PaulDearing.com
Paul and Carrie Cement Their Relationship
Categories: California House

Our fourth roll-off construction grade dumpster, this one especially for concrete, and a sunny Friday added up for our idea of a fun day.

We had been accumulating concrete rubble for two years. There was an old driveway in the backyard that we had broken and piled up that made up the bulk of the pile. We added the odd cinderblock and a number of concrete post-footings as we dug them up. When the pile grew to the point that Carrie estimated it at 6 to 7 tons, we called for a dumpster.

Our 10 ton maximum capacity dumpster arrived at about 8:30 Friday morning. We guided the driver to a perfect landing with the dumpster facing the gate and centered in the driveway. Here is Carrie surveying her new dumpster domain.

We attached our custom built dumpster ramp (jealous?) and got to work.

Using the garden cart Rick and Norma gave us for the big pieces, and the wheelbarrow for the small chunks we happily moved load after load from the backyard to the dumpster. This is Carrie at the pile assembling the first load.


We did take some care in tossing the concrete into the bin as we were not certain if it would all fit. So we alternated between stacking and lobbing. Lobbing was more fun.

Sometime midday the rubble pile was gone. We were not exhausted and the dumpster was just over half full. What to do? Find more concrete!

First we took the sledgehammer to the concrete floor of the lean-to. The 7 by 12 foot slab needs to be re-poured so we broke it to pieces and added them to the dumpster. This is the lean-to without its old cement floor.


Next went the sidewalk to nowhere. The porch of the building that is now Carrie’s office was enclosed years ago and is now a room. The sidewalk that once ran to the porch steps now led to a blank wall. We used the angle grinder to cut a line where we wanted the sidewalk to end. Then using a deftly applied combination of sledgehammers, shovel, pickaxe, and chisel, we smashed the sidewalk into pieces and loaded them into the dumpster. Unlike the thinly poured concrete of the lean-to, the sidewalk was thick, dense, and stubborn. Here are the “before” and “after” shots. The “after” is after we had partially filled in the trench and placed some transplanted sod.

But there’s more! We had a whole bunch (maybe 150 linear feet) of those cement scallops used to edge planter boxes and hedge borders. They were in place along our west fence separating the bed our trees are in from the lawn. We hated those things. So into the dumpster they went. Carrie loaded scallops while I put tools away.

The dumpster was full and we were out of concrete, an excellent combination. It was barely 4PM; must be some kind of dumpster-filling record.

We called the dumpster people to share the good news. Their minimum rental is for a week, so they make out when they get a dumpster back any faster. They came by early Saturday and hauled it away.

Our backyard finally looks like a backyard.

Print Friendly, PDF & Email

Leave a Reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.