Under Deck Renovation Project - July 2026

I've been wanting to do something with the space under the deck ever since the kids stopped playing in the backyard years ago.  The grass grows in some areas but not all, it gets muddy when it rains, and it creates a dust storm when I cut under the deck.  I'd been wanting to make the space maintenance-free and more aesthetically pleasing and thought about several possible solutions. Michelle and I agreed on a plan after using AI to view modified pictures of what our ideas would look like.  I started planning for the project and work was completed between July 16 - 30.  Estimated cost for the project is ~$960.

Before pictures:

I used the van to pickup 1 cubic yard of top soil (equivalent to 27 bags of 1 cubic foot bags) in order to regrade under the deck for drainage purposes.

The darker soil is the new stuff I used for grading.  You can see the new black drain towards the base of deck landing, which I piped into the existing water drainage system I previously installed.  You can also see the new line I cut into the grass, where the water will run from grass to the rocks.

I got both kids to help out for a bit; Jonathan lugged the river rock from the car to the backyard while Kaitlyn started spreading the rocks.

With the water runoff section complete, it was time to rope off the main section and start removing the remainder of grass.  After all grass was removed, I spent time ensuring proper grading for additional water runoff in this section. Once that was done, it was time to start laying the brick border.

This first section took 2 days to complete but I was very pleased with the result.  I bought a used tile saw to make all cuts in the brick.

Next step was to complete the brick border near the river stone on the back side. 

This also took 2 days to complete as I didn't have much time either day I was working on it.

Here are a few views of some of the brick work and cuts I made.  I haven't worked with brick before so I was pleased with the results.

After a little more grading, I laid the weed barrier in preparation for the final step.

The final product included 2 cubic yards of pea gravel that I had delivered on the side street.  It was an estimated 5,600 lbs of gravel that I had to move from the side yard to under the deck.  Jonathan got home from work when I was mostly complete but I was happy to have his help to finish it off. 

I love the final product, it was a lot of work but i'm pleased to finally have this work complete.  Enjoy the pics.