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You guys look like troublemakers.
What are you guys up to?
NARRATOR: Matt's trying to find a lucky homeowner...
Just a generous donation to the universe.
...by asking one simple question.
How about a brand-new backyard?
I don't need a backyard.
Wrong answer...
MATT: I can't give them away today!
...because whoever says yes
is going to get the ultimate dining and entertainment space,
complete with a barbecue island, mosaic-tile dining table,
and a massive, concrete hangout with a waterfall and fire pit.
Do you want me to follow you home right now?
This is a loaded question.
[ Laughs ]
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 --
Closed Captions provided by Scripps Networks, LLC.
I'll wait. I'm next.
I'm next.
Well, do you know what this is?
No. [ Laughs ]
A guy.
Yes. Yes. Yes.
I'd like to go to your house right now.
And do what?
You seem skeptical.
I'm not trying to steal anything from you.
You just gripped your purse tighter!
No, I didn't! I didn't mean to.
Do I look like I know my stuff?
'Cause I'm getting a lot of the same thing.
People are looking at me like, "Nuh-unh."
I-I'm just coming in peace. Everything's cool.
All right?
Put the -- Put the shovel down.
Nice little shovel -- very cool.
What else are we looking for?
Weed killer.
So, what do you got going on in the backyard?
It needs work.
Our grass, for some reason, only grows in the wintertime.
Guess what -- you hit the winning lottery numbers.
You take me home.
I don't know if we're ready for that just yet.
Not yet?
I would love to multiply those shovels by like 30.
All right?
With men behind them!
What do you say?
Let's not talk to her.
[ Laughter ]
It sounds too good to be true.
It does, yeah.
But so does the lottery when you look at
that winning lottery ticket, and you're like, "Yeah!"
And I've never won the lottery.
[ Laughter ]
Well, today, you just did.
I would love to help you!
Let's do it.
It is?
Let's do it!
All right, shake the hand.
That's all, I see?
I just need to talk to the one
that makes all the decisions in the house.
I think Matt is definitely
a better option than the weed killer, 'cause you know what?
They don't sell enough weed killer for our backyard.
[ Both laugh ]
You wish that was you, right?
Don't worry. It could happen.
This is it? Nice!
All right, take me to the back.
This...is the grass.
As you can see, everything is severely overgrown.
Weeds everywhere, overgrown bushes.
SEAN: And I don't feel like I should have to weed my patio.
There's plenty of other weeds around here.
Please. Yeah, I know.
You see the grill. I love to barbecue.
Yeah!
I'd love to be able to grill all year long.
However, the patio accumulates so much water in the wintertime.
This whole brick area gets flooded,
and we get just massive flooding over in this area, as well.
Okay. So, we're not in love with this at all?
Not at all.
If I were to take a tractor and just wipe this thing clean,
you'd be happy with it?
That would make us very happy, yes.
The table came with the house.
And we like the table, but...
...we also can't move it, either, so...
[ Laughter ]
No, I think that's why it was left.
So, it's cool. I mean, you have the idea,
but, really, two people could only sit at this table,
SEAN: Yeah, exactly.
Talk to me. How many people you usually have back here?
What, do you have, like, parties?
Yeah, a lot of family get-togethers.
And we have nowhere to put them,
so what we usually wind up seeing is
a bunch of groups of standing people,
and no one's sitting down
and actually enjoying themselves.
Yeah, exactly.
[ Laughter ]
Okay, cool.
[ Rooster crows ]
SEAN: Absolutely.
We have a neighbor with a rooster.
Yes, it is.
It's time to wake up, in case you didn't know.
You want something to drown that out?
That would be wonderful.
Yeah, it's not gonna be a shotgun.
[ Laughter ]
I think I got an idea, but give me what you want.
We want a good yard for our son to be able to play with.
We want a patio to entertain on.
I think that's about it.
We're good to go.
Well, it's gonna be good.
So, you bring 10 friends. I'm gonna bring a whole crew.
We're gonna rock this thing out.
All right.
Get ready, guys!
That is a big yard, my friends --
big yard.
Let's go! Let's go!
[ Horn honking ]
[ Cheers and applause ]
You've got a crew here today! Let me hear it!
[ Cheers and applause ]
ALL: Yeah!
All right.
So is my team.
Yes.
All right. Right next to me, this is Jonus Larsen.
He is from Larsen Designs.
Next to him, this is Donna Dowson.
And then right here,
the king of concrete, Mr. Mike Todd!
And my crew!
We got a team.
You guys ready to get this started?
ALL: Yeah!
All right, let's go. Come on, everybody.
Back! Back! Back!
I want to see it!
Check it out.
Oh, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho! Look at that!
Okay.
NARRATOR: Matt's design includes a grill
with a metal-wrapped barbecue island...
Yeah!
NARRATOR: ...new concrete patio
and gravel patio that extends out into the yard.
There's also going to be redwood planter boxes
and a mosaic-tile dining table...
And we're gonna put a copper trough to it
for plants...or ***.
[ Laughter ]
I prefer ***!
All right?
NARRATOR: ...a concrete fire pit with a concrete couch...
And to drown out the rooster, all right, you're gonna have
a water spillway all the way through the back
with a little waterfall to the back over here, all right?
NARRATOR: ...and a new sod lawn surrounded by plants.
MATT: That look good?
Looks awesome!
Love it!
You guys ready? Let's go!
Who gets to move the concrete furniture?
Not it! Not it! [ Laughs ]
Bye-bye, brick!
[ Laughing ] Yes! Yes!
All right. Just don't hit the sprinklers.
Oh! [ Laughing ]
NARRATOR: Coming up, furniture that can hold the whole family.
It's huge!
[ Laughing ]
NARRATOR: Amanda gets into the flow of things.
This is a hard job!
And "Yard Crashers" after dark.
Whoo!
NARRATOR: At the home-improvement store,
Matt kept striking out
while trying to give someone a new yard.
People are looking at me like, "Nuh-unh."
Then he ran into Sean and Amanda.
I'm just coming in peace.
Put the shovel down.
After a little negotiating, they took him home.
If I were to take a tractor and just wipe this thing clean,
That would make us very happy.
Okay, cool.
NARRATOR: He did just that.
Bye-bye!
Now they're forming up the new concrete patio,
and Matt's ready to get things cooking.
My friend, you and I are gonna build a barbecue!
Okay?
This is gonna be a barbecue/countertop combo.
So, we're gonna build it in an "L."
Okay? It's gonna be 9'x7'.
They cut the steel studs to size...
[ Buzzing ]
...then mark the layout
for running the studs 2 feet on center.
Now, the one thing
that slows this process down with steel
is that they'll have these little ribs on it.
Oh, yeah.
And that means they don't like to fit together.
That's not good, right?
So, what we're gonna do is that on each one of these,
we're gonna snip the back of it
like that.. and like that.
Just wide enough, okay?
And then we're just gonna bend it out.
MATT: Okay.
All right.
All right.
So, all I'm gonna do is just gonna pop them in, okay?
And then just grab these little sheet-metal screws.
We just need one per.
Ready?
[ Whirring ]
There it is.
Locks in nice and tight like that, okay?
All the way, boom, boom, boom on our studs,
we'll flip it over, do that, and then we're done.
[ Whirring ]
NARRATOR: Once the frame is built,
they face it with pressure-treated plywood.
So, I'm just gonna run a chalk line.
See, I got my stud over there.
Okay, I find my stud over here.
No, I'm over here.
[ Laughs ]
I found you. [ Laughs ]
All right, stud.
Drill it.
[ Drill whirring ]
All right, you dig it?
Looking good.
Know the drill!
Let's do it again on the other side.
All right. Same thing.
NARRATOR: It's mid-afternoon.
The crew digs the basin
for the massive, concrete couch's waterfall,
adds rebar for the base,
and brings in the prebuilt forms.
First things first, we got to put up all these forms --
heavy-duty forms.
So, I'm gonna give you a little helper here, all right?
Put her to work, do the forms,
and then the concrete's coming soon.
Cool! Get in!
NARRATOR: Amanda and the guys set the forms in place...
Jonus runs the plumbing for the couch's waterfall...
and Matt and Sean start building the redwood planter boxes.
First of all, let's just put this on here.
Let's get it cut, all right? A nice, even 45,
'cause I want a nice, clean edge.
I don't want anything butted up.
That looks pretty money right there.
They cut 45-degree angles at each end of the 2x12s.
Then they form two boxes.
Cool!
Next, they connect the sides
with 4x4s that'll double as the legs.
Just like that.
Look at that!
And the goodies to fill it up just arrived.
Plants!
Plants! Plants!
With the plants unloaded...
You're gonna kind of hold this
to where it's hovering right above it.
...Amanda welds together 1/8-inch steel
to form the legs that'll hold the dining table.
How's the world of welding?
It's pretty awesome!
It's hot, dude.
Yes.
Let me see it.
There it is!
Look at you! 10 minutes into it.
I'll be a professional welder in no time!
I love it!
NARRATOR: The crew is nearly done setting the forms
for the mammoth concrete furniture,
the gas line is run for the fire feature,
and after mastering the welding gun,
Amanda takes on the concrete pourer.
MATT: All right, are you ready for this?
Get on in where he's at.
Okay, just like he's doing,
Holy moley!
Yeah.
All right.
Just kind of filling it in.
They'll rake it back to where you want.
This is a hard job!
Right?
Right? [ Laughing ] Yeah!
He's like, "Finally!"
What do you think, husband?
She's doing a great job.
Not bad, right?
Our backyard right now -- it looks a hundred times better
than it did this morning.
The weeds are gone.
Everything's nice and cleaned up.
I would be happy with what we have back there now.
NARRATOR: But it's going to get even better
because the concrete's flowing for the couch and fire pit,
and the crew's not leaving yet.
Welcome to "Yard Crashers" after dark.
So, we're gonna work on this table, okay?
It's the beautiful steel that you made.
The welded "I's."
It is gorgeous, and it is sturdy.
What I put on top of that is
a 3/4-inch marine-grade plywood,
but we're also gonna put a cement board on top.
And what the cement board does, okay --
Wood expands and contracts.
Out here especially,
when it gets cold and hot and cold and hot,
when you put tile on top of wood,
it's gonna pop.
So, here you have a cement backer
that's never gonna expand and contract
so that mosaic tile's gonna stay on there.
It's gonna look pretty all the time!
That's what I'm talking about! You get me!
They screw on the cement board.
[ Drill whirs ]
Then Matt cuts a 4"x6" section
out of the center of the table for the trough.
[ Buzzing ]
Whoo!
And since it is after hours,
you're gonna get a table dance!
Whoo-hoo!
Whoo!
You like that?
You like that?
Your welds are holding good!
And you know what?
We're done for the night!
Yeah!
I'm off! All right.
NARRATOR: Coming up, Sean struggles to give the barbecue island
a modern look.
Aw, I am horrible.
No. No, you're just O.C.D.
Amanda builds a copper trough from scratch...
and learns how to tile.
Yeah?
NARRATOR: For Matt's favorite projects and tips,
head on over to the "Crashers" page
at diynetwork.com/crashers.
Good morning!
NARRATOR: It's the final day.
Matt and the crew finished pouring
the couch and fire pit last night.
Now they're set and ready to go.
We are feeling great.
I had a nightmare about this yard last night.
I'm not gonna lie to you, okay?
So, we got to get started.
I tell you what -- you and I are gonna go tile that table.
Let's do it!
Sound good? Elbows up. Let's go!
Come on!
[ Whirring ]
NARRATOR: The crew doesn't waste any time.
Sean and Jonus pull off the concrete furniture forms,
friends paint the planter boxes,
and Matt and Amanda hop back on the dining table.
MATT: We are gonna be using glass mosaic tile
for the top of this table.
It's so pretty.
It's gonna shine bright in the sunlight.
Yes! That's what we're going for.
Also, it's gonna pick up the green
that we're gonna be painting the bar with, okay?
Awesome. Perfect.
MATT: We're just gonna set that lightly in like that.
And what I do is I just smooth it in, okay?
You don't have to pat it down too hard.
Just kind of make sure it's set right in that thin set.
AMANDA: Yep.
All right.
'Cause we want to get that space in between there
Okay.
So, what you do so it's not quite set --
you do a nice rolling motion, okay?
And if you roll enough back,
you're gonna open up some space on there.
Ooh! Perfect!
Just like that, okay?
NARRATOR: All the tension is turned towards water in the yard.
Irrigation and drainage are installed,
and Sean and Jonus are knee-deep in the new pond.
Two men in the bunker!
How's the progress?
We're doing good.
We've got our plumbing run,
and as soon as we get our cobbling,
we're ready to do a test.
NARRATOR: The concrete furniture
isn't the only massive structure going in the yard.
[ Grunts ]
I don't know what's bigger -- the masonry furniture or this.
[ Laughter ]
All right. So, what we're gonna do --
we got these 4-inch strips,
and we're gonna be wrapping it all the way around this barbecue.
Start about 2 inches in because I'm gonna put
a big piece of corner iron on it, okay?
So, we'll go 1, 2.
[ Whirring ]
Sweet! Cool!
All the way down the line.
How far do we want to distance these ones?
Why don't we do about 10 inches --
if you could eyeball about 10 inches?
[ Chuckling ] All right.
How's your eyeball?
Uh...well, we'll see.
[ Laughing ] No! Your eyeball is terrible!
[ Both laugh ]
All right, there you go.
Yeah, I was going right here!
That's exactly where I was going!
Look at that spacing.
NARRATOR: The barbecue island countertop
gets the tile treatment,
and the table that Matt and Amanda built
is about to get some copper trough action.
JONUS: So, what we're gonna do is we're gonna take this copper,
AMANDA: Okay.
It's gonna fit into that slot that we cut out for your table.
For the table. All right.
Yeah, and this is gonna slide right in there.
They center a 2x6 on the copper,
then use another 2x6 to create 90-degree bends on both sides,
wrapping it around the boards to form the edges.
All right. So, that's our final little bit of shaping on this
All right.
So, now we're gonna make a couple cuts
along these jointed areas
so we can fold them up,
All right.
So, we're gonna crimp it
so we can lock it in place on the end.
We have troughage of copper.
Oh, and it fits!
Fits like a glove!
The yard is coming together.
The planter boxes are set,
the fire pit is filled with rock,
and the barbecue island gets angle irons.
And just like that.
New barbecue for you?
Let's go.
No more grilling in a puddle, my friend.
Nice. You're all set.
Coming up, fire and water complete the yard.
MAN: It does.
But will daylight be on their side?
Everybody! One hour left!
NARRATOR: Sean and Amanda had a yard full of nothing but weeds.
MATT: I don't feel like I should have to weed my patio.
And for the past two days,
everyone's been working hard to build them a new yard.
[ Laughing ]
Aw, man.
All right, man. Get back to it.
What would I do without you?
But Matt's still worried they won't finish in time.
Everybody! One hour left!
We got bar, we got gravel, we got a little sod,
and then we're done! How about that? Sound good?
Good! Let's go!
NARRATOR: They fill up the planter boxes,
finish the waterfall...
MAN: It does, yeah.
Thanks. Yeah.
...lay the gravel patio,
grout the table, and bring it back...
Aah!
Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!!
...leaving one last thing.
[ Cheers and applause ]
Yeah! Whoo!
Fire!
That's a wrap, everybody!
[ Cheers and applause ]
Before, our yard was an absolute embarrassment.
It was overgrown.
Everything was dead in the summer,
weeds in the winter.
We had a tiny patio that could fit one table at most,
and I really had nowhere to be able to entertain.
AMANDA: Our yard now is absolutely amazing.
We've got this gorgeous table.
It's got beautiful tile on it.
Now I have a great place to be able to barbecue
for all of our friends and family.
We have multiple entertaining areas.
We have this amazing concrete fire and water feature that --
It's just absolutely stunning.
Not in my wildest dreams would I be able to imagine
something like that was possible.
These planter boxes are absolutely amazing.
They've got wonderful, beautiful,
bright plants in them.
And more importantly,
we have a huge yard for our son to be able to play around in.
You know, it was a lot of hard work,
a lot of long days and long nights,
but it was an absolute blast.
I feel like I can go inside and tile my bathroom now.
Oh, you will.
[ Both laugh ]
Is this enough seating for everyone?
I think we'll fit.
[ Laughs ]
We love it.
That is a yard crash, my friends.
Yeah!
I think we're gonna leave it for you.
Everybody -- off of their furniture!
And don't track any dirt!