T's Lawn Service

New Retaining Wall Behind Pool House

Before: A crumbling old railroad tie retaining wall

This customer had a crumbling old railroad tie retaining wallbehind his pool house. The wall ran all the way behind the pool house and then up into the back yard between the pool and the main house. It was probably decades old to the point where the wood was spongey and crumbling. It wasn’t doings its job and it looked terrible.

After: a beautiful wall with landscaping brick, cap stones and crushed stone

The solution was to remove the old wall and replace it with a combination of landscaping brick and crushed stone. For this job I had to:

Trim back all the shrubs behind the wall and remove all weeds and overgrowth
Cut back and square up into the hill to reclaim the land that had pushed forward over the years
Intall four rows of landscaping brick into a pleasing coutoured shape to compliment the pool house and adjacent yard, including installing a drainage pipe behind the wall to direct run-off from the hill away from the pool house.
Back fill bricks with sand.
Install a cap stone for the length of the wall.
Install weed paper at the base of the hill directly behind the new wall.
Cover weedpaper with crushed stone.
Install addiitonal crushed stone between new wall and pool house to discourage weed growth and support good drainage.

More Before and After Photos

Before: Rotting railroad tie retailing wall

Before: Rotted railroad tie retaining wall

During: Railroad ties removed and digging back the hill

DURING: Installing landscaping bricks — During: Installing drainage pipe

During: Installing landscaping bricks and back filling with sand

During: Adding additional rows of landscaping brick

During: Installing heavy duty weed paper and appling crushed stone

After: Finishing with additional crushed stone at ground level for drainage and erosion control

After: Looks great and has a nice gentle curve

Customer Reaction

The customer was so thrilled with this beautful new retaining wall that he immediately asked for the same treatment for another crumbling railroad tie wall on the side of the main house. Pictures of that project to come!

Garage Renovation – Devine Mercy, Blackstone MA

The garage behind Devine Mercy church in Blackstone MA was in need of serious repair. It hadn’t been maintained in years. The paint was peeling, trim was rotting and the cupulo on top was rotting off. Here is what we did (be sure to check out the Before and After photos!):
• Power washed entire garage.
• Remove bad wood (trim, etc. with all cracks and seams caulked and primes.
• Then the entire building was primed with stain killer.
• Applied two coats of finish paint.
• The cupula was rotted, leaking and beyond repair so it was removed. Bad lumber replaced, new sheeting and shingles were installed.

Garage Doors – Closeup

Trim repair and painting

Garage side and windows

Adding Crushed Stone Transforms Soggy Driveway

This customer had a nice New England stonewall bordering their driveway, but over the years it became washed out and was now a series of giant puddles. We transformed the look of the driveway and improved the curb appeal by:

raking up all the leaves and debris
replacing the fallen stones and
installing crushed stone.

Here are the BEFORE and AFTER photos of this project:

**BEFORE**: This formerly beautiful New England stone wall next to the driveway is a soggy mess

Raised Garden Beds Create Attractive Compact Gardening Space

This customer wanted raised garden beds for a vegetable garden behind his house. The project included tilling the area for the beds, building and installing the wooden frames, filling them with good soil, mulching the perimeter and edging with wood to keep the mulch in place. Later, weed paper was added and the customer planted tomatoes.