Any thought on converting grass backyard to hard surface(Concrete). (Dallas: cul-de-sac, apartment)

[BigDGeek]

Originally Posted by TurtleCreek80

WTH?!?! No, painting concrete blue to "look like a pool" absolutely, 110% will NOT "help maintain the resale value". We have a pool and having a giant slab of blue concrete in the backyard would in no way be the same as having a pool. Where do people come up with these crazy ideas.....

I think he was being sarcastic.

[Rakin]

I have a beautiful Stamped concrete 20 x 40 concrete patio that takes up about 1/2 my backyard. It has an Arbor, BBQ Grill. room to entertain.

Most people think of a huge concrete slab. Done tastefully, it can be done.

I did leave about 1/3 of the yard in grass and landscaped. Below is pic.

Note I do have a wide open space behind the yard so I don't get that closed in feeling.

[BigDGeek]

Originally Posted by Rakin

I have a beautiful Stamped concrete 20 x 40 concrete patio that takes up about 1/2 my backyard. It has an Arbor, BBQ Grill. room to entertain.

Most people think of a huge concrete slab. Done tastefully, it can be done.

I did leave about 1/3 of the yard in grass and landscaped. Below is pic.

Note I do have a wide open space behind the yard so I don't get that closed in feeling.

That's not what the OP means, though. What you have is nice but you can't play sports on it.

[robmab]

Agree with everything others have said and would also add that the soil in this area is not very concrete-friendly, meaning you will have cracks appearing not too long after you put it in and over a period of years, you may have to jackhammer the whole thing up and repour it. Especially if you're not watering around it regularly or if we have a particularly dry winter (as we did this past year).

When we bought our house, the backyard had a mixture of flagstone, decomposed granite, brick and landscaped beds. Oh, and a koi pond. Not a blade of grass anywhere. As a family with three dogs, we need grass. So we tore out the koi pond, raked up the decomposed granite and sodded everything that wasn't covered in brick or flagstone. It was a lot of work, but something we were able to do ourselves. I can't imagine buying a home with concrete that we'd have to jackhammer out.

[BigDGeek]

Originally Posted by robmab

Agree with everything others have said and would also add that the soil in this area is not very concrete-friendly, meaning you will have cracks appearing not too long after you put it in and over a period of years, you may have to jackhammer the whole thing up and repour it. Especially if you're not watering around it regularly or if we have a particularly dry winter (as we did this past year).

When we bought our house, the backyard had a mixture of flagstone, decomposed granite, brick and landscaped beds. Oh, and a koi pond. Not a blade of grass anywhere. As a family with three dogs, we need grass. So we tore out the koi pond, raked up the decomposed granite and sodded everything that wasn't covered in brick or flagstone. It was a lot of work, but something we were able to do ourselves. I can't imagine buying a home with concrete that we'd have to jackhammer out.

I've torn up concrete with a jackhammer. It's fun for about 5 minutes.

[MurphyPl1]

Originally Posted by BigDGeek

I've torn up concrete with a jackhammer. It's fun for about 5 minutes.

And that night your arms are still vibrating in your sleep.

[BigDGeek]

Originally Posted by MurphyPl1

And that night your arms are still vibrating in your sleep.

What?

Sorry, didn't hear you. Could you repeat that?



My hands were numb after that; arms didn't hurt, but I couldn't HEAR properly for a few days.

[sossie]

If the yard looked like "Rakin's" photos i would be ok with that but seriously a badminton court type thing-eeekk! I remember seeing a beautiful house with a big yard /pool /etc but they had done almost half of it with a basketball court and volleyball sand court all I kept thinking is I'm going to have to take that out-after spending one easter weekend taking out a concrete pathway i vowed never to do that again....if he doesn't want to maintenance what about synthetic grass-at least it's green and I don't think it would be such a turn off resale value-easier to tear up if you wanted the real deal-easy on the feet and easy to play games on-footballers do it all the time....

[mSooner]

I was considering (long range) doing flower/shrub beds (mostly natives) and decomposed granite paths and patio areas. I have a mature elm in the backyard, and the lot is average/small for west Richardson. Same concerns? I am just sick and tired of paying to maintain and water the grass, nor is it my favorite look.

This--awesome. OP's idea. I wouldn't buy it.

[Lemastre]

Originally Posted by MckinneyOwnr

I've thought about getting rid of all the grass in our backyard and going with an artificial lawn. . . .

Anything like Astroturf seems to attract unfavorable attention from homeowners' associations and maybe city code departments. And fake grass may bring about drainage problems similar to concrete. You probably can't steer clear of code departments, but you definitely want to avoid homeowners' associations and their arbitrary nitpicking.