Patio: Nearly done! <pics>

[DrPizza]

All that's left is to restain the hot tub, replace the hot tub cover, do something with the chimneys, paint the foundation, install the ceiling fan(s?) and cut the 6 bolts on the pergola. And, some minor landscaping. And, get rid of the black trim around some of the windows... replace the storm door, paint the other door, purchase a new gas grill.

finished
2



-----------------------------------------
Wife and I had been debating - stamped concrete? Wood deck? Home Depot settled it for us with discounted/clearanced pavers @ 25cents each. Brick patio. Lotsa bricks. (5 pallets of pavers, a couple hundred roughly 6x6 of an off color, and 800 pounds or so of bricks for the fire pit. bricks_arrive

Started digging for the patio by hand. I think I was crazy. Hired a backhoe to do some work for us - clear for the patio, rip out a half dozen stumps, rip out our old satellite dish pole (and over a yard of concrete) and excavate for me to install an exterior entrance to my basement (so I can get started on the kitchen remodeling job.)
outline
some progress
Lots of work to do by hand still
good bye stumps
good bye stump
sand arrives. More work to do.
pack the sand (rare picture of DrPizza)
finally got started laying bricks. This should be easy!
Uhh, no, it's not easy. It's slowwwww. 8 hours of work later...
The 4x4 in the picture is one of several to help form a pergola overhang, something like this when it's done
I'm going to pick up an outdoor ceiling fan or two to mount underneath the pergola. We actually saw some that were pretty reasonably priced yesterday while shopping.

Tons more work to do. So far, we're through about 1 2/3 pallets of pavers out of 5. Plus, I've gotta get the fire pit in (I tossed it together roughly to get an idea; in the bricks arrived picture.) On the outline, the firepit will be in the center of the square that sticks off the corner of the main patio.


update: this sucks. I hate bricks. 12x22 area done so far; that's close to half of the bricks, not counting the fire pit & step. at dusk tonight

6/3/08 update:
Whew! Pergola is nearly done; just have to put in the wiring, ceiling fan, move the spotlights, and a few more finishing nails. Nearly got rained out tonight, but painted the last 15 boards in the barn, then ran out around 10:30 tonight to put them up. (Hence needing more finishing nails; I'll do that in the daylight.) We've already had 3 or 4 campfires, sat around the campfire having a few beers, roasting marshmallows, etc.
(bad pictures - taken in the dark) Oh, and I have a few bolts to cut & put caps over. (I needed 7", store was out of them.)
pergola 1
pergola 2

 

[iamwiz82]

Could you have used a smaller tamper?

 

[ponyo]

Looking good. I would've hired someone to do it but nothing like doing it yourself if you have the time. :thumbsup:

 

[KK]

how's your back?

 

[Canai]

Looking nice. What are you planning on using to fill the seams when you are done? Did you lay fabric under the sand?

 

[KK]

Originally posted by: Canai
Did you lay fabric under the sand?

looks like he did on that one picture

 

[drnickriviera]

Did you stabilize the base material? Are you screeding off the sand to make it perfectly level?

If you didn't do the proper prep work, the bricks are going to settle and you'll have low spots.

 

[jaqie]

Wow, make sure to show a finished pic! Love it so far!

 

[Canai]

Originally posted by: KK

Originally posted by: Canai
Did you lay fabric under the sand?

looks like he did on that one picture

Ah. Didn't notice that before. It almost looks like plastic to me.

edit: man, it's in a several of the pics. I'm going freaking blind!

 

[destrekor]

Originally posted by: Canai

Originally posted by: KK

Originally posted by: Canai
Did you lay fabric under the sand?

looks like he did on that one picture

Ah. Didn't notice that before. It almost looks like plastic to me.

yea its pretty common material. Looks like a strong black liner material. Seen it used a lot for similar purposes. Actually I think my aunt used the same liner under the sand where she put the pool (pool is dug in maybe 6 inches in the ground with sand underneath, and the liner between the sand and the ground).

+

 

[Canai]

Originally posted by: destrekor

Originally posted by: Canai

Originally posted by: KK

Originally posted by: Canai
Did you lay fabric under the sand?

looks like he did on that one picture

Ah. Didn't notice that before. It almost looks like plastic to me.

yea its pretty common material. Looks like a strong black liner material. Seen it used a lot for similar purposes. Actually I think my aunt used the same liner under the sand where she put the pool (pool is dug in maybe 6 inches in the ground with sand underneath, and the liner between the sand and the ground).

+

I dunno... I worked landscaping for a couple seasons and built several brick patios, and we always used fabric to allow water to flow through.

 

[DrPizza]

Originally posted by: iamwiz82
Could you have used a smaller tamper?

lol. I went to the hardware store to buy one, and didn't like the handles/grip on all except the one that I purchased. I'd have rather had a heavier one, but oh well. Actually, though, that one was perfect for tamping with bricks there, because it's the same size as two bricks.

 

[DrPizza]

Originally posted by: drnickriviera
Did you stabilize the base material? Are you screeding off the sand to make it perfectly level?

If you didn't do the proper prep work, the bricks are going to settle and you'll have low spots.

Yes. At first, I was leveling it as I went; tamping the crap out of it, then using my level to skim off the sand so it was level left to right, and a slight slope away from the house. But, 2 hours later, I had to rip out about 150 bricks because that method wasn't working out too well. So, I took a 2x4 that was ripped in half, and laid each 2x2 in the sand, starting at the house, and sloping the proper amount away from the house. Then, I screeded it off with a heavy straight 4x4. Filled and tamped any low spots in the process. Then went over it again and again. Putting the time into doing that saved a heck of a lot of time with the bricks. I think one 2nd 2x2 is visible in the picture; I'll use that to reset the other again, about 8 or 9 feet over. Then, I'll remove it, back fill, and tamp that down.

 

[DrPizza]

Originally posted by: Naustica
Looking good. I would've hired someone to do it but nothing like doing it yourself if you have the time. :thumbsup:

A lot of satisfaction to doing it myself though. My older son helped quite a bit for a good portion of the afternoon too.

 

[DrPizza]

Originally posted by: KK
how's your back?

Just fine. Bricks aren't too heavy. My hands are killing me though. Even with gloves on, and the gloves soaked from a drizzly rain, my hands dried right out and split in places.

 

[destrekor]

Originally posted by: Canai

Originally posted by: destrekor

Originally posted by: Canai

Originally posted by: KK

Originally posted by: Canai
Did you lay fabric under the sand?

looks like he did on that one picture

Ah. Didn't notice that before. It almost looks like plastic to me.

yea its pretty common material. Looks like a strong black liner material. Seen it used a lot for similar purposes. Actually I think my aunt used the same liner under the sand where she put the pool (pool is dug in maybe 6 inches in the ground with sand underneath, and the liner between the sand and the ground).

+

I dunno... I worked landscaping for a couple seasons and built several brick patios, and we always used fabric to allow water to flow through.

I didn't even think of that. hmm, makes sense. Maybe people punch holes in the black liner? I haven't worked with the liner myself, just seen it used before, but generally never saw the liner by itself, usually the sand was already on top and just saw portions or the outer edges.

Originally posted by: DrPizza

Originally posted by: KK
how's your back?

Just fine. Bricks aren't too heavy. My hands are killing me though. Even with gloves on, and the gloves soaked from a drizzly rain, my hands dried right out and split in places.

vaseline intensive rescue lotion ftw
great for cracked skin. My knuckles in the winter get super cracked and bleed sometimes. That lotion does wonders for recovery and protection!

+

 

[krunchykrome]

Finally putting all of those bricks you bought to good use?

 

[Blieb]

end result lookin' GOOOD!!!

 

[DrPizza]

Half way done!!! (Not counting the area under the hot tub, not counting the fire pit, and not counting a 7 foot wide step, not counting landscaping around the patio, not counting any of the finishing touches... *sigh* Half of the pavers are down though.) 12'x22' done so far.
updated picture (taken when it was getting too dark to work tonight)

edit: not counting the pergola "roof", not counting the wiring for a outdoor ceiling fan above the table, not counting wiring for the hot tub, not counting painting the foundation with some sort of concrete paint, not counting doing the same to the chimney, not counting the raised flowerbed that'll be behind the hot tub,...

 

[Exterous]

Ugh - I was so excited for a potential patio project this summer. Why must you crush my dreams

 

[bctbct]

slacker






looks good.

 

[Gooberlx2]

How's it going? I plan on building a flagstone patio for our new house, which we close on next week. Aside from the cost, I actually look forward to the project and doing it myself. I don't think our patio will be quite as big as yours...and we have to get the rear landscaping done first anyway...or at least the grass needs to be set within a certain timeframe.

 

[DrPizza]

In addition to hitting 20k posts today, I also found time to nearly finish my pergola roof over the patio, despite rain earlier in the evening. Still about 400 more bricks to lay, landscaping, finding the leak in the hot tub. The patio is pretty functional though; we've already had campfires in the fire pit 3 or 4 nights. With luck, I'll have it finished before the weekend, except for the outdoor ceiling fan, which I have to purchase still, and the lighting.

How do you guys think rope lighting would look, if it were recessed into the pergola a bit to make it somewhat inconspicuous?

 

[alkemyst]

you can/should cut those bolt ends off.

 

[Jawo]

Looks like you did a really nice job! Bricks are a b!tch and it is incredible how they can dry out your hands (as you found out). That should provide much enjoyment for many years in the future!

Dr. Pizza.....I thought you were the guy on the backhoe