DRAINAGE

PATIO

We wanted a blue stone patio but I was not about to pay $15,000 for it so I decided to do the work myself. After doing a lot of research, we bought the materials needed and rented a Bobcat. It took me 2 weeks to build the patio. 1 day to dig out the base, 1 day to spread the quarry process and tamp, 10 grueling evenings and nights of measuring sand and laying down the blue stone, and 1 day of filling in with polymeric sand. Each blue stone had to be measured for 2 directions of pitch. It had to be EXACT!!! I learned the hard way and had to redo do more than half of the patio. Yes, I did this from 6:00 pm to 3:00 am for 10 consecutive nights. I was on a deadline and wanted to finish in time for my daughter's first birthday party.

Below is a picture of my daughter Hayden and our dog Diesel before I started digging.

The Bobcat I rented. I had fun with this one! Also shown is the tamper I rented for the quarry process.

My son Landon eager to operate the Bobcat.

Excavation begins.

I had to dig wide enough to fit a 500 square foot patio.

Landon helping me operate the Bobcat.

Blue stone being delivered. It cost a few thousand for the blue stone but still nowhere near $15,000!

Quarry process being delivered.

We had a total of about 50 tons of quarry process, sand, gravel, mulch and dirt delivered. Spreading it all out was NOT fun.

What the quarry process looked like after it was tamped. Now I'm just laying the blue stone along the borders so that I can pick and choose what I need for the puzzle.

My neighbor Kevin helping me lay down some blue stone. The pile of dirt in the background was all the dirt that was excavated from the base of the patio. We used the Bobcat to dump the dirt in the woods.

Sand and blue stone. Each blue stone had to be measured for 2 directions of pitch.

After the puzzle was layed out, each piece had to be removed so that sand could be poured in and leveled.

Notice the string and rebar we used for pitch guidance.

The 1400 watt light that was used at night.

Faye's fiancé Shayne helping me redo the pitch on some of the blue stones. Faye is holding Hayden.

Measuring the pitch.

It had to be done for each one. That's why it took 10 days just for the blue stone. Topsoil was delivered for the patio borders.

After every piece was leveled and the polymeric sand was spread, we had to spray a light mist of water to get the sand wet so that it would "cement" the pieces together. We decided to do away with the wooden border and instead poured cement along the edges of the patio. You can't see it here because we covered it with dirt.

It was the day before Hayden's party and there was no way I was going to finish the landscaping in time so we hired a landscaping company to finish the job. The company was owned by my neighbor's friend. They were actually working on another project and stopped that project to help me out. What an awesome group of guys!

These are the blue stone pavers I managed to save from the other side of the house where I installed the drain pipes.

Extending the driveway. Our neighbor let us use his driveway so that we would never have to move cars around again.

Grading the area around the patio.

The patio was set far back enough so that we would also have enough room for the addition to the house.

We had a furniture assembling party the night before Hayden's birthday party with lots of French beer and German wine. It took 4 people to build the tent. No time for grass seeds.