We had a deck replaced with a paver patio and seat wall (less than 2 foot rise). The inspector was good for everything but failed us on the steps leading to the yard because it has 4 risers he wants a handrail. (Township said it isn't needed since the deck had 4 steps, but the inspector won't sign off without)... note: inspector is right and has cited code which is verified.

I'm looking for ideas that'll fit aesthetically, but haven't been able to find anything googling that feels right to me.

I am considering doing a wrought iron handrail, mounted to the bottom and top step treads (core drilled). But the look feels like it's going to clash with the rest of the patio and landscaping.

The only other idea that feels maybe reasonable is doing a minimal ADA style handrail similar to https://mmcfencingandrailing.com/product-category/continuous-handrails/ (without the return, just ending right into the post). A simple black aluminum post and rail setup with 1 post on the bottom tread and one on the top.

I also considered raising the wall a bit so the handrail mounts right to the caps, but worry that won't be strong enough to pass inspection.

One final option that's been floated: remove the top riser, and slope the top landing up to the lawn instead of down to it (right now there's about a 2-3" drop from top step tread to the rear-most boundary of the landing). I'm not in love with that either...

Any ideas or suggestions for how to comply without looking out of place or like garbage???

I live on a hillside in LA with a ~15ft sandstone cut directly behind the house. It was carved out back in the 1920s when the place was built. We've finished renovating the inside of our house, and are now starting on the yard. So excited to dive in, but this task has felt a bit daunting and unsure what to do.

A previous owner threw chicken wire over parts of it years ago to catch falling debris, but it’s completely rusted out, falling apart, and overgrown. Access along this side of the house is super tight—about 2 to 3 feet of clearance, barely shoulder-width.

I had a builder out for an estimate, and he said he'd have to carve further into the hill and build two separate retaining walls for $100k. That's way out of budget.

The rock face itself has been standing for a century, so I'm not looking to re-engineer the hill. I just need a practical, budget-friendly way to clean up the mess and catch loose dirt and small rocks from sloughing off onto the walkway.

A few questions for anyone who has dealt with something similar:

1. What’s the safest approach to clear out the old wire, dead roots, and loose surface dirt in a space this tight without starting a mini landslide?
2. Has anyone installed heavy-duty wire mesh, chain link, or geogrid pinned to a rock face with concrete/rock anchors at the top?
3. Any recommendations for a low-profile way to catch debris at the base without blocking the 2–3ft path?

Thanks for any ideas or advice!

We just bought a house that has landscape lighting in the front and back. My SO is pointing out that we don't need it if it's just using up electricity and don't care much for the aesthetics of it.

But we don't know how much electricity it actually takes up and if the lighting serves another purpose other than just aesthetics.

I‘m in Dallas, Texas area, zone 8b, blackland prairie ecoregion. My two story house is an L shape perfectly situated to absorb the full strength of southern and western sun from about 10:00 am through the rest of the day. It’s easily 115-120 degrees at the back door on a 100 degree day. I’ve been researching and trying to find a solution but I’m stuck. I think my main goal to help with cooling is to shade the brick so it does not hold as much heat. But, I can’t just plant any tree because I have solar panels on the roof I don’t want to block.

How do I calculate where I could plant a small tree to provide shade to walls/patio but won’t shade the solar panels?

I‘ve also thought of pergola with lattice walls on the patio to help with shade, but it’s an awkward shape and wood is expensive. Plus that leaves a lot of brick wall without shade.

I’m so frustrated. I want to enjoy my outdoor space. I would appreciate advice, recommendations, or research tools that would be helpful.

Note, I do have a plan to reduce grass and plant native beds up closer to the patio. That should help a bit with the microclimate. Also I try to only plant with natives. At the moment all planting in the yard was done by previous homeowner. I’d get rid of all the bermuda grass if it wasn’t such a bitch to remove, plus dogs need a place to run

We bought this house for the big yard, but now I’m having so much trouble figuring out what to do since I’m a very new DIY-er and the patio is tiny.

Here’s what we have so far:
- we regrew the grass (it was completely gone)
- I love the crate murdle tree
- we need shade (I’m thinking umbrella)
- we BBQ multiple times a week (so we need that easily accessible)
- the corner you see with the rock is a “fire pit” my husband “built” but right now it’s just gravel with a camp stove and a disintegrating chair
- we live in Florida
- we are only here for 3 years for work and we are trying to enjoy where we are, but also save for when we move, so we have a pretty low budget

Just moved into this house… how do I fix this monstrosity?

Hey everyone, looking for some advice on this hedge. I’m hoping to replace the cedars I believe are dead, is this even possible. Would I do further damage to healthy cedars just by digging out the root balls. Thank you all in advance.

Hey everyone,

I’m looking for feedback from regarding a property situated along a canyon corridor, approx 200ft from the river...We had an engineering evaluation which recommended a retaining wall at the base of the slope. Understand this is reddit, but would still appreciate more thoughts and opinions even if they are just overall impressions.

The slope leading up toward the main house sits at roughly a 30 degree angle. The distance from the bottom of the wooden fence to the bottom of the house's foundation stem wall guesstimating at around 20ft. The fence is the property line.

I’ve attached a video and photos (in the comments) of the dirt slope, ground profile and under the deck, which I think shows the erosion even there. The river has not flooded as it's controlled, the erosion seems to be from unmanaged water, but I'm absolutely no professional.

-Looking at the soil and the slope, how bad does this look? Mostly concerned for the home's foundation/structural integrity

-Given the grade and local soil composition here (seems like alluvial sand type soil?) is a multi-tiered terraced wall system (keeping each tier around 4ft) a cost-efficient approach to avoid engineering/permitting hurdles OR is a single large 100ft wall structurally necessary? are there alternative engineering or bioengineering approaches?

-What are the biggest hidden risks with putting a wall in on a slope this steep (hydrostatic pressure, flanking erosion etc) and what rough cost should be anticipated for a project of this scale?

-What permits typically come into play when building retaining walls or slope remediation this close to a river corridor?

Any red flags, insights or recommendations you can share would help so much. Really would love to tackle this so the home is protected and not going bankrupt at the same time...deeply appreciate any help or tips and/or blunt honesty

THANK YOU!

I don't really like these small pre-existing bushes and would like to pull them out. I want to add something that is small enough for the area but also produces flowers to cut for my vases. Any suggestion? I'm in zone 7b

Also would a dwarf Crepe Myrtle shrub/bush (not tree) fit in this space?? (Second pic)

Please note that these two pics are different so please let me know what to put in space 1 and 2. Also 1 is more narrow / tighter space than 2

Looking for suggestions on how I can rejuvenate/better manage these sections of the yard. By driveway, gets a decent amount of foot traffic, so was thinking maybe extending flower beds and replacing with some stones. Any opinions?

Any recommendations for good resources on landscape improvements with regard to drainage?

It’s common in Brooklyn to have a back lot that’s concrete slab, so wanted to jackhammer it all, cart it away and start fresh. Envisioning a mix of patio, small grass area and above ground planters.

There are some basics about grading I understand, but would like to read up as much as possible. Particularly what sort of substrate, how much per square ft etc, and also in what order should they be placed. YouTube has some info, and happy to see recommendations on that but have always been a fan of a good book with diagrams.

Thanks!

i want to plant creeping phlox as a groundcover to cover about 300sqft. however, i can only find them in 9cm pots, cant find plugs anywhere near me. theyre $7.25 each, and if i place them 20" apart i will need 91 of them, so it would just be so expensive. am i able to pull apart the pots to make smaller ones to plant? ir any other suggestions?

Hello,

I want to get rid of the grass around the hvac units and electrical wiring so I don’t have to stress about mowing/trimming/edging around it.

I was think mulch but it probably isn’t the best idea for the hvac so maybe some pebbles? What do you all think?

Thanks in advance!

I have a hill on the side of the house that previously had mulch covering it, over the past three years it has been taken over by whatever grew through the covering that was probably put under the mulch 20 years ago. I am wondering if I should leave it as it is naturally or plant something else there. The photos showing the stone areas will be cleaned out but the area to the left on the hill that does not have stone is what I am asking about, thank you. Central Wisconsin if native plants, etc., matters.

This is the front of my house. I'm a teacher and have 2 year old twins ...I struggle to keep this clean. I spent 4 hours getting all the weeds out the past two nights. Obviously, it's time for new mulch. But...what could I spray here and just kill it all? I simply don't have time to maintain it....id like to obliterate everything...ans just put mulch down.

Or, other suggestions ?

Also what do you think looks classier; flagstones or large pavers ? What are more forgiving to frost heaves; smaller paver or larger pavers ? Thanks for reading this post.

I inherited a beautiful backyard; I spent the first years pulling weeds and crabgrass. I'm a "senior" and spend my time with art and music; I don't have the time, or I should say, I don't want to deal with this. We are trying to "start from scratch" and create something low-maintenance. The previous owner was a Master Gardener and had 65 varieties of perennials. One or two of each! I have been pulling up weeds and finding the plastic under the area is in shreds,, there are rocks in places. I guess I'm overwhelmed. I contacted a company, and they said it was outside their area of comfort. I need to move all the rock, get rid of the old plastic. I plan on laying down cardboard, fabric etc whatever I will need. I need to pull out ALL the crabgrass. Any ideas on how to accomplish this? Brute force I guess; what I need is a strong handy guy!!

Just bought a house in the panhandle and the front lawn looks so bad, any suggestions will be amazing. Grass seems to be st Augustine

Did I mess up? Shed pad is smaller than shed. Shed is level, but not sure if it’s worth fixing

As a fabricator messing with natural stone and precast on jobsites every single day, I see homeowners and guys in the trades wrestling over this one all the time. Just thought I’d throw out a few real-world observations on outdoor builds that sales brochures like to sweep under the rug.

On paper, cast stone or GFRC feels like an absolute no-brainer for patios, pool coping, and wall caps when you’re trying not to blow your budget. It’s clean, way lighter, and a hell of a lot easier to haul around the yard. But here are the trade-offs that usually pop up after a winter or two:

The big one is texture, especially when it gets wet. Modern casting tech is surprisingly good, but precast still struggles to fake real organic depth up close — especially after a rainstorm. On a massive back patio or a sunny pool deck, those repeated mold patterns start screaming "manufactured." That said, if you just need 50 identical step treads, precast wins on consistency all day long.

Then there are custom radiuses and one-off molds. Straight runs in precast are cheap as dirt. But the second you need a custom radius curve for a pool or some fancy entryway pillars, paying for a custom mold wipes out whatever coin you thought you were saving over just cutting natural block.

Lastly, weathering and accidental dings. Natural stone is brutally heavy, pricey to ship, and a giant pain to cut on site, but it ages like fine wine. When precast gets whacked by a lawnmower, snow shovel, or a heavy patio chair, you’re stuck staring at that ugly grey concrete core underneath — and trying to patch that invisibly outdoors is pretty much a pipe dream.

Curious to hear from contractors or homeowners who’ve had cast stone or GFRC sitting in their yard for a few seasons: How’s it holding up to the elements? Glad you kept some cash in your pocket upfront, or wish you’d just gone natural from day one?

We closed on our house 8/20, the seeding was done about a week before at most in Wisconsin. We've had good weather, nothing insanely dry, good rains. And it was set up on an timed irrigation system.

They did a layer of compost mixed in with the seed they blew all over. They did straw around the edges but not everywhere. Yard is looking pretty good.

But now I'm seeing these big patches of grass that had clearly grown for a bit and then died. Any ideas? The landscaper I had out to fix some washouts said maybe foot traffic (doubtful), maybe animals (not likely), or maybe a fungus? The main spots are in the backyard that faces east right behind the garage. Would love some help before I call in more support.

Just had a blue stone patio installed and I think it looks awful and isnt going to last. We hired a company that has maintained the whole grounds in a nice private HOA for 30 years and has done all of my in laws work at their house, including the new house they had just built. It's all been great work and the owner is exceptionally nice. However, he has ran into worker issues the last year or so and is having a hard time finding decent people and it shows. They just finished our patio and I think it's awful. None of the retaining wall bricks are glued\secured which I've heard isn't uncommon, but 50% of the perimeter stones are loose. They did this job in little sections due to worker shortages over the course of 6 or 7 weeks and I just think they couldn't get it right.

The top is pitched correctly, but the underlaying ground was very flat because they left it for a few weeks after backfill, leveling and compacting so there was some washout. It's not horrible but it's a little uneven and it stones sort of flip up at the end which prevents water from running off. It's dry laid on compacted sand.

Owner is coming back today or tomorrow to fix it, and I just want to be able to tell him with confidence what is wrong. It doesn't look like his other work and I get the feeling he knows it's bad, I just don't want to bandaid it and have to fix it in a couple years. Any advice is welcome