Yes, a new post. We built a patio.
Hello readers
It's been quite a while since our last post, but we've just completed a photogenic project, so it seemed like a good time to put something online.
Faced with an otherwise useless part of our backyard, we decided to build a patio alongside the back of the house, in the corner created by the breakfast nook and the dining room. It's been a trouble spot as far as drainage, so we also wanted to try something that would improve that too.
So, we set out to build a natural stone patio, figuring that it would allow more margin for error than a tightly-packed patio of brick or stone pavers. This did turn out to be true, as the job was essentially simple, but hard work.
Step one was to dig a hole. A big one, several inches deep.
The gray stuff on the right is a crushed stone and gravel mix to keep the big stones from shifting around or compacting the dirt.
Incidentally, the job of ditch-digging deserves its less than glorious reputation. I suspect it was the inspiration for oppressive systems of labor. As in:
Digger 1: This is hard!
Digger 2: I'll say - let's get someone else to do it for us.
Digger 1: But no one else is going to want to do this either.
Digger 2: Right, but if we can make someone else do it...
Digger 1: I'm listening...
With the hole dug, the next step is to fill the hole with the gray gravel stuff pictured above, followed by a layer of more sand-like stuff. We hauled the gravel ourselves in the trusty PT Cruiser (2 trips). We had the sandy stuff delivered to the house along with hundreds of pounds of rocks. Our guess is somewhere in the neighborhood of 1000 pounds, give or take.
Scout's back half provides a bit of scale in the first picture below.
Last step: carry rocks. Reminding ourselves that the ancient Egyptians must have been much smaller than we modern humans, we carried these big rocks from the driveway to the carefully prepared pit.
Then, with level and trowel we get the stones stable and at a consistent height, leaving room to pour in bags of 3/4" gravel as the finishing touch. (I suppose the hauling of 10 50-pound bags of gravel might count as a step, but who's counting.)
The final result is below - we're pretty pleased with it.
Bye for now.
It's been quite a while since our last post, but we've just completed a photogenic project, so it seemed like a good time to put something online.
Faced with an otherwise useless part of our backyard, we decided to build a patio alongside the back of the house, in the corner created by the breakfast nook and the dining room. It's been a trouble spot as far as drainage, so we also wanted to try something that would improve that too.
So, we set out to build a natural stone patio, figuring that it would allow more margin for error than a tightly-packed patio of brick or stone pavers. This did turn out to be true, as the job was essentially simple, but hard work.
Step one was to dig a hole. A big one, several inches deep.
The gray stuff on the right is a crushed stone and gravel mix to keep the big stones from shifting around or compacting the dirt.
Incidentally, the job of ditch-digging deserves its less than glorious reputation. I suspect it was the inspiration for oppressive systems of labor. As in:
Digger 1: This is hard!
Digger 2: I'll say - let's get someone else to do it for us.
Digger 1: But no one else is going to want to do this either.
Digger 2: Right, but if we can make someone else do it...
Digger 1: I'm listening...
With the hole dug, the next step is to fill the hole with the gray gravel stuff pictured above, followed by a layer of more sand-like stuff. We hauled the gravel ourselves in the trusty PT Cruiser (2 trips). We had the sandy stuff delivered to the house along with hundreds of pounds of rocks. Our guess is somewhere in the neighborhood of 1000 pounds, give or take.
Scout's back half provides a bit of scale in the first picture below.
Last step: carry rocks. Reminding ourselves that the ancient Egyptians must have been much smaller than we modern humans, we carried these big rocks from the driveway to the carefully prepared pit.
Then, with level and trowel we get the stones stable and at a consistent height, leaving room to pour in bags of 3/4" gravel as the finishing touch. (I suppose the hauling of 10 50-pound bags of gravel might count as a step, but who's counting.)
The final result is below - we're pretty pleased with it.
Bye for now.
posted by kelly at 5:49 PM
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