Edging the Driveway with Granite Stones

This post could also be known as "The Mother of All Projects".

Background
We bought an electric dog fence for Akina.  I'll detail the installation in a later post, but after laying out the wire and testing it, I realized Akina would see a lot of tennis balls roll off our property and if she chased, she'd get zapped.  Also, given that our property ends right by the driveway, there wasn't a good way to demarcate the "warning zone" for her which would make training more difficult.

Pamela and I went to Home Depot and looked at small plastic garden fences, but I wasn't too fond.  I also had extra belgian blocks left over from the garden / grass project, so I thought edging the driveway would not only utilize existing materials but also look very good.

While I knew this would be a big project, I had no idea what I was actually getting myself into.

Looks simple, right?

Last block goes here

Just dig a little trench, right?

Surprise
At the advice of my neighbor, my plan was to cut the edge of the asphalt along a straight line and bury the beglain blocks in a trench.  This should have been pretty simple.  Unfortunately, as I was digging the trench, I found that there was an old concrete curb that had been buried underneath several layers of asphalt.

The concrete curb was probably 8" deep and was held in place by a larger base of concrete.  Removing the curb would be a huge project itself.

Plan B then became cutting the asphalt on the opposite side of the curb and laying the blocks there.  I started cutting the asphalt but then found there were many layers that had been laid on top of each other over the years.  This would have also shrunk my driveway and created more wasted space between the property line and the driveway.  Not ideal.

Demolition
I rented a demolition hammer at Home Depot.  It cost $75 for a 24 hour rental.  I felt I needed to spend the money in order to see how easily I could remove the curb, but I wasn't sure if it would still be too much of a project for me.

The demo hammer worked like a charm.  I put my weight into it and the hammer broke apart the concrete like it was nothing.  Even Pamela got in on the action.

Making Progress
I ended up leaving a lot of the concrete curb in place, as it was inside the property line and would act as a good straight edge.

I started laying the blocks into place.  To set them, I first mixed up some Sacrete Ready Mix Concrete powder with sand and water and created a base to sink the blocks into.  I then used a rubber mallet to push them into their final place.  It would have been smart for me to then add mortar in between the stones at this point, but this whole project was about discovery.

For a real step-by-step guide on how do edge a driveway with belgian blocks, follow this link to This Old House.

Whoa, halfway there!

I ran out of belgian blocks halfway through.  I drove up to Bedford Stone in Bedford Hills to purchase the rest.  They had a huge selection of belgian blocks and other stones.  The added weight in the car didn't slow me down enough, as I got pulled over for doing 83mph in a 65mph zone.  Thankfully, the kind officer only wrote me up for an expired inspection (9 days past inspection).

Adding mortar between the stones was also less than fun.  There are a bunch of tools and such, but I found the best way for me was to put on rubber gloves and use my fingers to jam mortar in between the blocks then use my fingers again to smooth and shape the mortar.

Those are hockey shin pads

Driveway Repair
With the blocks in place and mortar dried, the last step was to repair the asphalt.  I had cut out a few sections and the old edges were worn and no longer straight.

I used Sacrete Cold Patch, which you simply pour into place then tamp down.

Finished Product
Well, I'm still patching up parts of the driveway, but the blocks are done and the dog fence is up.

How to Plant New Grass

What spectacular weather, eh?

The prior owners of our home had a 22' by 4' garden in which they grew different spices and had a nice rosebush.  Because of the layout, we tore up the garden last fall when we moved in - the garden blocked access to the rest of the yard for our dog and even when she did get by, her cable would get caught in the plants or the rose bush.

The garden was separated on one side by landscaping stones, so the first job was to remove these.  Ugh, what a pain.

Say goodbye to a fun weekend!

The prior owner had made a frame of concrete and set the stones in the frame.  He then added mortar to join the stones together.

The first step involved using a trencher to dig up the garden and the yard by a few inches on each side of the stone.  I then started jamming a gigantic railroad spike into the mortar between stones to break up the mortar.  My neighbor suggested I simply use his sledge hammer, slam it into the stones, and this would break up the mortar and free the stones from the concrete base.  He was right - I wish I had talked to him about this prior to spending my Saturday jamming away with the railroad spike.

Hello sore back

The culprit

Each stone weighed 40 or 50lbs would be my guess. 

That took up my Saturday.  On Sunday, I spent the day preparing the former garden area for seeding.

Add caption

I was surprised at how rocky the soil was, even in the area where the garden was.  I quickly built a sifter out of some metal screen and left over chair legs.

Searching for gold

I then dug up about 6" of dirt across the entire area, dropped it into my sifter, and sorted out all the rocks (I also found some old paper, pieces of glass, and some brick).  I then used the good dirt which had fallen into the trash can and spread it back out over the entire area.

It's important to try to level out the area where you are planting new grass as any mounds or depressions will likely remain once the grass has taken root.  This can cause uneven drainage.  I used a shovel to pat down the dirt and create a pretty smooth plot.

New grass needs to be left alone to sprout and grow roots, so I also needed to put up a fence to keep the dog out.  The prior homeowner had left 24' of fence which was about 4' high, so I cut it in half and used spikes to create a perimeter.

Off limits!

I bought a small bag of Scott's grass seed along with Starter Fertilizer.  I was convinced I would just spread it by hand, but I read enough warnings online to decide otherwise.  I bought a hand spreader for $15 from Home Depot and I think the results were very good.

Once the grass seed was spread, I used the back of a rake to push the seeds down gently.

This had better work!

I used the spreader to then distribute the Starter Fertilizer, then hit it all with the hose.  The best recommendation I found online was to keep the ground moist - don't create puddles, but also realize that if it dries out, it'll die.  I plan to water the lawn twice a day for the foreseeable future and hope the grass fills in nicely.

I'll plan to post a new pic of the lawn every few days so that everyone can see the progress.  My real concern is keeping our dog off the area for long enough for the grass to grow in.  Different sites say it can take 5 to 30 days for the grass to really grow in earnest.

Update: June 2012 - save yourself a lot of time and effort and wait till it is warm to plant new grass!