Patio!
I took some time off of work this week, while dad was visiting. We put in a patio in front of my house that i'd wanted to do for ages. The house needs it, water would puddle nearby, and would rot the wood. I've had the wood fixed, but would rather not let the problem continue.
Before. You can see how there's kind of a depression dug in the ground by gutter overflow. There are two big trees, one on either side of where i was standing when i took this picture. The ground (a hard, stone-speckled clay) is just *full* of their roots.
Excavating the space we needed was rather brutal, especially considering the heat we had tuesday and wednesday this week. Heat advisories all over the place, sweating buckets. Much seltzer and gatorade were consumed. Probably close to 10 of those wheelbarrow-loads were taken away. That's my dad in the chair in a "lets avoid heat stroke" break. On the ground just inside the framed-in section are some 2' lengths of steel rebar. Once we joined the front sections around that post, we were hammering several of those into the ground to pin the frame in place. One went in about 9", and lodged in a deep root burl. Hacksaw was deployed, as that bugger wasn't coming out.
My neighbor had something similar, but it was built in such a way that ground squirrels got in and burrowed beneath things, causing it all to go un-level. To stabilize the outer area, and discourage invasion, we ran some concrete around the outer perimeter, and left the middle open so it would have some amount of drainage. Besides the post, there was that electrical box on the right, it ran a line out to the lamppost in my front lawn. We'd hafta work around them. However, if we'd done our math right, the only tiles we'd need to cut would be the ones around the block and the wire. If we hadn't done our math and measurements right, well, we'd be cutting more on the last course. This was about where we called off day two.
The next day, we put in some sand for the first course of bricks/tiles. They're 16" square and just under 40 lbs each. After a short learning curve on the best way to get them into place, we made some measurements on where/what we'd need to cut on the second course. (finished, we planned for it to be 3 x 10 tiles) Some sharpies gallantly gave their lives in the process. Thursday and Friday were far more hospitable and not the oven we'd been working on earlier. Dad's here making some markings to make a notch for the wire to fit through.
Carbide drill tips and a circular saw were deployed. Final verdict... It fits!
Dad was off for lunch with my sister at a Rotary meeting, i went off in search of MOAR SAND. It'd taken us about ten bags just for that portion, getting it all graded and tamped and at a slight angle away from the house to allow water to drain properly. That's half a ton of sand piled up, there. We used most of it. Part of the reason the woodwork looks a bit tatty is that we're in the process of having the exterior of our court redone, either painted or re-surfaced. The remaining tiles are laid out in order there, covered up to keep any paintspeckles off of them.
By the end of Thursday, we had six of the ten courses in place.
The next day, Dad finished it off, while i needed to be back in work. Fortunately, we'd done our math right. Once they were all in place, he swept in some stuff called "Polymeric sand" which is a fine stuff that kind of sets once it gets wet, helps to hold it all together. It looks great. Thanks, Dad!
Final tally
250 lbs of concrete
1300 lbs of sand
1200 lbs of tile
2 x 12 foot lengths of pressure treated 4x4 beams
12 feet of steel rebar
4 lag bolts
One bucket of polymeric sand
Many gallons of seltzer, Gatorade, and sweat.
Four days.
One patio.
Before. You can see how there's kind of a depression dug in the ground by gutter overflow. There are two big trees, one on either side of where i was standing when i took this picture. The ground (a hard, stone-speckled clay) is just *full* of their roots.
Excavating the space we needed was rather brutal, especially considering the heat we had tuesday and wednesday this week. Heat advisories all over the place, sweating buckets. Much seltzer and gatorade were consumed. Probably close to 10 of those wheelbarrow-loads were taken away. That's my dad in the chair in a "lets avoid heat stroke" break. On the ground just inside the framed-in section are some 2' lengths of steel rebar. Once we joined the front sections around that post, we were hammering several of those into the ground to pin the frame in place. One went in about 9", and lodged in a deep root burl. Hacksaw was deployed, as that bugger wasn't coming out.
My neighbor had something similar, but it was built in such a way that ground squirrels got in and burrowed beneath things, causing it all to go un-level. To stabilize the outer area, and discourage invasion, we ran some concrete around the outer perimeter, and left the middle open so it would have some amount of drainage. Besides the post, there was that electrical box on the right, it ran a line out to the lamppost in my front lawn. We'd hafta work around them. However, if we'd done our math right, the only tiles we'd need to cut would be the ones around the block and the wire. If we hadn't done our math and measurements right, well, we'd be cutting more on the last course. This was about where we called off day two.
The next day, we put in some sand for the first course of bricks/tiles. They're 16" square and just under 40 lbs each. After a short learning curve on the best way to get them into place, we made some measurements on where/what we'd need to cut on the second course. (finished, we planned for it to be 3 x 10 tiles) Some sharpies gallantly gave their lives in the process. Thursday and Friday were far more hospitable and not the oven we'd been working on earlier. Dad's here making some markings to make a notch for the wire to fit through.
Carbide drill tips and a circular saw were deployed. Final verdict... It fits!
Dad was off for lunch with my sister at a Rotary meeting, i went off in search of MOAR SAND. It'd taken us about ten bags just for that portion, getting it all graded and tamped and at a slight angle away from the house to allow water to drain properly. That's half a ton of sand piled up, there. We used most of it. Part of the reason the woodwork looks a bit tatty is that we're in the process of having the exterior of our court redone, either painted or re-surfaced. The remaining tiles are laid out in order there, covered up to keep any paintspeckles off of them.
By the end of Thursday, we had six of the ten courses in place.
The next day, Dad finished it off, while i needed to be back in work. Fortunately, we'd done our math right. Once they were all in place, he swept in some stuff called "Polymeric sand" which is a fine stuff that kind of sets once it gets wet, helps to hold it all together. It looks great. Thanks, Dad!
Final tally
250 lbs of concrete
1300 lbs of sand
1200 lbs of tile
2 x 12 foot lengths of pressure treated 4x4 beams
12 feet of steel rebar
4 lag bolts
One bucket of polymeric sand
Many gallons of seltzer, Gatorade, and sweat.
Four days.
One patio.