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No, I'm good.
NARRATOR: Licensed contractor Matt Blashaw can't give it away.
A free backyard?
He's ready to make some big changes to someone's yard.
You need any help in the backyard?
You know what? I'll call you if I do.
The lucky homeowner who accepts his offer
will get a new party yard with floating redwood decks,
a sleek metal and concrete fire table,
unique private pergola,
mock-wood retaining wall bordering a beautiful new lawn,
and a whole lot more.
Can you come to my house right now?
Wow!
My door is leaking.
I don't fix door leaks.
You want to take me home?
Professional contractor Matt Blashaw
stakes out home-improvement stores...
I'm giving away gold.
...looking for do-it-yourselfers
I don't know.
What they don't know is he's gonna transform
their simple project into a total backyard makeover.
WOMAN: It's amazing.
It's like winning the landscape lottery.
Yes!
-- Captions by VITAC --
No, thanks.
My yard's done.
Hey, you're from that show.
I can't remember the name of it.
You want to play Charades?
Outside.
Smash.
Crashers.
"Outside Crashers."
"Yard Crashers." That's it!
I knew it.
I'm a little embarrassed that you have me on camera.
You work for another home-improvement company.
I actually do, yes.
Yes.
You should do this. Be a little more incognito.
Oh, really?
What are you guys doing here, anyway?
Just run. Go. You're gonna get caught.
Are you really looking at the tchotchke area?
I was looking at the light-up palm tree.
Like, why would you have this?
They're all little garden-decor items.
Maybe you like to hunt.
That's a good point.
What's going on with the yard? How's the yard?
The backyard's...no good.
Yeah.
I just bought my first house.
By myself.
I'm 24.
You're -- You're 24, and you just bought a house?!
Yeah, that's what everybody says.
I have a boyfriend.
Yes, he is.
Is he helping out with any of the work?
He has his little projects, and I have mine.
And mine's the yard and his is not.
He's not handy.
Well, I think I'm the more handy one.
I'm handy.
Yeah.
I would love to come check out your yard.
Yep.
To look at?
Sir, do I look trustworthy?
You do.
Awesome. I'm a contractor.
I would love to go home with you right now,
in your backyard, check it out, okay?
If I like what I see, I'll give you an incredible backyard.
We can rock this out in two days.
[ Laughs ]
You can do a lot in two days.
A lot of people think the opposite.
You can do a lot in two days.
We're good.
Okay. Meet me up front. We're going home.
Where are you at?
I am two rows over.
I hope I didn't just sign up for two days of abuse.
I just parked right in your driveway.
You go right ahead.
Look at this. You are a homeowner!
Most kids your age
are just learning how to do their laundry.
Here, you have a house. All right, let's go to the back.
Whoa! Okay.
This is not my favorite.
This hole right here -- I don't know what this...
Yes.
Rule number one -- don't cut a hole in an aluminum patio cover.
[ Laughs ]
Yeah.
I put that up.
Yes.
You have a lot of space back here.
All of my grass is dead in the summer,
so this is only the time that I get to enjoy it
as it being green.
It is dead in the summer.
It is not seeded well.
I would like low-maintenance.
The fence is not so great.
RACHEL: And there's a park behind here, which I love.
Oh, come. Come.
And it goes to the park.
Because we have a dog, and he loves to go out and run...
MATT: This is great.
Okay.
What is this?
This is our pond.
It does not look good. It is not useful.
It is not practical.
When we took the liner out, we found all of this concrete.
No, it was completely empty when we moved in.
No.
Do you like any of this?
No, I don't.
MATT: Give me your style.
I like modern. I like contemporary.
But I still like it to be kind of homey.
I would like a nice gate.
Do you have any reservations right now?
No.
I need from you 7 to 10 friends.
Bring the boyfriend, okay?
Two days.
Sounds great.
Yes.
Who's your backyard boyfriend?
You are.
[ Laughs ] All right, I'll be back.
Bye.
Can't wait.
[ Horn blaring ]
MATT: Yeah, come on, let's go! Over here!
There we go!
Hello, hello!
Let me guess which one the boyfriend is.
Oh, let's see.
Hey, how you doing?
Tyler.
Tyler! Welcome to a project that you had no say in.
I know. I had plans, man.
Right next to me -- this is Jonus Larsen from Larsen Design.
Next to him, that is Connie Cummings.
She is from Cummings Masonry & Landscape.
We got masons and we got carpenters.
We got everything. You guys ready?
[ Cheers and applause ]
Can you guys scream like that?
[ Cheers and applause ]
Let's go to the back. Come on.
Yes.
Check it out.
Oh, my goodness!
What is it?!
[ Laughter ]
NARRATOR: Matt's eclectic design starts
with curved redwood deck walkways
that all lead to a new seating area
highlighted by a custom fire table.
A new fence replaces the old rickety one,
and, as Rachel asked, lots of new sod.
Because this is not even close to grass.
Yay!
NARRATOR: And by the house,
they're pouring a new concrete patio
with a redwood pergola and custom privacy screens.
Do you love it?
I love it! It looks awesome.
Okay, let's get a little peace right now
before the chaos starts.
Let's go! Demo!
Grr!
Everybody rushes in, starts getting dirty,
pulling stuff out of the yard.
And the next thing you know, we're ripping everything out.
Oh, yeah! What the heck, man?!
How about that for fun?
Come on in.
Go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go!
Whoo!
Watching the shade structure come down was just...
♪ Ahh ♪
Aah!
Best demolition ever!
NARRATOR: Coming up, molding a faux-wood retaining wall.
Once this goes on and then she puts the color,
you're gonna be good to go.
A fire table made of welded steel.
I've never done that that successfully.
Champion homeowner welder!
NARRATOR: And a concrete pour that's in trouble.
Oh, you're kidding me! We have to pour it now.
You're killing me.
Yeah.
I just bought my first house.
NARRATOR: Rachel DeSantis was very unhappy with her old backyard.
No, I don't.
So Matt Blashaw and his "Yard Crashers" crew
came a-honking.
It was very nerve-racking. I didn't know what to expect.
NARRATOR: But Matt's design was exactly right.
When I saw the design on the board, it looked beautiful.
NARRATOR: Now the crew's moving full speed ahead,
sinking new fence posts...
...re-roofing the toolshed...
...and finishing up the rebar support
for the new retaining wall.
All right, let's start pumping this thing.
So we're gonna let it -- See how all the wet is coming out first?
NARRATOR: Matt shows Tyler how to build up the wet concrete
to cover the rebar frame.
Build it all up to about right there.
So let that slump in just a little bit more in there.
There you go.
Okay, cool.
After it sets for five minutes,
they form the wall using trowels.
See how it just stiffens up?
And actually, the more and more time that goes by,
the easier it is to do.
Yeah, I've noticed that.
Next, a faux-wood finish gets stamped on the drying concrete.
The crew is wasting no time getting the new fence up.
MATT: How much longer? An hour? 30 minutes?
30 minutes.
31 minutes.
32 minutes. [ Laughs ]
Everything's coming together just so quickly.
NARRATOR: And right on time, the plants arrive.
Gather around. Let's get some plants.
Yeah.
Espalier, which means
that they're just lined up on a trellis.
No more. Done.
NARRATOR: The crew lays and levels base rock for the new patio...
...and forms the round pad for the fire table.
Seeing the transformation --
it just keeps my adrenaline going, and I'm just so excited.
You know, I'm gonna do everything I can
to give them a hand to help my yard get done.
NARRATOR: Rachel's willingness is put to the test
as she's enlisted by Matt and Jonus
to help weld the centerpiece for the fire table.
There you go.
MATT: Wow! Are you kidding me?
I know. That was crazy. That was continuous!
Born to be a welder.
Seriously! That is fantastic!
NARRATOR: With her welding chops down, Rachel moves on
to help Matt with the next part of the table build.
We're building an hourglass base for the table,
and then it's gonna be concrete on top.
NARRATOR: To make the concrete tabletop, they need a form.
So they cut a three-inch-thick circle
from a much larger industrial tube,
then make two half circles using fence boards and 2x4s.
Yeah!
MATT: We got to have a bowl in the middle.
Take the top off of that. This is designed and painted...
...for high heat.
Okay.
So this is our half.
The offsetting form for the bowl goes in.
And they add rebar for more support.
All right, let's start mixing up the concrete.
Wow.
They use it in, like, skyscrapers.
This is gonna cure really fast.
We got about a half-hour to work with it.
They mix, pour...
...and level the concrete before it hardens.
More concrete.
MATT: Hey, Jonus, do we have any more bags of this?
We have very, very strong fence posts.
Oh, you're kidding me! We have to pour it now.
So we used all the bags on the fence posts.
We have 20 bags coming.
Five minutes? He's five minutes away?
He's five minutes away. It's not too bad yet.
Quick!
Let's go!
Grab a bag. Let's go, let's go, let's go.
It's gonna be close.
Finally, when the concrete got here, it was just a huge relief.
We mixed it up as quick as we could,
and we slapped it on there and smoothed it all out.
And I think it's gonna -- I think it'll work.
The gods of concrete are smiling on us.
I think we did it.
NARRATOR: The last step -- embedding tumbled glass
just beneath the surface of the concrete.
I'm covering them because after it dries,
we're gonna polish it out.
Matt's determined not to waste any time
and quickly moves on to the next project -- privacy screens.
The six-foot-high screens will take a lot of blocks,
so Tyler fires up the chop saw and starts cutting.
In order to hold these on,
we're gonna drill two holes on the center one.
They drill holes halfway into the base to hold the rebar.
All right. Just like so, okay?
And then we'll just start building and sliding.
They stack blocks until it's six feet high
then stabilize the sides with 2x4s.
Sun going down. Bring it on in.
One and done. How you guys feeling?
Tired.
Well, we got a ton done.
Yeah, we did.
We got the wall in. We got both of our pads poured.
But tonight, you know what we got to do?
We got to put in the piers for the deck.
You guys got another couple hours in you?
Yeah.
Yes! Cameras, go bye-bye.
Let's start working on those piers and get those floating decks up.
All right.
Let's go. Nice job, guys.
NARRATOR: Coming up, modern style using Plexiglas.
I like it.
Very cool.
But her new gate has Rachel wearing thin.
[ Groans ] This is tedious.
Isn't it? Do not lose steam!
NARRATOR: For Matt's favorite projects and tips,
head on over to the "Crashers" page
at diynetwork.com/crashers.
Good day. Good day.
NARRATOR: It's Day 2 in Rachel's backyard.
Posts for the pergola are set.
The concrete patio has dried,
so has the circular pad for the fire table,
and piers are set for the floating wooden paths.
Are you feeling confident?
Yeah. Look at how much we've done so far.
That is true.
Why don't you take Tyler and do the floating decks?
Okay, we got pergola to do today.
Guess who's gonna install some sod.
You!
Let's stop talking. Let's start doing. Let's go! Let's go!
NARRATOR: The crew starts framing the top of the redwood pergola.
The floating-deck walkways are taking shape.
Decks are floating.
Okay, cool.
NARRATOR: The radius line is scribed, and Tyler fires up the jigsaw.
Let it rip.
Matt and Rachel begin building her new garden gate
by cutting more redwood.
First, 2x12s for the door itself.
Next, they cut 1x6s for a frame.
RACHEL: Oh, my goodness.
I'm using all these new tools I've never used before!
I'm learning a lot!
NARRATOR: Rachel cuts 45-degree miters on each of the frame boards.
See that?
So we just took off that corner, okay?
All the way through.
They lay out the gate,
check that it's flush, then start drilling pilot holes
and screwing it together with 1 1/4-inch wood screws.
[ Groans ] It's tedious!
Isn't it? Do not lose steam!
And...
Done!
All right.
To give the gate a modern vibe,
Matt wants to insert small, opaque Plexiglas windows.
We're gonna run this through a table saw.
Yeah.
They cut the Plexiglas into 5x15- and 5x7-inch rectangles
using a table saw, then a chop saw.
Let's see how it's gonna look.
RACHEL: I like it, too.
Very cool.
To create the holes for the Plexiglas,
they first use a drill with a paddle bit,
then bring in the jigsaw.
Wow!
Just like that. Yeah, we'll snug that in.
And then we're just gonna take this little 1x1, okay,
and frame it on both sides.
And that's what's gonna kind of encapsulate it...
...and keep it in.
Beautiful.
Aah. Done.
That was -- That was rough.
Coming up, finally, sod!
It's all going down. You ready?
The moment is here!
Things get a little messy polishing the new tabletop.
Oh, my God!
I hate this part!
And one very proud young homeowner.
I did pretty good on that one.
[ Laughter ]
We got two days to do this.
Yes.
NARRATOR: Meeting Matt Blashaw was Rachel's big break.
Her old backyard was a real mess.
I wouldn't even wish it on my worst enemy.
It was just terrible.
NARRATOR: Matt and his crew crashed.
Now the walkways are getting stained,
the pergola's almost complete,
and Connie is coloring the retaining wall.
Don't touch the deck.
We are stained!
What colors are you using to kind of get that?
It's almost like a railroad tie.
Like a bark-brown color.
And then you antique it with a light black on top.
And the black kind of goes in all the cracks and crevasses
Yeah.
I love it. Nice, Connie.
NARRATOR: As time ticks away, Jonus is skinning
the base of the fire table with overlapping steel,
and Matt and Rachel are grinding the concrete top.
Now, circular motions.
Now, it's just taking that first top layer off.
There we go. Seeing it?
You can see it uncover. Look how beautiful that is.
Oh, my God!
I hate this part!
Why?
[ Laughs ]
No one said this work was clean.
Oh, I hate this.
[ Laughs ]
Oh, that's beautiful.
There's no crying in contracting.
So grab the brush.
RACHEL: Ooh!
Hmm? Isn't that beautiful?
It might have been worth it.
Just a little bit.
We'll put some concrete polish on this.
Cool!
The forms come off, and concrete polish is sprayed on.
Jonus assembles the fire table in place,
welds a gas line to the fire bowl,
and then fire glass is added.
Right to the edge.
NARRATOR: Then the two concrete tabletop sections are hefted into place.
And slide.
In the yard, it's time for Rachel's dream to come true.
You ready?
I'm really, really excited to have sod
because I didn't have grass before,
and it's gonna look so pretty.
NARRATOR: The privacy screens are painted.
After getting decorated with small plants,
they get placed around the patio.
And it's the moment of truth for Rachel's new yard.
[ Imitates flame igniting ]
Ooh!
Fire!
We are done, everyone!
Before, it was kind of like,
"Oh, no, don't look at my backyard!"
We had an old pond that was, you know, filled with concrete.
And we had this really ugly aluminum structure.
I think it was mostly weeds, actually.
There was no lawn. It was completely dead.
But now it's just gonna be like, "Come on out!"
It's just transformed. It's beautiful.
It's very modern.
It's very clean. It's very up-to-date.
I really like how the decks are floating with various walkways
that take you to different parts of the yard.
We've got this beautiful cement retaining wall
that we've stained and made look like wood.
It's nice to know that these pieces are, like, custom.
Like, nobody else is gonna have these in their backyard.
And look at the gate.
And the sun's beaming through it.
I did pretty good on that one.
[ Laughter ]
Everybody, nice job.
And please give it up to my crew and to Connie and Jonus.
Awesome, awesome, awesome!
All right, that is a yard crash. Enjoy. Crew!
[ Cheers and applause ]
We're out. Enjoy! We're out!
Closed Captions provided by Scripps Networks, LLC.