The Back Patio

A couple years ago I did a half-circle front flagstone patio for my porch swing.  I had so much left over flagstone that I decided to do a full-circle back patio for my orbital lounger.  The steps are the same, just a bigger area.

I created the circle with river rock that was on my side yard (still got plenty for other decorative rock work, or maybe a fountain)

Started digging out the dirt.  Took about an hour to finish half of it.

Ran into a little problem.  The whole back fence area used to be a pebble rock garden.  No wonder I've had troubles digging up weeds back there!  I had to dig up a layer of grass, then a layer of dirt, a layer of rock, and a layer of corroded plastic sheeting.  I also had to dig around deeply buried heavy-plastic edging which I'll keep in the ground.  I also found what looks like a water sprinkler hose, so I had to be carefull not to cut that.  This much took about two hours yesterday morning with some smoke from the Conifer fire in the air (I'm taking the day off from this project due to sinus infection from the smoke).

Here is the stack of flagstone I'll be using.  Good mix of shapes and sizes, all leftover from the front patio project.

 I bought this puppy a long time ago.  It used to be black, but I like how it's rust color came out.  There are no holes in it yet, so I'm thinking just giving it a good wash and putting on a coat of fire resistant clear coating to preserve the color and prevent it from rusting through.  This summer I should be able to roast marshmellows in my backyard.

And here is a link to the greatest product I've ever seen!  Rubber Brick Outdoor Tile

I saw this at the Home & Garden show last month and fell in love with it.  Believe it or not, it's at Home Depot for $7 per 18" tile.  They are made of recycled rubber (same stuff as rubber mulch), and clips together easily with clips that come with it.  They even have narrow strips for edging, which I think will be perfect for the back step facing.  You can install these over existing wood/brick/cement patios or on hard packed ground.  I'm getting 30 tiles for a 20' by 26' area in my back yard, covering the existing cement patio, digging out some more ground and hardpacking the dirt to triple the size of the patio.  I might even make wooden frames for posts and facing them with this stuff.  No gluing, tacking, nailing anything.  And they can be cut to size if needed.  Yep, I've got a plan that will probably cost me $300 total (not bad since a whole new cement patio was going to cost $7000!).  And I'm 99% sure AL can roll on this stuff.  Now to decide on the reddish burgundy or the lighter gray and spray paint it any color I want (I kinda like the reddish like in the picture below for the patio and maybe painting gray ones for the posts and other decorative stuff).

Tomorrow I'll get back to digging.  By Friday I should be able to start laying the plastic sheeting and sand.  There's just to much smoke in the air for my poor little sinuses.  As of last night two were dead, nine hundred homes were evacuated, sixteen homes were burned to the ground, and 3000 acres were wiped clean.  All from a controlled fire burn from last week by the state forest service that reignited Monday by heavy winds.  A controlled burn that's out of control!!  So sad...

Until next time,

Jawa Jaka (a real working back porch for summer, YEAH!!)