Hey Y'all, its been a while! In the process of trying to clean up our back yard, I decided I was going to put in some stairs to get down to the lower section. A few years ago, we brought in 30 Dump Trucks of dirt to raise things up and give us a little more space for drainage, etc. We have just been fighting with what do do on the hillside for a few years. We also had an elm tree that I was going to keep, just because it was holding in some of the dirt. We terraced and planted a few plants, but have basically been leaving half of the hillside to be neglected.
What it looked like shortly after we bought it:
Before we brought in the dirt:
After we brought in the dirt, we started terracing:
After some flowers were planted:
This summer, figuring out rise and run
:
After the stairs were put in:
Then we needed to cut out the tree root, and I figured why not put in a root cellar? The neighbor was having some footers dug, so over came the excavator and I ended up with a good size hole
Its going to be 6'x8' and will have a poured footer, and cinderblock walls. Probably a peaked roof, but not quite sure on that one yet.
We are going to tie in a timber retaining wall into the side of it, in front of the garden, and then again on the other side to keep the erosion down and keep the drive that I cut into the hillside from getting taken over. While we were trying to figure out planning, we decided that it might just be easier to put in another root cellar into this hill side!
we had a pool in the yard this year, and will most likely put it back up, so I am going to need to do a little bit more grading and shaping of the hillside. It is going to be a two tiered retaining wall, which will also allow us to backfill a little bit more and eventually get some spiral stairs off of the deck to the back yard. I am debating about doing a smaller 6x6 root cellars and just tie them directly into the retaining wall, then do a roof over it. I figure if I have a tractor and a backhoe for a few hours, I can get most of this dirt moved pretty quickly. I am somewhat limited by where my drive can go do to a sewer line, and I want to keep as much of the yard useable. I could do another set of stairs instead of the drive, but it is nice to be able to get down there and drop off firewood, etc. I will also likely run power to the larger cinderblock cellar, just to have a light and blender (heck, it will be by the pool right?) Any other thoughts on what you might want in a root cellar for those of you who have them?
One will be used for roots veggies, tool storage, etc. The other will be more for storage like a lawn mower, chainsaw, pool in winter, etc.
What it looked like shortly after we bought it:
Before we brought in the dirt:
After we brought in the dirt, we started terracing:
After some flowers were planted:
This summer, figuring out rise and run
:
After the stairs were put in:
Then we needed to cut out the tree root, and I figured why not put in a root cellar? The neighbor was having some footers dug, so over came the excavator and I ended up with a good size hole
Its going to be 6'x8' and will have a poured footer, and cinderblock walls. Probably a peaked roof, but not quite sure on that one yet.
We are going to tie in a timber retaining wall into the side of it, in front of the garden, and then again on the other side to keep the erosion down and keep the drive that I cut into the hillside from getting taken over. While we were trying to figure out planning, we decided that it might just be easier to put in another root cellar into this hill side!
we had a pool in the yard this year, and will most likely put it back up, so I am going to need to do a little bit more grading and shaping of the hillside. It is going to be a two tiered retaining wall, which will also allow us to backfill a little bit more and eventually get some spiral stairs off of the deck to the back yard. I am debating about doing a smaller 6x6 root cellars and just tie them directly into the retaining wall, then do a roof over it. I figure if I have a tractor and a backhoe for a few hours, I can get most of this dirt moved pretty quickly. I am somewhat limited by where my drive can go do to a sewer line, and I want to keep as much of the yard useable. I could do another set of stairs instead of the drive, but it is nice to be able to get down there and drop off firewood, etc. I will also likely run power to the larger cinderblock cellar, just to have a light and blender (heck, it will be by the pool right?) Any other thoughts on what you might want in a root cellar for those of you who have them?
One will be used for roots veggies, tool storage, etc. The other will be more for storage like a lawn mower, chainsaw, pool in winter, etc.
