Front Yard Project

I'm planning to tear out all the weeds from my front yard, and replace all of it with crushed red brick. The whole thing will be framed by railway ties.

I tried this with red cedar mulch three years ago, and it worked reasonably well until last year when the mulch, well, mulched, and the weeds started to set up shop. The mulch also spilled into the sidewalk. So this year, it's crushed red brick framed in with railway ties (the plan is to have two rows deep, that should be enough to set a deep enough foundation for the ties but still have enough wall left to hold in the brick).

The red brick is very similar in appearance to the cedar mulch, but doesn't have the nasty tendency to biodegrade over time. Maybe I can get five or six years out of this...or more?

I finished digging up the yard today - got the trenches dug for putting down the lower level of framing. I found a cultivator almost exactly 4" wide - it was PERFECT and made the trenching much easier (and faster) than I expected.

I laid the first few railway ties to border the yard, but I don't figure the neighbors would appreciate me running the power saw at 10 PM to cut the last boards to fit (fireworks tonight notwithstanding). I also don't want to lose a finger to the power saw in the dark.

What's a socially acceptable time to run power tools in the yard? 9 AM? I'll probably roll out of bed about then and head straight to the yard. I only have until about 2 PM before the sun finds the front yard and sends me scurrying for cover. Of course, if I'll goes we'll I'll only be running the drill and the saw (the shoveling and the hauling of lumber and bricks is done) so I might be able to power through work through the afternoon.

IF everything goes well tomorrow, I'll have all the frames laid and assembled, set out the plastic sheeting, and start spreading the crushed brick. Depends how long it takes to saw the railroad ties to fit screw them together. If I can finish tomorrow I will be very happy with my long weekend project.

Last and most important - it's the 12th anniversary of marrying my Darling Wife! I let her sleep in while I worked on the yard, then we had a movie date and a late lunch at Baton Rouge.