Building a Patio - Part Three

Alright, so lets pick up where we left off with the patio.  It seems strange to be writing a blog post for something we completed so long ago (do a few months count as long ago? I guess it does in my mind.)  From the beginning this patio was a team effort.  We have had so many great people give us a hand or two in the building of this thing.  I was blown away that so many came by to help out and so thankful for amazing friends.  Its been so fun to be able to host lots of cook outs and hang out nights here with them on the patio this summer.  We almost feel like we have added an entire new room or living space to our house, we love it.

Ok, now lets get down to the technical - or not so technical things.  Way back when, we first talked about choosing pavers, then we began with our first step of digging out the area (and let me add in again that when I say we here - I'm really talking about everyone else...I made the food and finalized plans), and that was followed by the prep work of adding gravel, screening and tamping down the surface.  So we were all primed and ready to put in a patio.

Pavers - they must somehow find their way to the location you want them to lie.  Pavers - are not light. Pavers - it takes a long time to move from front yard to back.  Did you like my salute to Pavers?  We all took many trips back and forth.  I think I could do one paver at a time, maybe two if I channeled my inner hulk.

Ok, next thing was to determine our paver pattern.  We bought both square pavers and bricks and wanted to use the bricks to break up the plainness of the squares.  We settled with this and liked it.

Now it was just the tedious task of laying them all down, keeping them level, even and precise as possible.  The technical part of this includes the fancy tools we used.  Like a paint stirrer.  We used them to sweep across the screening layer a time or two just to make sure everything was as even as possible.  It worked like a charm.  Also a level is useful for a final check.

I need to add in here that early on we decided we needed a slight incline in the patio - mainly to help with drainage during heavy rain storms.  You can't even tell in its completeness that there is a slight slope at all and it has drained beautifully since its completion.  I think it was a smart move.  I would have hated to have puddles and mess to deal with every time it rained.

Oh, also for tools a rubber mallet came in handy for keeping the pavers tight and crisp.

Silas and Mike had the task of double checking for any loose or wobbly pavers.  We had a few that just didn't meet our standards of levelness so they walked and jumped around and smoothed out anything that felt wobbly or uneven.

And it seems Mark had to do some of that too.

This is a staged shot, I know seems so "real life" right?  This is the moment of the final paver placement - a wonderful feeling for everyone.

Victory run.

But wait, there is more!  Something has to hold all of this together and that's when Paver Set comes in. 

 According to its package Paver set is:

Polymeric Sand Paver Set is specially formulated for the filling of paver joints. It is specially mixed with polymers to harden yet remain flexible. It reduces weed growth but will not crack with weather-related ground movement.

We quickly began dumping it on, then felt like we didn't have enough and then ran to the store and bought way too much.  I guess its better to have too much then not enough?  Luckily it was returnable.  So we just used a broom to sweep and fill the paver set into all of the little cracks.  By the way, have you been to the hardware store to buy a broom lately?  I was totally on broom overload and had no idea which one to get.  Luckily Justin knew.

There was a lot of sweeping involved.

Final thing to do - lightly spray the surface to seal everything in.  It starting bubbling like crazy and we got a little nervous about the bubbles.  There was a warning on the label about the bubbles leaving a stain (that we of course noticed after we started) so this turned into a two person job of spraying and sweeping.  In the end, there was no way to get every little bubble thankfully and it did not stain or mark the pavers in any way that we could tell.  We were relieved.

Whew, we couldn't wait to get our furniture on the patio and start relaxing.

Its all old stuff we already had but I still like it. I feel like the new patio makes everything look pretty anyway.

Ok, so now we need a quick reminder of how this backyard used to look...

I can't end on that picture.  I think we have come a long way...

So final thoughts... It was a lot of work, took a lot of help, was a lot of fun to do and completely worth it.  We have enjoyed so many great hours out here already.  

Tomorrow I'll try to get in some detailed shots and also fill you in on some more backyard updates we have been working on plus some future plans.  Sometimes its the little things that really bring it all together.

Have a wonderful day!

Adding a little More Curb Appeal

We have been working, working, working on this little house of ours and because of that this little blog of mine has been neglected a bit.  The cool thing is - I have a bunch of projects to share coming up - so I'm excited about that.  One of which is our finished patio!  I can't wait to share how it turned out.   Pretty much as soon as we finished we had a monsoon roll in so I haven't been able to get any good after pics - looks like it might be a good day for taking some after shots - so stay tuned.

One of our goals for this spring is to get our yard cleaned up, neat and pretty.   We shared some in our painting the house post about how we have begun adding some character to our yard with new plants and mulch and a new walkway.  It was definitely time for some color though.

I have to brag a little and say that I have the sweetest husband ever.  I went and grabbed a yellow rose bush to plant in the front and also some veggies and herbs for our side bed.  A few days later Justin came home with a lot more herbs and four more rose bushes.  How sweet is he?  Look how pretty they are....

I hated the exterior of this house so much when we moved in - from the paint choices to the landscaping.  I love it so much now.  Look how far we've come...

It doesn't even seem like the same house.  

I also have a little side plant bed that was nothing but weeds when we moved in...and pretty much has stayed that way for the last two years.  It has been driving me crazy and I needed to do something about it.

I started by getting rid of the weeds and adding soil.  We actually added some soil in from the patio dig out a few weeks ago.  I also purchased some garden soil to supplement as well.  A little poking and tilling around was needed to break up the ground a bit and prepare it for planting.  This pic below is how its looked for the last few months.

I planted some of the veggies and herbs I had and I'm still working on getting the rest in (between patio building and major downpours).  I opted to make this a veggie and herb garden as opposed to a flower bed.  This area gets lots of sun and I love that its right outside the kitchen door (perfect for grabbing some fresh herbs while cooking).

Some of Silas' little seedlings have even made it in there.

Oh, I planted a blueberry bush too - does anyone have any pointers for growing blueberries??

We spend a lot of time outdoors so all of these little updates are so exciting to me.  The patio post is coming soon!  Also, tomorrow is the spring edition of the pinterest challenge.  Remember when I was a guest host in the winter?  Yeah, that was crazy.  I have a project I'm working on for that and hopefully will be finished before tomorrow so I can share!  Can't wait to see what everyone has done this time!

Anyone else working on prettying up your yard?  Share with me!!

Have a great day!

Building the Patio - Choosing Pavers

Its definitely time for an update when it comes to the patio.  Things have been moving rather slowly around here - well at least when it comes to patio building.  Over the weekend our goal was to pick out, purchase and lay down the patio - that however did not happen.  Seems as though choosing a paver took a little longer than originally thought and then loading them and unloading them took longer than expected as well.  Its just the way projects go sometimes.  So, I don't have a finished patio to show you yet but we do have pavers.....

As you can gather we actually have two different kinds going on.  I wasn't necessarily planning on choosing a paver and a brick but when I saw this brick I really kind of loved it.

Its called Old Towne Blend by Pavestone.  I love the variation of colors and after some deliberation we all (Me, Justin, Mark and Buddy) decided that it would be a nice accent.  

Now, on to the main paver.  Originally I was just thinking of going with something really plain.  I didn't like square and I didn't want anything that would be rough and leave an uneven surface (its surprising how many pavers are bumpy...who wants to sit on a bumpy patio?)  But everyone else wasn't feeling my decision.  So we kind of went back and forth several times.  

After finding the brick and agreeing it would make a great accent I was really liking this square paver - this one is Nantucket's Yorkstone Tan Variegated.  The variation of color is really nice and it has a slight texture to it.  Its plain with a twist I would say.

We have been playing around with patterns this week - we are kind of liking this.  Honestly, I'm sure we will re-arrange and arrange again before we decide on the final pattern.

Slowly this week our plan is to start moving the pavers from the front yard to the back (something we haven't started yet).  This patio job is a ton of work from start to finish.  Everything is heavy and labor intensive.  I'm so thankful my toughest job yet was choosing which pavers we wanted.  Man, that was difficult/I'm kind of spoiled.  Someone has to make lunch though right?

 Hopefully we will have a finished patio by the end of this weekend!  Can't wait to share the finished project with you!

So have any of you guys ever started a project and have it take way longer than expected?  Do you have trouble choosing your project supplies sometimes?  Share with me!

Have a great Wednesday!!

PS - You can check out our previous patio posts here:  Building a Patio Part One, Patio Part Two

Building a Patio - Part Two

Time for more patio building today.  Our patio is slowly coming together - its just the nature of our lives.  We have pockets of time on the weekends to complete steps between student events.  I'm pretty sure you could do this project in a weekend.  This next step did not take all day like the last, but don't get me wrong - it was still labor intensive - as I'm sure every step of this project will be.  So let's get going...

We left off with a big pit - and a nice pit at that.  It was now time to start filling in our base for the patio.  The first layer is a type of gravel.  We used a gravel called "crush and run".  This is a mixture of driveway gravel and fine sand.  We purchased it at a local place called Mulch Masters (where we get our mulch).

This step included a lot of wheel barrowing and shoveling.  So, I have to say how blessed we are to have amazing friends.  Mark was here again to help as well as another good friend - Buddy.  Even though this is back breaking work, you can still enjoy yourself.  Note that Buddy is wearing a white headband/red shirt and Mark is wearing a red headband/white shirt (headbands are the sleeves of the others shirt).  You know, common patio building uniforms.

Ok, so back to patio building.  Once you have all of your gravel mixture in place its time to tamp it down.  You could do this with a hand tamp or you can rent a tamper.  The place we purchased our gravel had tamp rentals - $39 for four hours.  We totally went with that.  It was sooooo worth it.  If its in your budget - rent a tamper.

After tamping it will look all smooth and pretty.

Buddy and Mark were not the only helpers for the day.  Silas pulled his weight as well.  If only that was a real lawn mower - our grass weeds are needing a mow.  Sowing grass will definitely be in our near future - we have a mess back there.  

So, after your gravel mixture is all tamped you need to add the next layer.  In our case we decided to use screening.  A lot of people use sand - either will work.  Screening is similar (its really fine crushed rock) - it provides the drainage like the sand but gives a more compact and hard base...so we went with that.

Then it was time for more tamping...you can see how the rental tamper came in handy, sped up the process and was worth $39.

We were now left with a nice smooth and compact base - ready for pavers.  The final patio step to come soon!  I can't wait to be relaxing back there!

Thanks for stopping by today!

PS - Here is our Part One of Building a Patio

Building a Patio - Part One: Digging it Out

We started a new project over the weekend - we are building a patio.  We are so excited about this one. Our yard has been in desperate need of help and attention since moving in and we are finally at a point to start showing it some.  We are starting with pretty much a clean slate - as far as landscaping goes...well, nothing but weeds.  We have no real sitting area outside so installing a new patio will definitely add so much to our yard.  So let's get started!

Here's the before shot - its a mess and in need of help!

First things first, we determined how big we wanted our patio to be.  So we - and let me stop here and state that when I refer to we I mean Justin and our friend Mark.  I was there for moral support and to bring out drinks and make food.  Ok, so "we" began by measuring out the area in which we wanted our patio and then marked each corner and used spray paint to mark it off.  Simple enough.

Next they determined how far down they were going to need to dig.  It depends on your gravel/sand layers.  You will see as we go but you need several base layers before you begin laying your stone or brick.  By the way - we are going with stone.  We are using 3" of gravel, plus 3" of screening (stone) plus our patio stones which are 2".  So our depth was 8" total.

After that was all calculated and confirmed (measure twice/dig once) - we were ready for the official ground breaking.

Now the fun really hard part began - digging.  Basically now that you have your area and your depth determined you just dig your butt off.  I would like to add here how thankful I am for friends like Mark that will come and help like this.  You also need to make sure as you are digging that you keep the distance fairly even and level as possible.  An un-level base will equal and un-level patio.  The next process will include lots of leveling and tamping.  So, just make sure you are digging a fairly level pit, stopping to measure your depth as you go is a good way to insure that- and sometimes you will need to adjust and spread dirt around to get it right.

The next piece of this process is carrying away or relocating all of the dirt you are digging out (its got to go somewhere).  Since we have pretty much zero landscaping we had the plan of using the dirt we dug out to fill in and create new plant/flower beds around our yard.  This actually ended up working perfectly for us.  The front, sides and back all now have plant beds ready for some pretty landscaping...which will have to wait until we have our patio built.  Mulch will be soon to follow.

So after measuring, calculating, digging (making lunches), lots of sweating, burning arms and hauling dirt you will have this...a big pit.

And what a great pit this is.  Soon this pit will be filled with good things that will lead to a patio - which we can't wait for.

So that was our weekend, we have more work to follow so stay tuned in the next few weeks for part two of our building the patio project.  Tomorrow I'm finally sharing about painting our house.  Woohoo, that's been a long time coming and I'm so ready to share that process and end result with you.

Any other landscaping or outdoor projects going on?  Share with me!!