Front Patio Update

Well, I'm almost finished. Just need to clean out the leaves between the stones and pour in the paver set. I think I have one stone to level, but all the other stones feel pretty good underfoot. There is a slight slope downward from the house wall for rain runoff. I also put some heavy but pretty small boulders/rocks around the sewer access pipe and in front of the stepping stones to hold the sand better. I even dug in a flagstone "shelf" for my terra cotta pot that I'll fill with pretty flowers. I'll have my porch swing up by Friday, just in time for the beautiful summer evenings (sans wind, I hope).









Alot of hard work this past month, but my Smokey and I are close to enjoying our new front porch soon (she loves to sit on my lap on the front stoop and watch the neighbors' kids on their bikes).

Until next time,
Jawa Jaka (impatiently waiting for my porch swing)

The Front Patio

I've been doing a little project on my own the last couple weeks. Working on it a couple hours each day, I've gotten quite a bit done. I should be finished by next week. Mind you, this is not easy work, but with free flagstone from a friend, very cheap sand ($1.88 per bag for 25 bags of 50lb play/mortar sand), and beautiful pavers than form a curve ($1.90 per paver for 30 pavers, got five free), the back-breaking do-it-yourself work is worth it. Here's where I'm at so far.

What it looked like before. Just a bunch of rocks.

Diggin out the rocks, making a shape, and laying the first layer of pavers. Had to dig in that layer so it would be even. Leveler is an absolute essential tool for this project.

Front view to show the curve of the pavers. Not bad, huh?

The Sandbox, or a very large neighborhood kitty litter box (lots of kitty footprints all over it!). 25 bags of Quicrete Play Sand gave me about a 2" layer, perfect for the flagstone.

Lots of raking to spread it out.

Closeup of sand.

The Jigsaw Puzzle. After spending a couple hours breaking my back watering and tamping down the sand, I grabbed a few pieces of flagstone to see how it would all fit together. Bigger pieces are toward the wall.

Closeup of piece fitting. Much harder than piecing together my Imperial Officer tunic!

I did find a couple pieces that had a curve to it that fit against the pavers nicely.

Next is continuing with the jigsaw, leveling the sand, installing the pieces, and mortar the joints with Paver Set (sand with polymer fill to make airtight joints). And more tamping to do. Kittys won't have a chance when I'm done.

Until next time,

Jawa Jaka

The Walkway

I've been a busy bee on the house lately now that spring is here. A few months ago the sewer pipe clogged up so bad that the sewer company had to dig up my pipe, bend it straight, reinforce it, and cover it all back up. Of course, it got covered with bare dirt. Aurora didn't like that (no bare dirt in front lawns). Ridiculous law since they won't let us water our lawns, and the city made me dig up the sewer pipe ($8000 I feel the city owes me!). So, I left it bare for awhile, daring them to give me a ticket. Then last month I felt the need to do yard work, in a blizzard, just because it was April, and snowing...

So, this is the photo log of the flagstone Walkway, from the street to kinda near my front door. Mind you, I have a sloping yard. Laying flagstone to be even on uneven ground is pretty tricky, but I did it!

Digging in the edging.

Laying the flagstone (the same stuff I'll use on the patio).

Flagstone and edging dug in and level steps (well, one more edging to go, but it is in).

Putting in the rubber mulch (it's been through two heavy wind/sand storms and two blizzards, and still hasn't blown away).

Rubber mulch looks like the real thing! Also, lined the last couple feet at the street with small boulders that were laying around in the side yard.

Finished! Looking from street to house. Big red boulder on left side is now sitting next to new patio (next blog).

Until next time,

Jawa Jaka (now a full-fledged 501st member, DZ 5905)