A Little Excavating and Landscaping Project

[atgreene]

I was hired by the local water district to do a project for them. It was in three phases and entailed a walkway around their building utilizing BMP's for erosion around the lake, a set of steps, and a parking lot expansion using Grasspave2. They also added a 6" x 100' culvert at the last minute to run from the catch basin under the parking area to improve drainage.

I don't usually get too far into landscaping other than stone work, as I prefer the excavation end of things. But for these folks, I do whatever they ask.

The grasspavers are a little strange. They come in a large roll and are a honeycomb like structure that you set on gravel. The cells are filled with sand and the grass seed is planted. Supposedly, the cells prevent compaction so the grass can grow. I'll let you know how it works for us.

Here's a few pics of the grasspave and prep.

[atgreene]

A few more.

I found that the grasspave's didn't line-up as they were supposed to. They seemed to vary in their width, as the little locking tabs were out of line. A royal pita. Not sure I'd recommend these to others.

Last pic is where the steps are going.

[atgreene]

A few of the steps. The original spec called for pressure treated. They wanted something more "lake friendly" so we went with cedar.

Yesterday was 96 degrees. Today was 85 or so. Not a good day to be out there in the damn parking lot ship-lapping the timbers with a skill saw and sawsall.

[atgreene]

A couple of the path around the building. They want people to come there and see what materials work best for around the lake. We used ECM (erosion control mulch), superhumus mulch, 3/4" stone, 3/4" gravel, pea stone and grasspave2. We also installed a water bar for demonstration purposes.

[atgreene]

And one of the grasspave misalignment and a finished view.

[Rocket]

Did you contact the distributor about the GrassPave misalignment? I'm wondering if they came off the same roll or stretched somehow? How many spikes were installed? I've not seen this happen but am very interested in their explanation. Please do a follow up and let me know what they say.

How come the specs didn't spec a fabricated or recycled material for the steps? Seems like the wood could cause problems (splinters on bare feet, rooting, etc). We use white cedar too, I'm just asking.

[Chuck Smith]

Nice job, looks great. Got to do a little bit of everything there.

~Chuck

[atgreene]

Rocket, the dealer in this area for grasspave is A. H. Harris. I spoke to 2 different salesmen, and both weren't much help. Honestly, I don't think they had much experience with it, and I had none. The water district wanted to try it to help promote these types of materials.

Both salesmen told me to use a few staples (same as you would on jute mat) and that it would be fine. I added some zip ties to keep the mats tied together. They did say that the material has to move, so not to spike it down too much.

As far as the steps, they wanted wood. They frown on pressure treated and I'm not sure about why they didn't want a recycled plastic. Frankly, the white cedar was hard enough. I drove 2 1/2 hours to Bangor and met a sawyer from Witipitloc (way up North) to get these. BTW, I have 5? 6" x 6" x 8' left over if anyone is interested.:cash

So far, the water ditrict has been handing my name out like candy for waterfront jobs. Craig, who is also a member here, has done work for them for several years and has had a lot of work refered his way. Not only that, but they always seem to have a project somewhere to do for themselves. Nice enough folks to work for, and you know you'll get paid in the end.

Chuck, yea, it was diffferent. My brother was supposed to help me, but he changed jobs when I started and couldn't get the time off, so I ran solo for this one.

[Randy Clarke]

Nice, work...I'm going to have to look into that matting

[cat320]

Alan that grass pave is that in the same idea of the concrete one that you can walk/drive and still have grass?

I would of probably used granite for steps up that hill natural product and will last forever.

It all looks very good Alan

[jbutch83]

That is some pretty nice work you did there, also looks like you had a great view while on the job.

[Rocket]

Rocket, the dealer in this area for grasspave is A. H. Harris. I spoke to 2 different salesmen, and both weren't much help.

Same problem I have had down here with them. I end up talking to tech support out at Invisable Structures when I need help. If you don't mind, how much did the installation cost per square foot?

BTW, what is a water bar?

Rick, is the product you are thinking of Turfstone? Then yes, similar in purpose but there are a few more benefits. I.S. also has Gravelpave for driveways. Just a hard sell because of the expense.

[atgreene]

Rocket, this was my first time dealing with A H for support. I SELDOM do landscaping that requires items other than the stone I dig out from the site. I'm just into the natural stuff that way, I guess. As far as cost, the entire project was under 15k, but was all rolled into one price for everything. I didn't figure it on square foot, as there way so much else involved.

Cat, the slabs of granite were removed from another project on the site last year that I did. I tried to get them to let me build a granite slab set of steps, but they wanted wood. I ended up using the slabs for the curbing. It wasn't in the price, but only took me an hour or so, and they loved it. Well worth the publicity.

Thanks guys.

BTW, A water bar is the wooden open top culvert in one of the pics. Used on gravel roads to cross water from one side to another and prevent erosion. Not a huge fan myself, as I prefer razor's (flat rubber belting dug-in to re-direct the water from eroding a hill).

[OSCLandscaping]

Nice job Alan, the grass pave works well in the right situations. In Conn. is a mall with a large amount of parking lot made with the grass pave. Never seen it in person but have seen some pictures. Was that done over at the Standish site?

[atgreene]

Yes, at 35 & 237. I've seen lots of pics of the grass pavers, never done any or actually seen where they have been used. I'll get some pics in a few weeks when the grass comes in.

[OSCLandscaping]

Hey Alan I was on my way home today and went past PWD in standish, swung in and checked it it out. Really nice job, I if I have some jobs that need an excav. I'll give you a call, if you think you might be interested.

Roger

[atgreene]

Roger, feel free to give me a call. Right now I'm prety well booked for the year:headwall , I'm just trying to keep all the customers happy 'till I can get there at this point. I can break away from time to time between jobs if you're in a scrape, though.

I guess it's good to be busy, but customers don't like to hear no when I tell them I'm too busy. Thank god for bloodpressure medication.

[Mark Oomkes]

Nice work Alan. Looks very perfushinul.

[atgreene]

Mark, you'll notice that there is water in the background, and I'm not in it.:D :wink

[wfd44]

Doesn't Takeuchi make pontoons?


:popcorn2

[atgreene]

Doesn't Takeuchi make pontoons?


:popcorn2

Thats right Peter, keep making those snowballs, I love to throw 'em :grinz .

I think a snorkle is an option, though.

See ya at the big one tonight, the way we're going, we're apt to burn another one tonight.

[wfd44]

Yeah, I went intown with SP for coverage on the one last night. SP just struck the all hands for a worker on Mussey St.

[MDsnowPRO]

Steps look nice, did a similar set over the winter, turned out pretty good.

http://i158.photobucket.com/albums/t97/MDsnowPRO/newcam074SmallMedium.jpg

http://i158.photobucket.com/albums/t97/MDsnowPRO/newcam072SmallMedium.jpg

http://i158.photobucket.com/albums/t97/MDsnowPRO/newcam071SmallMedium.jpg

[rgrimes945]

Jeez guys Nice work by all of you !

[cat320]

I got a call late fri night around 7pm and friend of mine said that he needed to have some dirt moved(about 10 big triaxel loads) and make some kind of road for a triaxel to get back in the yard to fill in a hole in the back. well needless to say by the time i got up to the job it was dark so just had the lights on the machine. The home owner was out watching and could not belive how good I got the road under the cover of darkness. I went back the next day to actuly see what i did that night lol forgot to take a pic but I could not belive how flat it was.Well no problems the triaxel had plenty of flat road and room to back down the 200 ft from the road .

[atgreene]

Don't you hate those last minute calls for someone who's in a scrape and your supposed to bail them out? What a PITA, always an emergency, and always for someone you can't charge full tilt for. :mad:

Those steps look nice. I was supposed to use the PT but they decided at the last minute to go with the cedar as it's more enviromentally friendly.

[cat320]

Alan always fun to get those calls when your ready to kick back and relax lol ,The really bad part was working mostly in the dark with only the machine lights then loading and chaining it down in the dark on the trailer . I'm sure it will not be the last time .

[atgreene]

Thats why I added 3 floods to mine, the 2 it came with were pathetic for working in the dark, and that's when I do some of my best work.:D

[Big Dog D]

The home owner was out watching and could not belive how good I got the road under the cover of darkness. I went back the next day to actuly see what i did that night lol forgot to take a pic but I could not belive how flat it was.


Here you go.

[cat320]

here is an areial shot not to clear had to take a pic and repost. the area that i had to make the road is shaded in blue .