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CHRIS: Today on "Going Yard"...
This is, like, an ankle break, like, waiting to happen.
Right now, this backyard has an uneven patio
and is completely disjointed.
There's tons of room back there, but we never go back there.
Sweet!
We're gonna give them a great place to entertain,
a fun spot for the kids...
...and tie this whole backyard together.
[ All grunting ]
Wow. That was not light.
They're gonna be blown away with how great it came out.
Oh, my gosh!
All right. Let's not think too much.
Let's demo.
I'm Chris Lambton.
When it comes to yards, I'm an expert.
Pull me up.
I'm a second-generation landscaper,
along with my two brothers.
I've seen everything
from piles of junk and falling-down decks
to dirt and weeds as far as the eye can see.
It's kind of a disaster back there.
Every project is a new challenge,
but I'm always up for the job.
And with the help of my brothers and my wife, Peyton,
I find creative ways to take the worst yards
and turn them into the best.
It's time to get to work because we're "Going Yard."
-- Captions by VITAC --
Next stop, Mitch and Meg's.
Mitch is an I.T. consultant, and Meg is a stay-at-home mom.
They have two really cute daughters.
Eden is 5, and Maddie is 7.
Oh, wow. They've got their hands full.
Oh, believe me. They are active.
They love to be outside and play.
MEG: Oh, so close!
And they're musically inclined, just like their dad.
[ Guitar plays ]
They're, like, a really fun family.
But right now, their backyard is not fun for them.
There's a lot of space,
but it's just really disjointed space,
so that's a big problem right now.
Yeah.
I know. It's nice, right?
Yeah.
It's nice back here, right?
It's really private and quiet.
Wait. Is that the yard, or is this the yard?
Well, there's part of the yard back there.
There's the swing set here.
Of weeds.
CHRIS: But I do love the wall.
PEYTON: Yep. Fits in really well with the style of the house.
Yeah. Then this is their patio.
Like, you can just see how uneven this is.
All right. Here they are.
Do you ever hang out with friends out here?
We do, but it's -- [ Sighs ]
It's hard 'cause you can't see that part of the yard.
So, no one ever knows that that's part of our yard, too.
So, we usually just stay right here.
I love the patio.
It's got that nice, Cape Cod wave to it.
Yeah. It's our favorite.
The bricks might be falling apart a little bit.
A tiny bit.
The wood looks kind of dangerous
like you're gonna be tripping on it.
Oh, yeah, we have.
Oh, so, it's a balance beam.
[ Laughs ] There we go.
Okay.
That's what the kids use it for.
Now it makes sense.
And the other thing, too, is we have the playground over there,
but when we have people here
and all the children play over there, you can't see the children.
Yeah, 'cause the backyard's really big.
It's just -- you can't even see it.
And this house is not as old as you would think, right?
'86.
1986?
Really?
Yeah, it was a reproduction home.
They built it to look old, early Colonial,
but, you know, it still has updated plumping
and everything else.
Thank you.
So, you need a backyard that kind of matches that.
What do you guys like to do as a family?
We like to be outside obviously. We love the outdoors.
We like to entertain.
Can I go play chalk?
You can go play on the swing set?
I want to play chalk.
CHRIS: So, they don't want to play in the backyard?
No, they don't.
They want to play with chalk in the driveway.
They do. You guys can go play chalk.
You guys want to go play chalk? Go ahead.
Have fun playing in the driveway.
[ Laughs ]
Yes, that would be awesome.
I'll give them a nice, fun place in the backyard to play.
Perfect.
Yeah, and maybe even open it up a little bit
so you can see the other side of the yard.
Oh, that would be great.
All right, so, are you ready to see the plans?
Yes. Definitely ready.
I need a hand.
[ Gasps ]
So, you walk out onto a level paver patio.
Oh, that's awesome.
You're gonna walk under, like,
kind of be like a trellis on top of the door.
MITCH: Cool.
...the step walking out into the backyard.
So, that leads onto an oval deck.
This thing is oversized.
Dining room table in the middle
so you can actually entertain back here
and not be ashamed of having your friends come over anymore.
A great, new grill niche,
and, for that ambiance in the back here,
we're gonna bring in a really cool, waterfall feature.
We're gonna keep that retaining wall.
We're gonna push it back a little bit here.
MITCH: Wow.
I've always wanted one at my own house.
Not only is it a great place to entertain,
it's gonna open up this yard quite a bit.
So, you'll be able to see into this back part of the yard.
[ Laughing ] Oh, wow. That's great.
I know that the girls are very musically inclined,
Yes.
So, we're gonna actually make a xylophone.
[ Gasps ] Oh, that's awesome.
The kids are gonna love that.
I'm gonna love playing with it, too.
[ Laughter ]
And then we're gonna put tons of colorful plantings in,
bring a lot of color into this backyard.
So, this is a place where you can entertain the family,
great place for the girls,
and they won't even want to go near the driveway anymore.
This is amazing.
It's perfect.
It's exactly what we wanted.
Tell me a little bit about color. What do you like?
What do you not like?
I think I like every color.
I think we're really easy on this.
Just as long as it's not, like, crazy patterns
'cause our house isn't contemporary.
So, sticking with Colonial, maybe a little whimsical.
Yeah, definitely whimsical.
Okay.
Perfect.
Yeah, well, I'm excited to get this going.
CHRIS: It's a go?
That's what I like to hear.
I like that we got a machine following us.
Perfect. Whoa. Look at all this.
All this is out of here.
We're clearing it back about five or six feet.
Let's save some of these wall stones
from basically this point around.
But we are saving this step.
Just gonna raise it a little bit.
The cobblestones, we're saving.
Everything else you're looking at can go.
All these bricks. Shave this down.
Cut this back. Open up the yard.
Pretty straightforward.
It's demo day. Let's go, boys.
[ Beeping ]
[ Indistinct conversation ]
Love the wall.
It's just really claustrophobic right here --
way too close to the bush.
It's gonna go about 10 feet that way.
How heavy do you think this is? 3,000 pounds?
Once we scrape all these brick out of here,
we'll have them lift it up with the machine.
CHRIS: I loved having a machine on this job today.
Got the brick out of there quick...
raised that granite step up...
...cleared the whole above area where the gazebo is gonna go.
It's a lot clearer already.
If we were to do that by hand, it would have taken us days.
Look at that -- You couldn't even tell
there's a yard back there before.
They'll actually be able to see the girls now
over there when they're playing, too, which is nice.
CHRIS: I know, right? 1,000 times better.
Hey. John.
Save that nice, white pine, though.
Save those little guys right there.
That nice tree I found.
By clearing all the underbrush here,
we give these guys more room to grow.
Sweet!
Short work of that.
We took out this part of the retaining wall
'cause that's where the waterfall feature's gonna go.
That's a live irrigation line.
I'm really hoping to stay on schedule,
but unless we find a quick fix for this water break,
we might be in trouble.
CHRIS: We're only halfway through demo on Meg and Mitch's backyard...
That's a live irrigation line.
...and we hit our first snag.
All we have to do is patch that
and just cut it right there and just yank it back.
MAN: That was the end right there.
Oh, nice. Oh, good.
So, you want to just pull that towards you?
That's one problem done.
With that out of the way,
we can worry about the deck we got to build.
So, you want to lay out exactly where those footings are going?
Mark, Erik, and I started making measurements
for exactly where the footings are gonna go for this deck.
CHRIS: Footing 1 right there.
Play off of that footing with everything else.
There are five footings.
We want to make sure it's perpendicular off the house.
A little closer. Right there.
They have to be exactly the right distance.
That way, we can start building the deck on top of this.
Let's cheat that center line over.
Cool. We got our footings.
End of the day, I got the guys digging the footings.
But we have to get this done today
so that way the cement can set
and we can start working tomorrow morning.
First thing this morning, the stone dust arrives.
Erik and Mark are on-site early
getting the guys going on the pond and the stone patio.
We're gonna have another step.
This one's gonna have to come down a lot.
We're also digging the holes for the trellis,
but they have to be measured just right.
4'11" to the outside edge.
Jorge and Erik almost have the base of the gazebo built.
10 feet. So, let's map out exactly where it's gonna go.
Let's do the radius. Five feet.
So, let's say, if I stand, like --
So, you're gonna be the center of the gazebo?
This is the outside.
I'm like the sun.
That's a nice size.
I think it's perfect.
[ Strained ] Yep. Put it down.
[ Sighs ] Perfect!
All right. Right about here.
We just marked out exactly where we want to put the cement blocks
that the gazebo base is gonna rest on.
We got to get a nice, level surface.
Then we'll put the gazebo base on it and start decking it.
I love the way the leaf is looking.
Yeah?
It does look like a leaf.
And, like, once we get the oval going --
I think it'll look great. It'll really soften the yard.
It'll be finished in the next hour,
Okay.
...and then finish the decking tomorrow I think.
Sweet.
This yard's gonna look really cool.
Yeah, we are.
It's slowly starting to rain out.
It's supposed to get pretty bad,
so we're packing up a little bit.
But Jay and I are still working on the water feature
'cause, well, it's okay if it rains
because it's gonna fill up, and that's a good thing.
Hard part about this is it's kind of just,
"Put them down and see how they look."
Trial and error.
I like this quartzite stone.
Actually, it matches pretty well with the wall, you know?
It's gonna really make the waterfall pop.
Yeah, it's definitely gonna be a focal point in this backyard.
We can kind of hide the pump... underneath there.
JAY: Yeah, that's a good idea.
And then this can be a little ledge for plants and stuff.
They'll never even notice it.
You know what -- That was such a good idea
that we should probably end the day on that one.
[ Both laugh ]
CHRIS: We got to deck the gazebo.
I want to get the oval deck
completely framed and decked today.
I want to get that whole pavestone area done.
And then I want to start placing all the plants
and hopefully get some of those in the ground.
Hey, Paul.
Morning, sir.
One of the tricks with a planting plan
is you want to make sure there's color at all times of year.
Yeah, really nice.
It looks like a nice selection.
Not only color with flowers
but color with different types of evergreens.
So, this cypress will bring color into that backyard
behind the waterfall.
I have azaleas.
They bloom in the early spring and also in the late fall.
Japanese maple.
Oh, those smell so good.
CHRIS: Coneflowers.
They're gonna be back by the gazebo,
give us some height and a beautiful, yellow flower.
We can easily fit three here. Yeah.
Hydrangeas change color based on the acidity of the soil.
Cape Cod -- very acidic.
That's why we get those deep blues.
A lot more color in this backyard.
Let's finish off the waterfall area.
I have river rocks in the bottom of the water feature.
They're really smooth,
and that's why you get that beautiful, running-water sound.
I like how it's a little bit under the deck.
CHRIS: I agree.
Water feature, that's done.
Stone patio, that's done.
We've placed most of the plants. The gazebo needs to be built.
We haven't even started the xylophone yet.
I'm starting to get worried, and this weather is not helping.
Yeah.
Come back in the morning. Let's get out of here.
Another rainy day on Cape Cod.
Good working weather.
[ Indistinct conversations ]
Yeah, it really is. It looks beautiful back here.
Yep.
Yeah.
We've got to add a stone top to our bar area.
It's just a simple frame,
but with a stone top, it's gonna look great.
Put it down. Actually, I think it looks kind of cool like this.
Gazebo's coming along nice.
CHRIS: Do you notice how we got the decking here
running the exact same way as the decking on the deck?
Nice, right?
Yeah, that's cool. Kind of ties the whole yard together.
We couldn't build the gazebo roof in place
because it's uneven footing up there.
We couldn't really get the ladders in place.
So, we decided to build the gazebo roof on the ground.
You and I and eight other people
are gonna have to lift that roof up,
bring it over here, and put it on top.
Let's all raise the roof -- literally.
What, what?
Since the girls are so musical,
I have Derek making a one-octave xylophone out of mahogany.
What's up, shop teacher? How's the xylophone coming?
Yeah?
Now I'm just trying to find the correct spacing...
...and then attach it to the frame.
CHRIS: Yeah. I see the frame you got up in the yard.
That's a cool spot.
I look forward to seeing how this is gonna work out.
I'm just gonna go play my xylophone.
Down here, like, anchor,
like, 1, 2, 3, on this wall, like, down here.
Hey, Chris.
Good.
Oh, cool. What are these for?
These are for the xylophone area for the kids.
Will these be tall enough?
The xylophone's gonna be right here.
Gonna be, like, angled like this.
Okay.
No.
Sure.
[ Xylophone clacking ]
So, how does this all work?
Different sizes of wood give you the different tones.
The smaller ones will be more of a high-pitched sound.
The larger ones will have a deeper sound.
She got nice little seats for it, too, Derek.
Yeah.
Nice.
Yeah, I got some benches, so I'm gonna stain those.
Right now,
we're wrapping the base of the bench with bead board.
This is gonna be a bench along the whole back of this.
Bam.
Up the ladder with the ladder.
Since the house is an antique replica,
we did an antique replica ladder,
kind of give you that arbor feel
when you're walking out the back door.
And just screw it in place.
And it's a Douglas fir, so it'll stand up to the elements.
This looks awesome.
Yeah. All right. Let's get out of here, man.
Not much left tomorrow.
Just raise the roof.
[ Xylophones chiming ]
Hey, Chris.
What do you think about teaching my brothers a little thing or two?
I think you probably could.
[ "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star" plays ]
[ Laughter ]
Wow!
MITCH: Good job.
Nice job.
Seeing how easy Maddie could play the xylophone,
wait until she sees what we have in store for her
in the backyard.
We have to finish the stairs up to the gazebo,
finish the plantings.
It's a good thing you're not afraid of heights, I bet, huh?
Working on that roof.
I got Derek and Mark shingling the roof of the gazebo.
Once this is finished,
we can put that gazebo roof right in place.
You know how to cap shingle?
Kind of want to line that up, roughly where that hip is.
Then we'll snap these lines.
The best part about this
is that Derek is actually teaching Mark how to shingle...
Those will be the edges of our shingles, so we can keep them straight.
...which is gonna come in handy
'cause maybe I'll need a new roof soon.
Hooray.
What you doing?
[ Chuckles ]
I've got all the lanterns and the rope
Oh, those are cool.
PEYTON: I really wanted to use lanterns
to go along with the colonial feel of the home.
They already had a few,
so I wanted to elaborate upon that with the ladder.
Using the old and the new
give that eclectic feel and a great entrance into the yard.
I think it looks great.
Now that the stairs are done,
we got to bring that wall right in.
Xylophone on the move.
Mush. Mush.
There you go.
[ Xylophone clanking ]
[ Laughs ]
Good job. Man, this is awesome.
Mitch and the girls are gonna have a lot of fun playing with this.
Done.
Hey, Derek, you ready to raise the roof?
Chris, ready?
It is now time,
that moment I've been waiting for all day, to raise the roof.
So, we're going up right where we --
Yeah, we're gonna go -- Yeah, right up.
We couldn't build the gazebo roof in place.
We'll walk it up and at least put part of it on
so the other guys can run on the inside.
I'll meet you up there.
[ Laughter ]
It is by no means light.
We're going through a narrow alleyway.
Who put these plants here?
We're almost falling off the edge.
Oh. Oh.
Some of us have to jump up onto the seating area on the gazebo,
lift this thing in place.
CHRIS: We couldn't build the gazebo roof in place.
Some of us have to jump up on the gazebo,
lift this thing in place.
I don't know how we did it, but we did.
It's in place and it looks amazing.
That was not light.
I have one added bonus for this backyard.
We made this a little deeper so that way we can put...
goldfish in there.
Won't the girls like that?
They'll love it.
Holy crap, that thing's big!
This might be my favorite,
like, water feature that you've done.
Center?
Okay, you're good.
Peyton did an amazing job with the styling.
She brought in some pillows for the gazebo area,
stools for the kids to sit on.
It really brings the yard together.
Hey, guys.
Go check out your yard.
[ Gasps ] Oh, my gosh!
Oh, my God!
Oh, my goodness!
Oh!
[ Laughing ] Oh, my gosh.
What do you guys think?
This is amazing!
Well, get out there and look.
Get out there and enjoy it.
Oh, my gosh!
Girls, what's that?
A xylophone.
[ Laughter ]
Very cool.
This is amazing.
I have to -- I have to go up there.
That is so beautiful.
Oh, no. Here they come. [ Laughs ]
MITCH: I love the shape. It's open.
Opens up right to the yard.
You can see everything over here.
You know, you can see the kids still.
You can be anywhere in the yard and see everywhere else.
Pretty comfortable, right? [ Laughs ]
Oh, my gosh. We have a pond.
[ Laughter ]
I love those stones.
Very relaxing.
Girls!
GIRL: Fishies!
Goldfish!
Look at all the color.
MEG: Oh, my gosh, we have color.
It's not just green anymore.
Amazing. It's absolutely incredible.
Nice dining area.
Oh, my gosh, you guys. This is unreal.
MITCH: You outdid yourself here. This is unbelievable.
You know, one of the things that we always struggled with
is when we cook outside,
it's constantly, "Okay, grab a plate,"
and then you could only hold enough food
to just put on the side of the grill, so it's nice to have.
I love the flagstones.
I love that there's -- I love there's no straight lines.
There's very little square around here, you know?
Kind of blends into the landscape, you know?
I love that.
MEG: I love, yeah, how the deck goes, too.
And in the plan -- You said a round deck.
I -- I get it now. I didn't really get it before.
Nothing's straight. Nothing's square.
I want the whole backyard
to kind of just have a nice flow to it.
You reused a bunch of stuff, too.
The wall's still there.
The big, giant piece of stone is still there.
Before, the step was falling down.
We lifted it up and,
for the colonial feel, we actually have --
These are replica colonial ladders that we made.
So now it looks like an arbor.
We actually hung these cool lanterns.
Those are amazing.
And I like how they look like our, like, lantern already.
I think you guys knocked it out of the park.
CHRIS: Your yard now has so many great areas for entertaining.
It's a nice feeling back here.
It's us, you guys. It really is.
We're gonna have a lot of fun back here.
Closed Captions provided by Scripps Networks, LLC.