How I Spent My Summer Vacation - Part Deux
So, the first Saturday was spent excavating the hole for the patio, leveling the surrounding landscape bed as much as possible, and moving a lot of rock. Everything was ready for the pavers so we had Tommy call and have them and the sand delivered by the next Friday afternoon along with the plate tamper we would need to tamp the pavers into place and force the jointing sand between them. Our plan was to head to Tommy's Friday right after work and get as much done that night in the shade as possible, spend the night, then get up really early to start laying pavers while it was cool. Tommy and Shannon were not going to be home that weekend. They had left Wednesday on a previously planned camping trip, so Mom and Dad were doing this part of the project by themselves.
As luck would have it, Tom had a horrendous day at work Friday and got off much later than usual. We didn't arrive at Tommy's until after 8:30 PM - almost dark. I had stopped for food while Tom headed straight to their house to start working. By the time I got to the house, Tom had started bringing wheelbarrows full of sand from the driveway where it was dumped to the hole. We got all the sand dumped in the hole before we went inside to eat. It was late by now - 10:30 PM and it was too dark to try to lay pavers, so we went in and went to bed. We got up really early (5:30 AM) Saturday. Tom went outside first, then came back in almost immediately with bad news. They had brought the wrong pavers for the soldier field - the row of pavers that would serve as the border for the patio. They were to have been standard sized pavers and instead they had brought us half standards. Now we were really up a creek. The landscape supply place didn't open until 8 AM. We were so disappointed because we were losing out on great shade and cool temps. We spent the time leveling the sand and then figuring out how the soldier field that ran along the walkway was going to have to be cut. You see, the walkway wasn't a nice straight line. It flared out from the step to the front door on down to the step down to the grass level, so every paver in that first row was going to have to be cut, each one differently, in order to keep the patio square. That meant 30 pavers had to be marked exactly, numbered, and taken to the landscape place to be cut - and we couldn't do that until we had the right pavers. At 7:45 AM we headed over there. We told Ryan at Gibsons what the problem was. No problem. He could deliver the right ones right away and pick up the wrong ones. Well, we were there with the Suburban so we decided we'd take some of them so we could get started with the cuts. When we started loading pavers into the Suburban we realized we could fit all 138 in the back, so we just loaded them all up. Of course, that meant we had to unload them all once we got to Tommy's. Well, actually I had to unload them all. Tom took the 30 he needed for the first row and set about marking them for the cuts while I unloaded the remaining 108 and carried them to the hole. From the driveway to the patio location was a roundtrip of about 50 yards. I made this trip, over the course of this project, well over 200 times, usually carrying at least 25 pounds of something - pavers, rock, sand, whatever. Quite the workout!
In about 20 minutes, Tom had the pavers marked for cuts. Now I had to load them into the Suburban and head over to get them cut. While I was gone doing that, Tom would finish leveling the sand since he couldn't start laying anything without that first row in place. Fortunately, the cutting and drive back and forth took only about 30 minutes. So, by 9 AM we were ready to roll. We got the first soldier field in place and then started working on the pattern. It's called an Ashlar pattern and is comprised of three sizes of pavers, a half standard, a standard, and a double standard. A standard is about your normal brick size, so you can figure out what the other two sizes are. The pattern is laid with the double standards sort of stair-stepped and the standard and half standards alternated between them. It's hard to explain and kind of confusing to get started on, but once we figured out a rhythm, we flew! By 12:30 I was back at Gibsons picking up the jointing sand. Ryan was shocked. He said "you're not ready for this yet are you?" I told him we were halfway finished already and he replied "do you hire out?" We had really made good time. The last half took a little longer - it was another blisteringly hot day and lugging pavers from the driveway to the patio over and over, bending to pick them up and then to put them down, handing them to Tom, and then Tom on his knees for hours laying them... well, it took its toll on us. We were dying. Finally, at 3:30 PM were laid the last paver. I called Gibsons to tell them to come pick up the incorrect pavers and the plate tamper at 4:15 PM. We poured the sand on and Tom ran the plate tamper over them for about 30 minutes. Gibsons arrived to pick up the extra pavers we didn't need and the ones they'd delivered incorrectly as well as the plate tamper. The guys were shocked that we'd finished so quickly. I think we were too. After they left we stood back and admired our hard work. It looked awesome! I was ready to go home, but Tom wanted to put the sealant on the pavers. Unfortunately, during the tamping, water from below had seeped up and the sand and some pavers were wet and you can't seal wet stuff. I suggested we put the landscape rock around the patio to give it a more finished look. What was I thinking? We ended up spending almost 3 hours laying landscape fabric and shoveling, wheelbarrowing, and pushing this huge river rock into place. Another exhausting day wherein we ended up filthy, sweat-streaked, starving, and dog tired. So, here are the results of that day's work: First is a view from the front porch.
Now a view from out in the yard. That's Tom with the hose.
And finally a view from the side yard looking toward the walkway, driveway, and front porch.
As you can see, there remained a lot of landscaping to complete and the patio had to be sealed, but the major project was finished, and in record time! The guys at Gibsons told us they didn't think we'd finish in one day and that they charge $8/sq. ft. for this work. That means we saved Tommy & Shannon close to $1500! We said we'd settle for a nice steak dinner sometime. I wish I had before pictures. The entire area where the patio is was covered in mounds of 4' tall shasta daisies, overgrown vinca, thistle, all sorts of perennials I can't even remember. It was just a wild, overgrown, weed-filled mess and not very inviting. That wildness pretty much extended to the area surrounding the patio as well and the other side of the walkway. The kids cleared out a ton of stuff, which in itself was a big improvement.
Next - part three - Horticulture 101.
