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December 29, 2006
Help! Glass in my backyard
I recently had a renovation done on my Carroll Gardens brownstone and the contractors used the backyard for debris storage. Now that the debris has been removed, we are left with a yard full of glass and a dog who longs to chase balls back there. As much as we rake the backyard, glass seems to be everywhere and I don't know what to do. Has anyone had a similar experience? Any advice for getting rid of the glass?
Comments
just wait 1000 years and it will be sand.
just kidding, maybe take a shop vac out there and walk around sucking it up??
Posted by: Anonymous at December 29, 2006 1:31 PM
Our co-op’s front garden had a LOT of glass in it to from previous fires and broken windows. We did a big clean up about 5 years ago and every spring it amazes me how much more glass we find. All I can recommend is that you continue to pick up pieces every time you see them. Maybe removing the top 1 inch of soil will help? Was the debris storage contained to the area closet to the house, or did they use the entire backyard?
I too am curious if anyone out there has a good solution.
Posted by: Anonymous at December 29, 2006 2:20 PM
well...I will tell you what we did but you will think we are crazy.
It took us two months of weekends but we dug up 8-10 inches and sifted it. No kidding. The neighbors, who did not yet know us, watched us from their windows and must have thought we were nuts.
We got in the best shape of our lives!
We had a former window iron grid that we drove into the ground and tied rope from it to a wooden frame sifter (that we made with wood and window screen) and the other side tied with a rope to a tree or the fence. We then piled buckets of dirt on top of the sifter and shook it all down and put the glass and all the other stuff into bags for the trash. We had enough bags that we ended up renting a dumpster when we were done! No joke!
Posted by: Anonymous at December 29, 2006 2:53 PM
Wow! You must have the cleanest soil in Brooklyn!
Posted by: Anonymous at December 29, 2006 3:18 PM
I sifted my dirt too using a milk crate. It is slow. Still sometimes I find old glass in my yard so I wear gloves and have always avoided it just fine. The kids don't dig in the dirt too much, just play on the grass and it's been sifted off the top of the soil. The other option is to get somebody to take the top soil out for you and replace it. More expensive, but will take no time at all practically.
Posted by: Anonymous at December 29, 2006 9:44 PM
Oh gee this sounds fun. Ha. By merely scanning Forum I learn something new every day, that has to be done to an old house in Brooklyn! Wow.
Posted by: Anonymous at December 30, 2006 1:59 PM
well not just old houses in Brooklyn, but ALL of Brooklyn (esp Prospect Park).
In your case, original poster, you hired a crappy contractor. Have them come back and clean it up (although you can be sure they'll do a crappy job). You can threaten them with calling the city on them, and make good on that threat.
Unless of course they're unlicensed. Then you're screwed.
Posted by: Anonymous at December 30, 2006 7:27 PM
I am the original poster and unfortunately I can't blame my contractor for this mishap, just my architect for advising me to let the contractor store debris in the backyard. He thought it would be an easy solution to an overgrown backyard and save us the expenses of a constant dumpster on site. Since I gave the ok to the contractor to use it as storage, I don't feel like I can blame him. I just hope that people learn from my misfortune. Luckily we have money in the budget to totally re-do the backyard, which I guess will have to include replacing the top 10" of topsoil. Thanks Brownstoner friends for your advise!
Posted by: Anonymous at January 2, 2007 8:38 PM
If you want to rid yourself of all the glass, build a frame out of 1x2s big enough to be supported by the edges of a wheelbarrow and put metal screening material over it (the larger kind with the 1/2" grid).
Dig it up, dump it in, shake the frame occasionally and you will have a wheelbarrow of dirt which is free of glass.
Posted by: anon at January 3, 2007 7:41 PM
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