Backyard Landscaping - Gravel Removal Complete

I finished this up a few days ago after the sun had gone down and thus had to wait to get the picture.

Next up, hack in a few extra sprinkler heads to kind of get some water in the now removed court. This is going to be temporary as I'm planning to redo the sprinkler system as a whole but that won't be for a while.

Backyard Landscaping - Gravel Removal

Progress from last nights efforts. You can take pictures like this at 9pm in the evening when you live up north. Also, you can stay up later to work as well. I guess that's a bit of a two-edged sword.

Maybe another hour or two and I'll have it all out.

Backyard Landscaping - Basketball Court Asphalt Removal

When we purchased this house, the backyard was mostly a basketball court. Wanting to have more than asphalt to enjoy in the summer, we have been planning on how to improve things. A few weeks ago, that process began.

First, here's a very mediocre picture of what we were starting with.

I was getting some help with the asphalt (and gravel) removal and wanted to estimate how long I thought the job would take so I marked off a small fraction of the court and timed how long it took me to get it done. Verdict, 24 man-hours of labor to removal the full 30' x 40' court.

The help came and over the course of two evenings we got all the asphalt up; they weren't interested in sticking around for the gravel so that's what I've been working on infrequently over the past week or two.

We decided to keep a key-sized piece of the asphalt along with the fancy, very sturdy, and expensive basketball hoop. As I've been removing the several inches gravel that was laid beneath the asphalt I've been piling it in the key for use later in the project. The area on the left that is mostly brown has had the gravel removed (more or less); the area on the right that is gray has yet to be addressed.  I'm guessing is will be another two hours to get it done.

Stay tuned for further pictures of the yard as the project slowly evolves.