see if there are pavement recycling companies, and ask to be put on their schedule. We had some asphalt and concrete removed for under usual market cost because we were willing to wait until they had a project near us. They hauled it off to their near-by portable pavement grinder and it's now the base material for someone else's street.

Broken up concrete or cut by a saw makes excellent raised planter walls, or can also be repurposed as paving steps within a landscape. If you use a brush-on chemical stain the color can be changed to something other than concrete gray, which dresses them up considerably. This is certainly one option that both reduces haul-away dump fees and effort, and recycles what you've already got on site.

Breaking out a concrete walk by hand without a bobcat is not necessarily going to do damage to surface tree roots if you're careful, but I'd agree that with a large existing tree that you want to keep, it pays to be careful/cautious what you do within the root zone, which extends well beyond the tree canopy.

Covering up an existing maze of concrete with geotextile, a setting bed base and new or recycled pavers isn't necessarily a bad thing if you have the drainage and compaction issues sorted out so it won't settle unevenly, or not drain. It is a concern otherwise, and especially unwise it you also intend to do some plantings within that area.

lazygardens - good call. Do you think generally removing the concrete is enough? Or do I need to employ the services of someone to level out the whole site? It's generally pretty flat.

ken_adrian - My large trees are two pecans and two magnolia trees. There is a small orange tree out of sight as well. I don't plan on doing much digging. I'd hate to kill any of these awesome trees. One of my pecan trees produced 80 lb of pecans this year.

Here is the proposed after

Someone skilled with a machine could regrade your lot in a few hours but I do think your tree roots are going to be an issue. With what you have shown as proposed you could do the work by hand fairly easily. I'm a fat guy who occasionally walks with a cane and if I had the easy scope of work you have, I'd do it by hand.

Nice job on drawing the plans and they are helpful. The proposed plan is an improvement over the existing narrow walks.

What are the reasons for wanting such a large amount of decomposed granite? You are aware that it is essentially "soft" paving and will be neither cheap to install or to remove (if the need should later arise)?

Please explain why the two fences are running concurrently.

Since there are only the large trees in the proposed, I can't get a sense for what other plantings will be (and you're probably looking for input on that) but I'm thinking it would be a good idea to allow plenty of width for any beds next to the house. The walk at the front seems like it would pinch plantings and force them to be too close to the house.

Magnolia trees of any species are typically surface rooting trees that don't appreciate root disturbance, so keep a wide berth with any rototilling or grading around them. One thing to consider with decomposed granite as a large area, it will require weeding, and it also tracks in on shoes which can be a problem if you have wood floors in the house.

Covering with gravel makes me want to run screaming, lol. Mostly because when I moved in, I found out the hard way just how beloved gravel was to the homeowner before me. Lovely open 40x40 garden area? Nope, that was a gravel pad that grew over. Wonderful side drive connecting the main drive and easement drive? Ugh, full of bits of weeds and needs to be mowed without fresh gravel laid in- or the whole thing removed.
But I get that others like gravel, want gravel.

And just sayin.. if you think you got a mess, imagine what the next homeowner might think of a layover? A top layer they remove only to find a huge mess underneath.

If you want low grass action, maybe use a myriad of ground covers. Moss, creeping thymes and mints, and so on.

All that concrete, pavers... make them into raised edges for driveways and walkways. Low retaining walls around the trees that the inside area can be groomed for easy nut harvesting. Heck, I would take all those paver squares and build up a nice lil bonefire pit with them.
You could also use all that busted up icky stuff to sort of mosaic in the areas you are currently thinking of doing in gravel- then using the low ground covers in the cracks or sand to "grout" in the chunks.

Yardvaark - I dig decomposed granite :) I know what it is for sure. I am posting an "inspiration" photo of what we're interested in doing. Not too worried about the cost. At some point we'd like to do some raised beds in the side yard area which is why the fences run parallel (is that what you were asking?). We'd like to keep that area separate so the dog can't get in there.

We'd like to plant some star jasmine in tight intervals along the tall privacy fence. My wife loves the stuff and it does extremely well in Houston. Every apartment we lived in before this was coated in the stuff.

I'm open to any planting advice. We'd like not to do much watering. This isn't a cost concern or a laziness concern, just feel its more responsible if we have the choice.

bahia - Souss like a don't want someone running on top of my magnolia roots in a bobcat. Not interested in loosing it! It's a beautiful tree.

Let me also say you should run from the DG as fast as you can.

It works in areas where the major weed control is done by controlling watering. I believe it rains in Houston? If it does, then anything gravelish will be covered with weeds in short order unless somebody takes it upon themselves to deal with them. It isn't low maintenance, environmentally responsible or anything else positive in an area that isn't a desert.

The white paving in the picture looks like some sort of aggregate concrete to me. A totally different beast.

Not a lot of love for DG in this forum! I definitely hear the concerns. I will say that we have a few friends who have survived the horrors described here and have lovely yards at the end of the day.

Any favorite alternatives that aren't grass? Pea gravel?

Thanks!

Decomposed granite ground cover just doesn't lend itself to the no-maintenance look in a summer rainfall climate like Houston. You will be fighting weeds, even if you lay it over geotextile or weed fabric. I like it quite a bit here in California, where it stays weed free in our 6 month long summer dry season, but does need some occasional hoeing or spot herbicide to handle moss and weeds in the winter rainy season.

we had a large (1/2 acre) DG courtyard where I worked in CA. Roundup every two weeks and spot checking every couple days with a stirrup hoe kept it looking good. Granted that's way more effort than I'd go to for my house, but if you're into that sort of thing...

"... I dig decomposed granite :)" Fine. Me too. Love it in fact. Just because I like something doesn't mean that over-using it is a good idea. Over-use being using it in places or ways that isn't compatible with "best" use. That's a term that calls for interpretation but my experience says your proposal leans toward over-using. In my mind, DG is soft PAVING and I can't see how paving nearly the whole yard is superior to planting it with appropriate plants. If you used DG where it would make sense to have paving, I think you would me going in the right direction. Can't say I understood the pictorial example you provided. It looks more like concrete to me, too. On pea gravel I would say it's an even worse thing to consider since it does not make good paving. It's more like a mulch that's potentially troublesome.

If you're looking for water-conservative solutions for a lawn substitute, you might see if perennial peanut, Arachis glabrata, is something that works in the Houston area and if it appeals to you. I'm in my second year with it and think it is great. Its main requirements are that it must be kept weed free during the establishment period, and edged once or twice per month.
{{gwi:7961}}

We wondered why some areas of our flower beds in front of the house didn't grow plants well. When we dug down a little bit we found where the house builders had buried concrete.

English ivy is taking over a concrete patio in my yard.
It is covering the concrete.
Just saying
Gravel moves
Jo

"English ivy is taking over a concrete patio in my yard.
It is covering the concrete." This begs the question, why are you not maintaining so as to prevent this? Vine groundcovers require some type of periodic edging.

Do you care whether or not you fit into your neighborhood? What you propose sounds quite unattractive. Especially the DG in the front yard. Do you need to park a car there?

I live in California and had to give up my large back lawn years ago. I know about being responsible in the use of water.

Your mish mash of paving does look bad and I can see why you want a change. I have plants covering an old concrete slab in my back garden. I love the ajuga and hope it will cover the entire slab soon. Much easier than me breaking it up with a sledge hammer.

emmarene and Yardvaark -- I definitely understand that it is soft paving, but love the look. I also don't see it being incompatible with my neighborhood. If I wanted to fit in I'd plant some arbitrary mixture of bermuda and st aug. and allow it to weed over.

I also do not believe this would constitute an "overuse" of the material. Where we are not using the DG as walkways, we will eventually establish some raised beds (not shown in my drawings). Also, this is a fairly common choice in Texas with bungalows that are modernized.

I appreciate everyone's thoughts and comments even when contrary to my own opinions! When I have the time to get more detailed with the yard, I will return to harvest more of yall's thoughts!

That'd be fine.

Sorry,
Its a courtyard that's not used. The ivy is green, green 365
We live in the desert. NM. Even the cactus is dying here.
Moved from SE Texas. We like green. Can't wait to get back
To where things are green.
Sooooo
Did I say the ivy is green 365?

"taking over" I thought was a "complaint." If it's intentional, then that's different.