A Gardeners Forum Forums Gardening Reference Gardening in 2004 Patio Project Update

We're in the midst of our paver-in-sand patio project. Today it rained cats and dogs, so we got a break.
We've gone from this...


To this in one back-breaking week!

We hope our trucking contractor shows up tomorrow with the ten tons of gravel we ordered!

BTW: That's the boring foundation of our new addition. The old part of the house has a lovely stone foundation. I'm trying to think of things to cover it up with. I was just about sold on evergreen azaleas, but have found out that they may not like that area, since it does get a bit soggy. Any ideas?

Oops! That second image was supposed to look like this (I hope it shows up this time. The sysytem keeps wanting to repeat the IMG command!)

Hey Bess,
I'm posting this link Building a paver-in-sand patio Pages: 1 2 and anyone looking for the previous info can jump right to it!!!

And Thanks for the update You know how we Love them around here!!!

Weezie

(P/S Is there a second picture, can you go back and edit it? If not, one of us girls can try to!)

I think you're just missing a space in the first image????

Weezie

Got a great start there! Looks very nice!!!
I need that in my back yard too!!!
Gonna show my hubby!

That is going to to be a fabulous area when ya'll are done I love the idea of railroad ties and gravel!

I actually copied,pasted and went to the address for the 2nd picture before I figured out you had reposted it

That's going to look so nice, Bess!
Gawd, all those railroad ties- bet you're a little bit glad it rained.

Thank you for the encouragement, it helps!



I liked the wet-toes site, G-Mom. It was interesting to find some azaleas in there, too. I couldn't tell whether they were the evergreen type, or not. However, we have a place called Betty's Azalea Ranch not too far away from here, which specializes in them, and I supoose I can go down and ask them directly.

Yes, Geegee, the RR ties were heavy. We just lifted each one slowly and carefully on to a heavy duty wheelbarrow and rolled them to their spots, and so far we haven't had to order any wheelchairs.

Today we got the gravel! It's in a huge heap next to the site. We're trying to find someone with a Bobcat or other little tractor to push it around for us. Then we have to get a couple of tons of sand to go on top. The pavers come on Monday.

Okay, if that worked, this should be a photo of the frame with the gravel in it. This was crushed run from a local quarry. We trieed to get a little front-end loader over to help move it (10 tons!) but failing that, we managed to move it ourselves with a wheelbarrow. You can see the leftover pile back there behing Mr.-of-the-Piedmont, there. We used that tp make a walkway from the driveway to the patio area.


Here we have the inch of sand shoveled in and the scree in place to level it out. Hard work.



Here's one with the pavers in place and our very important helper helping to sweep in the sand over the top.

It's not perfect, of course, but we're pretty thrilled about it so far!

Oh, wow, that looks SHARP! Good job, BOTP!

looking good!

That is FABULOUS Keep up the good work

G-Mom

Last night we sat out on the terrace under the cold November stars, a fire in the outdoor fireplace, glasses of wine in our hands and big smiles on our faces.

It was really worth it!

ooooooooo, that's awesome! You deserve it, for all that hard work.

What kind of wine??

Yahoo, Bess!!! Way to go!

We started our own Great Patio Project last Weds. Thought we'd be done by now, cause my husband took a week vacation, and we worked all day every day. HA!!!! He's back to work today, and I'm left trying to keep the project going. We've moved about 10 tons of various crap so far, with about 20 tons left to move. Like you, with a wheelbarrow. OMG, everything aches! (And I think I may have cracked a bone in my hand yesterday.) Will try to post pix tonight of what we've done so far. Glad to hear it was worth it! (Keep repeating to self: "It will all be worth it, it will all be worth it, it will all be....."

That looks awesome!! ok, I gotta ask.. how much did all the materials cost? I really want to do a similar thing in my back yard.

Meg

Ah, the wine was a Lindeman's Bin 50 Shiraz, and lovely!

Let's see, if I remember correctly, the materials broke down something like this:

16 Railroad ties: $10.75 each = $172 = $20. delivery
32 Rebar rods to stake RR ties to ground $ 20.80
w/ tax= 222.44

10 tons of gravel crushed run, $78.20
+ $55. for delivery = $133.20

2 tons of masonry sand, delivered $100.

2 palettes (288) of red 12" pavers, delivered = $494.12

The total comes to $949.76. Not cheap, but considering how much the labor would have cost, it's a bargain!

Geegee- it took us a total of three weeks to build. The first week was mostly me, digging. Then my husband took 2 weeks off and we managed to finish, but just barely, and with the luck of good weather. And yes, we too are achy! My husband says it's too bad the cold weather is coming on, but I'm glad. It gives us a chance to rest! Can't wait to see your progress.

Wow!
That is so neat!

I've seen this on HGTV and wondered if the pavers would stay in place, if the rain would do anything to it, etc. I have the perfect place for something like this at the farm where I live sometimes.

Cindy

Well, I tried uploading my photos to imagestation, but keep getting a server error. Will have to try again tomorrow.

Cindy- I did a tiny patio at my condo once with just bricks, sand and a couple of 4X4s, and they stayed in place just fine.

Thank you!

I was using them for awhile, then got tired of those server errors, photobucket wouldn't work for me, now i'm using Webshots.