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