Edit- thanks for all the quick replies. All in all sounds like not worth the effort!
I don't own this property, but found it while perusing a realtor website. I like the house, but hate the current state of the yard. What would it realistically take to undo something like this and plant grass? Dead trees probably would need to be removed too, but that's a question for a different sub. This is in central Ohio.
by ToGetFit
47 Comments
Realistically? Time travel
not much, dig a hole to push it all into
A lot of elbow grease.
I think I would keep it that way instead of spending hours and $$$ to remediate. Less mowing too.
Just sell the house.
A whole bottle of ibuprofen
A lot, of everything.
Skid steer. Shovels. Buckets. Dumpsters.
Long answer: You’d need to nuke it all and start fresh. Get rid of the dead trees and get good with a skid steer to remove all the rock. Fresh topsoil, fresh grading of the property, then drop some sod or seed, etc, install new trees.
Short answer: plenty of time and money.
doesnt look too bad honestly and you have a few trees so its shady not super ideal for lawn.
Go on FB marketplace or craigslist and say free gravel, you bag/haul away.
May take a few weeks, but that would be the least amount of effort.
Otherwise, do the hard work and remove/piling it so you can start seeding/soding.
Hopefully, whoever installed it, did it right with a ground cloth.
Depends of your mode of method. Hand picking = sell the house. Renting equipment = a couple of days to a week
I love simple jobs like this. Good exercise
A 500 gallon, 50hp shop vac. Then a couple inches of some good soil, then seed.
A landscaping company and thick wallet for me.
Where you at? Looks like a project I would have fun doing with the proper equipment just to waste time for a few weeks.
Stihl weed wacker with power broom attachment. Make numerous piles and then pickup.
Or a skid steer with broom on the front.
This looks like Delaware, Ohio
Giant dumpster, 4 teenage nephews, a refrigerator full of redbull, and a blind eye turned to their cannabis smoking in the back corner of the yard
A lot of work or money. Depending on if you are hiring it out.
Also, I suspect the previous owner values the shade from those tall trees. There is a chance they battled poor grass growth there for so long they threw up there arms and made it all gravel.
So in addition to removing the gravel. Tree removal or major pruning might be needed to let in enough light to sustain usable grass.
Throw some topsoil on top and some sod. The rock will help with drainage.
Offer free gravel and see if anyone comes to take it.
Time and nature.
What I would do here is remove the half closest to the house to create a 50’ x 50’ lawn and just leave the rest gravel. It would be less cost and work, moth in removal and future lawn upkeep.
Could probably sell the rock.
Huge truck mounted vacuums like they use to suck rock off of roofs and large landscaping projects would be perfect. Would take a couple guys a day
As the old proverb goes, “sometimes things are easier to fuck than they are to un-fuck.”
Make a few piles, advertise free rocks
A shovel. A wheelbarrow. A willingness to have back pain
Damn
100gallons of green paint
Why did someone do this, they must hate mowing
A big wallet. Labor vs healthcare expenses for a broken back you choose.
Whatever it takes, it will be worth it.
A few good years of neglect.
All the time, effort, and money that you’d estimate. Then double it.
Less gravel
A few guys from Home Depot
Shovels and Wheel barrows and a place to dump it
You’d have to remove the rocks and replace with grass
Alternatively you could raise the whole lawn and have amazing natural drainage. Not a cheaper option but one with slightly less less time & equipment required.
Skid steer and whole lot of top soil
My thought was an act of god.
Build the yard rehab into the negotiations for purchase… double whatever quote you get.
Post “free gravel” on the facebook marketplace
Make an offer and try to get them to repair this absolute atrocity in rh offer
Not worth it that’s many thousands of pounds of rock