Patio: Nearly done! <pics>

[sohcrates]

just compacted sand on dirt? why did you decide not to put down a gravel base? Just curious.

I feel your pain though. i built a 450 sq foot brick patio by hand about 2 years ago.


took 5 tons of stone. 4 tons of sand. 4 pallets of brick, and a rental plate compactor. as well as about 4 months to finish

looks good though

 

[rasczak]

Originally posted by: DrPizza
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

we have a pergola exactly like yours in our backyard. same wood, same style, except the roof was angled. wish the foundation was done better though (the work was done by my father inlaw before we took over the house). the wood gets kinda brittle after time but it maybe due to not really taking care of it. I'm probably gonna end up tearing it down soon as it's becoming a safety hazard.

 

[SKC]

marked

 

[SKC]

edit: huh?

 

[alkemyst]

Originally posted by: 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

instead of the hoe with a guy on his back?

 

[DrPizza]

Originally posted by: sohcrates
just compacted sand on dirt? why did you decide not to put down a gravel base? Just curious.

The guy who came by to deliver the gravel suggested not getting the gravel - and he was the guy who would have profited more by us purchasing the gravel. Our soil is very rocky as it is and already provides very good drainage. Still though, I worry that it's a corner I shouldn't have cut. We had a torrential downpour last week; and our gutter still drains straight down onto the patio. It was like watching a stream run across the patio - and it caused no problems until it reached the sand where there are no bricks. Unfortunately, the 2 hours I spent working on that sand will need to be repeated now.

Originally posted by: alkemyst
you can/should cut those bolt ends off.

Yep, that was in my OP. When I purchased them, they didn't have the length I wanted; they were all 1 inch too long. I didn't want to delay construction by a few days, so I figured I'd just suffer with a longer length, and later cut them and cap them somehow.


And no, I wasn't the guy with the backhoe. Wish I owned one though!

 

[DrPizza]

Wooohooo! Almost done! The brickwork is complete though. Finished it off with 5" squares, and reinforced all those pieces with angle iron & rebar holding the angle iron in place. The whole patio is under slight compression now, to help hold it together & square. Still have to put sand down in the cracks now too.

 

[KK]

Looks awesome, much different than the before. so what would estimate the cost of supplies ran you?

 

[Fenixgoon]

wow, looks great Dr. Pizza!

 

[TestedAcorn]

Dang that looks nice. Probably TONS of time, effort, and money.

 

[judasmachine]

looks great, congrats.

 

[DrPizza]

Originally posted by: KK
Looks awesome, much different than the before. so what would estimate the cost of supplies ran you?

Including the furniture, excavation, sand, bricks, wood, stain, brushes, misc. tools, etc., right down to the last hanging basket and wind chime,... about $2500
Plus, a LOT of labor - but it was worth it.

 

[fossilburner]

looks great. how is the pergola attached to your house?

 

[Squisher]

Nice job.

I did a patio at my last house. A lot more maintence free than the deck I have now is.

 

[DrPizza]

Originally posted by: fossilburner
looks great. how is the pergola attached to your house?

It's not
I mitered it to match the angle of the slope of the roof. It actually just sets there. The 2x8 joists aren't attached to anything, actually, except the 1x2's running across the very top. That back room is a sunroom that was added to the house about 7 years ago - before we owned the house. The shingles seem inferior to the rest of the house and seem to be wearing out sooner. I'm just going to keep a close eye on it to see if it shifts even an eighth of an inch. If so, I can lag bolt it to the roof with some thin lag bolts & seal around the joists. It supported my weight just fine. I'll still probably end up lag bolting it to the roof, but with those shingles having only about 5 years or so of life left in them, and with plans to put in 2 sunroofs 6 or so feet from the ends of the joists, I decided to just leave them for now, as long as they don't cause any trouble. There's a lot of weight there; it's not going anywhere from the wind.

 

[bctbct]

That really looks great, good job on the design.

 

[crab]

Looks great!

 

[Patt]

It looks fantastic ... well done.

 

[Fritzo]

I'm digging a patio right now too I didn't wuss out- did it by hand. gonna lay the bricks tomorrow.

 

[CraKaJaX]

Why is there a cock on your table? :Q

 

[Greenman]

Looks great, but I have to doubt the wisdom of resting the patio cover on the existing comp roof.

 

[fossilburner]

Originally posted by: Fritzo
I'm digging a patio right now too I didn't wuss out- did it by hand. gonna lay the bricks tomorrow.

any pics?

 

[halik]

That looks amazing, what was the total budget if you don't mind me asking?

 

[TheBloodguard]

Very nice!
I'm working on a patio covering now, not so pretty but learning alot.

 

[MikeyIs4Dcats]

looks great Doc!