Have you ever come to a home improvement store,
and somebody offers you a brand-new back yard?
ANNOUNCER: Matt's throwing out the bait.
I'm a random stranger asking to do your yard.
But no one's biting.
I'm trying to get people to go to take me home.
Where do you live? I'll take you.
When Matt finally reels in a homeowner,
he's gonna transform their yard into this--
a playground for grownups,
featuring a huge medieval table,
cobblestone surrounded by awesome landscaping,
and one massive fireplace.
You don't want any of that, right?
Well, I don't want to pay for any of that.
I'm giving it away for free.
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
who need an extra hand from a pro.
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.
ANNOUNCER: It's like winning the landscape lottery.
Yes.
You want new backyard?
Do you want new backyard, buddy?
No.
No?
You are the--
Yes.
Yard.
Yard.
I'm running away.
Why are you running away?
You know how that makes me feel
when people run away from me?
If you walk into a place and anyone ran away from you,
how would you feel?
( groans )
I'm like a rent-a-husband. Is that what you want?
No, I don't want a husband.
Yes, yes, yes.
It's not a dating show, it's a yard show.
Oh, man.
How's it going, guys?
Hi. Good, how are you?
Good.
You are the guy from the show--
The yard show.
Yard Crashers.
Yeah.
Do you know it?
Oh, no, no.
Do you guys have your own home?
Yes, we just bought our first home.
Tell me about your yard.
It's terrible.
Barren wasteland. Okay.
So what do you do for work?
You're electrician. Oh, okay.
Residential journeyman electrician.
Landscaper.
You need--
Horrible yard owner?
Yeah.
So basically what happens is when it rains,
we got a pond in the back yard
and wet dog prints all over the house.
You just give me your handshake,
we go in your back yard,
and I give you a brand-new back yard, 2 days.
We do some work.
No catch.
If she's good, I'm good.
The mud will be gone?
The mud will be gone.
You want to handshake?
Okay.
MATT: All right.
I'm giving them a brand new backyard right now.
I didn't believe you. I love it.
Yeah, see?
NICKIE: I'm so excited!
See, happens just that fast.
Home sweet home.
MATT: Oh.
MIKE: Okay.
MATT: Man.
MIKE: This is all for you now.
What's going on?
It's archery. I'm into archery.
Yeah.
That's actually my son's.
Yeah.
Yeah, yeah.
My little--
MIKE: We got a little 30-yard shot back here.
MATT: You got some room here, guys.
MATT: Corner lot.
So, yeah, this area over here,
we get some really, really good flooding going on.
And as you could see, it rolls off this hill
quite well and there's no drainage.
We usually love to have barbecues and friends over,
and we have nowhere to do that.
MATT: That is not a patio.
MATT: That's a landing.
We like barbecues. We like friends.
Fire pits.
You know, hang out around a...
Okay.
I think they're really good wine--
I love wine.
Dude, let's just break it down.
Enough said.
Actually, you know what I want to see?
Where's-- do you have your archery?
Go grab it.
Is he really good at it?
You're gonna want to hide.
Okay.
NICKIE: Uh-oh.
Give you one shot.
I just started getting into this, yeah.
Okay.
I got to see this.
Okay.
MATT: Oh-ho!
MIKE: Not too bad, huh?
Fantastic. Well done.
We'll talk about an archery set now.
Very cool.
I got it.
As many as you need, brother.
All right.
Yes.
Get ready, guys.
All right.
Oh, my God.
I give back yards to those in need.
I'm like the backyard Robin Hood.
( horn honking )
( cheering and applauding )
( shouting )
Oh!
MAN: Whoo!
MAN: Yeah!
MATT: You guys set?
Whoo!
Let me introduce you to my team right here.
This is a husband-and-wife duo,
Lee and Connie Cummings right here.
( cheers and applause )
They're from Cummings Masonry and Landscape.
And if you're lucky, the big kahuna is gonna sing
a little song for us.
Aloha!
That's pretty good, right?
Right next to them, that is Rich LaVallee.
He is from Vallee Builders.
Right next to him, that is Kate Bowers.
WOMAN: Yay, Kate.
Yes!
Let's go, let's see what we're building--come on, in the back, in the back.
All right, what did you call this?
"The vast emptiness"--
"Of nothingess."
Yeah.
Is what you called?
Yay.
( cheering )
Yeah.
ANNOUNCER: This yard's getting
a major cobblestone pathway and patio,
giant stone fireplace, umbrella planters,
and Mike's very own archery panel.
It's a privacy screen slash--
( indistinct )
arrow backstop.
Whoo!
Tight, man. Yeah.
Also, there'll be a pondless water feature,
dry riverbed, a sod area, and gorgeous landscaping.
Yeah.
All right, sweet, baby. Check it out.
ANNOUNCER: Next to the existing patio
will be a massive medieval table,
brand new grill, wine barrel bar
and trellis, and a gravel patio.
I tell you what, we got a lot of sod, or weed,
Yeah.
Let's get 'r done, baby.
Come on...!
Yeah!
Yay!
Get in.
MIKE: Apparently I have got some monstrous weeds back there,
because it doesn't want to come up.
Come on.
Get on ( indistinct )
I'll stand on top.
That ain't doing nothing.
All right, so we're gonna get a bigger one.
ANNOUNCER: Coming up...
Nickie shows off her skills...
Is this me or is it your screwdriver?
cobblestones made easy...
I believe the beauty of this is stacking twenty at a time.
and Matt unveils a surprise.
You ready for it?
Is it beer?
I'm giving them a brand-new back yard right now.
I didn't believe you. I love it.
ANNOUNCER: Matt went home with Mike and Nickie
to check out their backyard...
slash-archery-range.
MATT: That's great.
MATT: Fantastic.
But when phase 1 of this yard crash
ran into some stubborn weeds,
Matt had to call for some backup.
Boy, am I glad to see you.
Yard crashing 101.
Get the right tools for the job.
I learned the hard way.
Woo!
As Matt grades the yard,
Nickie and friends stain the fence,
and the crew sets rebar for the new retaining wall.
Okay.
Next, Matt and Mike
start filling in the base for the new bridge with sand.
More sand, baby.
All day.
As Mike keeps on sand duty,
the crew lays pipes for the water feature,
and Matt and Nickie begin building the new table.
So the whole theme of this
is like a Robin Hood kind of theme,
Okay.
What did they have in a medieval table?
Beer.
I like where your head's at, though. Round table.
Round table. Okay, yes.
So we got to take square boards
Okay.
Okay.
So what we're gonna do is we're gonna start
by cutting 12 of these 2 x 6s down to 5 1/2.
Where's the trigger on it?
Up here?
Like this-- child safety--like this.
Okay.
Her first cut.
Whoo-hoo!
The saw is cool, the power tools are good.
I love working the saw.
Line these all up and get them as tight as we possibly can.
So we're just gonna put 2 x 4s on the back.
And this is what's gonna hold them all together.
Oh, my God, this thing's not going anywhere.
Whoo! Cool.
One more step-- cutting the radius.
ANNOUNCER: They use a jig to mark a perfect circle.
Yes.
How are we gonna cut a circle?
With a circular saw.
( laughing )
That was good, though.
Okay, so not a circular saw. We're gonna use a jigsaw.
Looking good.
Tan-ta-da.
Round table.
ANNOUNCER: Next, time for some heavy lifting
as the guys bring back the huge frame for the fireplace.
Come on, let's get some hands on this, guys.
Come on, Lee, give us the Hawaiian fight.
Tamura, tamura, tamura, hey!
All right, bring it down.
Tamura, tamura, tamura, hey!
It worked.
ANNOUNCER: Before the fireplace gets faced with stone,
attention turns to pouring
concrete for the retaining wall.
Are you ready? Grab on to the hose.
All right.
The concrete shows up, and that hose is no joke.
Took some manpower to move that thing around.
ANNOUNCER: Before the concrete is even done being poured,
the crew begins forming it to look like stone.
Next, the concrete bridge is poured,
then they use stamps to make it look like wood.
Finally, the water feature is formed around its pipes,
then molded to look like boulders.
Whoa.
ANNOUNCER: As the molding continues,
Nickie and friends begin trenching the dry riverbed,
and Matt and Mike get to work facing the fireplace.
Mm-hmm.
meaning this is manmade stone, but look at it.
Looks like the real thing.
Just grab a little bit of mortar.
Okay.
And just put a little bit on the outside.
So here we go.
Boom.
And then just give it a little bit of a push, all right.
All right.
See how you do.
Never in my life.
Not once.
And we're not leaving any space, okay?
We're gonna give it a natural joint, so we don't have to fill that in.
LEE: Yeah.
You want to help him out?
All right.
ANNOUNCER: Matt leaves Mike in good hands...
Look at that.
( indistinct )
and heads over to help Nickie build the table frame.
Nail four in just like that.
One, two, three.
Yeah.
Wait, I'll help you with this one. Go.
Oh.
Is this me or is it your screwdriver?
Gonna blame you.
They eventually get the pressure-treated wood
screwed together to form the base for the table.
Boom.
Okay, so this is what it is right here.
They skin it with plywood.
Whoo!
Look at that thing.
Ain't that cool?
Then it's ready for the top.
You did a good job, so guess what you get?
You get your prize.
What is it?
You ready for it?
Is it beer?
Is it a lazy Susan?
Yes.
Yay.
Okay?
This is just a scrap piece of granite, all right,
that I got from a granite shop.
Done deal.
We'll wrap it tomorrow, put a little design on it.
Stain it up.
Good job.
ANNOUNCER: As daylight starts to fade,
Rich and Connie sink posts for the wine bar,
the crew preps the base rock for the walkways,
then it's time for Matt to show Mike
how to lay the cobblestones.
So this is the cobblestone look...
Okay.
that Old World look that you see in Europe.
You know, just kind of get them into place
'cause what we're gonna do is we're gonna come back here
Boom, boom, boom.
and pop it down, right down into the base rock.
ANNOUNCER: Matt calls a timeout
from the cobblestones to wrap up day 1.
Let's go. Sun's going down.
First things first-- overtime.
We're gonna be doing cobble,
All night.
And then we're gonna be doing the fireplace.
Hey, big kahuna.
Which one you want?
I'll take the pretty one.
Go ahead, Mike.
LEE: Come on, Mike.
ANNOUNCER: Coming up, a little fire...
Snoop Dogg has entered my drill.
and a lot of water.
Oh!
ANNOUNCER: For Matt's favorite projects and tips,
head on over to the Crashers page
at diynetwork.com/crashers.
How are we doing, back yard?
Yeah, that's what I like to hear.
ANNOUNCER: It's day 2 of Mike and Nickie's yard crash.
Last night, the team worked late
to finish laying the cobblestones,
but there's still a mountain of work to get done.
We got a ton of stuff, okay?
We got to do all the staining today for the arbor.
Yeah.
All the gravel pathways that we got to do.
Staining all around, all of this stone--
and we haven't even seen the plants yet.
Yeah.
Let's go. Hit it hard.
We got to get this thing done right now.
Let's go.
Rich starts on the pergola for the wine bar,
spanning the posts with 2 x 6 beams.
Mike and the crew fill the water feature
and dry riverbed with rock.
And it's time for the finishing touches on the medieval table.
What we're gonna do is we're gonna put these little
oak buttons in, okay?
You've seen those kind of like rivets?
In metal, okay.
Yes, very King Arthur.
ANNOUNCER: Each button gets plenty of wood glue,
then tape to hold it as it cures.
As these two plug away,
Lee installs the fireplace burner,
Connie stains the bridge,
then friends move in to stain the buttoned-up table.
Rich has been working on the privacy wall
which will double as an archery backstop.
Essentially, what we're making is some nice doors.
Okay?
We got 2 x 12s, all right?
2 x 6s.
Okay, so we got 6 foot, 6 foot, and the center one.
To give it some height, we're gonna do it at 8 foot.
Tell you what-- why don't you finish putting the last banding on this right here...
All right?
You and I, let's get the boards for the 8-footer.
Sound good?
So with archery, you got to have an arch.
That's right, you do-- you always have an arch.
ANNOUNCER: They measure and mark their arch,
then use a jigsaw to cut.
A nice cut, my man.
ANNOUNCER: Some mitered cross rails
will hold it all together.
So what we're gonna do-- we're gonna bring this
Okay.
All right, big one, and then the two small ones,
and then we'll hinge it up back there.
Sounds like a plan?
All right.
The crew is laying irrigation around the yard.
Lee is back to facing the fireplace,
and the cobble is ready to be grouted.
We're gonna be using an epoxy grout,
Okay.
So that consists of, okay, one bag of sand
just like this, all right-- just some standard sand,
and then a two-part epoxy mix.
They start with a full bag of sand,
then mix in the epoxy.
Oh, it's smoking.
All right, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.
You've killed the drill.
Luckily, Mike has a replacement.
All right, hold on, guys.
You were a good drill,
so go on, and go to the higher place,
and rest in peace.
Rest in peace, yellow drill.
There you go.
We're back in business.
Whoo!
With the grout mixed,
they spread it into the joints with squeegees.
But it's time to switch gears when the plants arrive.
Yeah.
Whoo!
The plants go in along with the mulch and sod.
The archery panels are being stained,
and now it's time to test out the water feature.
We'll plug it in.
All right, Lenny, give it a shot.
Oh!
I didn't say to make a geyser.
ANNOUNCER: Up next, it may be time to take cover.
Are you kidding me?
Then the big reveal.
Love it all.
I think we did our job.
Tell me about your yard.
It's terrible.
"Barren wasteland."
ANNOUNCER: Matt found out
Nickie's description wasn't too far off.
NICKIE: Remember, we just moved in.
MATT: Man.
So he called in his crew of experts
and went to work.
Tamura, tamura, tamura, hey!
With only an hour left in this crash,
the barren wasteland is officially gone,
the water feature has been adjusted...
It's like a mountain spring.
the cobblestones are set,
and the Lazy Susan table has been tested.
The Lazy Nickie.
Okay, I'm gonna throw up.
With the archery panels completed,
it's time to hinge them together.
Got some decorative hinges.
Already put them on
All right.
So we just got to put them on the inside.
They connect the hinges with lag bolts.
Then comes the hard part: lifting the whole thing.
Count of three. One, two, three, up.
Nice.
There we go.
Oh.
Okay, good, good, good, good, good, good.
What do you think?
Dude, awesome, man.
Dude, a canon ball isn't going through this.
I got a canon.
All that's left now are the finishing touches.
The fireplace is ignited,
the wine barrel bar is assembled...
Bar is open, everybody-- after you're done.
then the furniture is brought in.
I got you brand new targets.
That's right.
Let's go christen this thing. Get your bow and arrow, buddy.
All right, I'll go get my bow.
MATT: Oh!
I think you got it.
Dude, that is incredible.
I want to try.
Are you kidding me?
Are you kidding me?
Oh.
It'll let up. There you go, feel that let up.
Okay.
Now aim that in, brother.
Whoo!
Yes.
Are you kidding me?
That feels so good.
My first kill.
The yard is wrapped!
Wrapped, wrapped, wrapped, wrapped, wrapped.
Bull's eye.
Before Yard Crashers,
our yard was a haven for weeds.
NICKIE: It was wet, and it was muddy,
and it was stinky, and the only reason
we really used it was for the dog
to go to the bathroom, honestly.
We have worked our butts off over the last 2 days,
Amazing.
Absolutely amazing.
NICKIE: I love all of it but I really think
my favorite part of this is the cobblestone.
Like, it came out so good.
I love the dry riverbed--
Love it all.
MATT: I think we did our job.
WOMAN: Yeah. Yeah.
I think we did our job.
I will be all about wine barrel bar,
and the barbecue's all Mike's.
MIKE: I think it's gonna go well with each other.
NICKIE: I will drink and he will cook.
MIKE: To be able to come home, kick the fire on,
and take some serenity shots to my archery range.
NICKIE: It's very manly, too. It's like medieval manly style.
MIKE: Yeah, it's manly, but to a man,
it's-- that's peace.
The "empty nothingness of death" is now full of life...
and family.
Thank you guys so much.
Whoo!
Give it up for Connie, the big kahuna,
Rich over here.
Attaboy, Rich!
Kate and the Bowers beauties.
Whoo!
NICKIE: Thank you.
Over the bridge. We're out of here.
All right!
Whoo!
( cheering )