Backyard Concrete Pour

Looking for a recommondation for a contractor to pour concrete in a rowhouse backyard. Our effort to grow grass has failed so looking for a low maintenance, pet friendly alternative and thinking that concrete would be most cost effective option. Welcome all recommendations. Thanks

bocuckoo

in General Discussion 4 years and 5 months ago

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resident2 | 4 years and 5 months ago

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It is illegal to concrete over your whole back yard without a permit & a lot of drainage wells etc.
You cannot allow water runoff to run off into your neighbors property.
Plus you devalue your property by doing so, no one wants a permanently concrete back yard!

helen40

in General Discussion 4 years and 5 months ago

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Just to echo some of the other comments.

My attempts at grass all failed. It is very hard to do in brownstone Brooklyn. Mulch is great but doesnt provide a good surface for ball playing. I would strongly recommend that you NOT pave. The run-off you create is tremendous and has to be dealt with in one way or another. Ground cover (vinca?) may work. Turf was not great when I did this garden 20 years ago, but it is much better now.

Just an anecdote from my immediate neighbor. She hired a lousy mason who paved everything in her back yard. The contractor did not grade properly, nor did he install sufficient drains. So after a massive summer thunderstorm, her garden level flooded. So after hauling cement mix through her house to install, she hired another mason to jackhammer it all out, remove it through her living space, and reinstalled a garden with a proper French drain near the rear door. Lesson learned for all who could see.

chemosphere | 4 years and 5 months ago

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how do you get through your house a 15×40 roll of fake grass?

andriywww1990 | 4 years and 5 months ago

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bobjbkln: to your point. my mother lives in another jurisdiction and they wanted to add a room on the house. the local dep made them take the paved driveway up in exchange for allowing the room. has something to do with water run off.

shahnandersen

in General Discussion 4 years and 5 months ago

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Is it even legal now-a-days to concrete over large areas of permeable ground? I’m pretty sure that it requires DEP permitting in the front yard (or is it completely prohibited?). I assume the backyard, though less visible, would be the same.

bqeresident1 | 4 years and 5 months ago

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Hoping to put in some turf this year as well. Synlawn has nice stuff – some of it is non-petroleum – 100% plant based
https://www.synlawn.com/shop/synaugustine-347/

JohnHancock | 4 years and 5 months ago

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Have you tried laying sod? Grass is hard to keep in a backyard no matter what though.

greenworks | 4 years and 5 months ago

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I have a great concrete guy but please don’t do it. I echo John Hancock’s sentiments.

There are very good artificial turfs as mentioned, though they too get hot in sun, and you can mix that with a pea gravel border. Or do all pea gravel with pavers. So many options other than concrete.

If shade is your problem with growing grass there are grass alternatives- ground covers – that are shade tolerant and function like a lawn. Google “shade tolerant grass alternatives.”

dorkofwindsor | 4 years and 5 months ago

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I did this exact same thing. Used Billy Palanca and used a porcelain tile over it, we roll out the nice turf in the summer months over it and he also installed our fence. Really nice job, has held up quite well.

bocuckoo | 4 years and 5 months ago

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Thanks and maybe I just need to get over my grass yard failures. Any recommedations for turf manufacturers and local installers?

JohnHancock | 4 years and 5 months ago

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Concrete is pretty drastic and irreversible.
You’ll have to drain huge rainfall somehow since you have no natural way of draining your runoff and it will be a lot hotter back there as well. Once your kids are grown and not into soccer anymore which is probably sooner than you think you’ll be stuck with the rock. My advice would be mulch too, you can play soccer on mulch or pavers at least you can remove them easily if you change your usage down the line

Putnamdenizen | 4 years and 5 months ago

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Concrete sounds less pleasant than turf. Or some sort of pavers that are permeable. I am staring at the moss which has taken over my back yard (less light with nearby new buildings). I jack hammered concrete up 20 years ago – it was awful.

bocuckoo | 4 years and 5 months ago

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Thanks. I like the idea of cedar mulch but have kids who want to use the yard for soccer etc. Turf is a logical alternative but even if aesthetically pleasing, something about it seems wrong to me.

RobertGMarvin

in General Discussion 4 years and 5 months ago

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When I gave up on grass I spread cedar mulch over landscape cloth. It looks good and is permeable to water. The downside is that I have to add more every couple of years.

Lurker | 4 years and 5 months ago

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Try astro turf! It sounds awful, but today they make really good versions that are far less tacky than before. With trim and stones and such it can look pretty nice, it let water go through so you don’t get puddle or mud, and you can walk barefoot comfortably.