Submitted by BillB on 11/19/2007
Front Yard Walk and Patio
Project from Hell. This, more than even hanging and taping drywall, inspired thoughts of slavery and drudgery. I had more than one hissy-fit after digging for hours, fighting roots and rocks and the heat of July. Some projects, like this one, are too big and physically draining for one person. I was so exhausted by the time of brick setting that I really didn't care how it turned out. Too bad because now I have two spots in the patio that are a little low and don't drain right. To fix it I'll have to tear out about a third of the patio and re grade it but I'm not sure its worth it.
Many of the photos of this project were taken at midday, under a big tree, so the shadows obscure my subject. Lesson learned: take pictures on cloudy days or early morning or evening. Photogaphy 101.
The Before
A couple of before photos, (taken in October). We wanted to keep the general design but we didn't like all the ugly concrete, the walkways were too narrow and the layout, with too many straight lines, was uninspired.
The Plan
We kept the general layout but widened the walkway, added some curves to create a better flow and changed the topography a bit by raising the level of the land in front of the porch for a more gradual drop to the driveway. Curved steps would transition between the varying elevations. All the new steps would have a 5 1/2" rise and a long run, 3 to 6 feet, depending on the topography. The messy green privet, at the far side of the patio, would be removed and a pergola covering the whole patio and extending back along the side of the house would create some shade and fill the void left by the missing tree.
The Process
- Remove old patio, retaining wall, walk and unwanted tree
- Cut down unwanted tree
- Excavate to 7 inch depth
- Install drain and irrigation pipes
- Build concrete forms for steps, edging curbs and pergola foundation
- Spread road base and sand
- Lay pavers
- Build retaining wall
Old Concrete Removal
I used a 10-lb sledge to break the concrete, but would get a heavier one next time to reduce vibration.
(I got carpal tunnel from this and 3 weeks later am still wearing the braces at night.) One option,
which I might have chosen, considering the work and expense to remove the old concrete, was to leave
the concrete as a base and then mortar new paving material on top of it. Mortaring full-size bricks to an existing walkway would raise it's height too much, so I would have used split pavers, bricks sliced to half their full thickness. However, if I added a new strip of concrete along the existing walkway to widen it, it might settle relative to the original walkway, leaving an uneven surface. Besides, I prefer the cottage style of dry fit brick.
The walk had no reinforcing in it but the old patio contained wire mesh, which is surprisingly effective. If you can pry one edge of a slab up a couple of inches, a sledge will break it easily if it contains no reinforcing steel. The wire mesh in the patio strengthened it such that a break required 3 or 5 sledge blows, not just 1, as with the un reinforced walkway. Use a metal pry bar and shove a brick under the edge of the slab to hold it up. Then swing away. Or you could use some sense and rent a concrete breaker. However, I've tried an electric breaker on mesh reinforced concrete with disappointing results. The sledge worked better. And it was sort of fun. It cost $1000 to rent the debris box and have it hauled away. 400 square feet of patio, once broken, translated to 11 cubic yards of rubble. So, figure about 35 square feet of 4 inch thick will give you one cubic yard to haul away.
Tree Removal
This Green Privet, a messy weed-tree had to go. Cutting down a medium-sized tree single handedly is easy. Just like in the cartoons, I first cut a wedge out of the trunk, a little less than half way through, on the side where I want it to fall. Then I tie something heavy but easily thrown, like a brick, to the end of a long rope and throw it up into the tree where it can lodge on a branch. I walk out the direction where I want the tree to fall and pull on the rope to make sure it's secured. Then I go back to the tree and cut another wedge on the opposing side of the trunk, but an inch or so higher than the first wedge and only about a third of the way in. I then go back out to the end of the rope and pull. If I hear a cracking, I'll pull harder and down the tree will come. If there's no cracking and I'm really yanking the rope, I go back and cut a bit more from the second wedge, opposite the falling direction, and then go pull some more. This green privet was 40 feet tall and the largest of the three trunks was about 8 inches in diameter. I cut the trunks at ground level and rented a stump grinder to get the rest, but due to the proximity to the fence I couldn't get all of it and had to spend a few hours swinging a maul to get the remaining stump and roots. The guys at the tool rental place were emphatic about not getting the stump grinder blades in the dirt, which seems to render it useless if you ask me. You've got to get into the dirt to get out the stump but I listened to the warnings, another reason I needed the maul to finish the job.
Excavating, Irrigation and Drainage, Concrete Forms
Pavers are to be laid on a 1 inch bed of sand which in turn is spread on a 3 to 4 inch bed of road base gravel. My bricks were 2 1/4 inches thick, so that meant I had to excavate to about 7 inches, give or take. That may not sound like much, but dirt fluffs as you dig, leaving you with a surprisingly large pile to get rid of. I've heard, depending on the soil, dirt will fluff about 40 - 60 % when dug up. That means for every square foot of area, you'd get about a cubic foot. For six square feet of area, that's just 2x3 feet, you'll fill a wheelbarrow to the top. A layer of sandstone lurks beneath much of our property and has been a thorn in my side for years. Digging postholes or trying to get drain pipe sloped properly can mean swinging a pick or a renting a concrete breaker. For once though, it came in handy; it provided a nice base for about a third of the patio. Whoever built the original concrete patio probably had to chip it down to the proper level. Concerning tree roots, various neighbors, with rented trenching machines, have severed everything in the top two feet along one side a tree with no ill effects, but just didn't feel right cutting all those roots. I left most roots over 1" in diameter. It's a lot easier to cut roots than shovel around them. If they grow and heave up the walk, I'll remove some base rock or sand and maybe replace the effected bricks with some half thickness paver bricks. Or I'll cut the offending root at that time, when just the one will be cut, minimizing impact on the tree.
To contain the edge of a dry-fit brick walk or patio, you can use staked bender board or a product specifically designed for the purpose. Since my walkway traversed a slope, I figured the downhill side required a substantial edge; a concrete curb. I used 1/4" plywood and stakes to form the curved steps and edge. Bricks will be mortared to the top of the concrete and the excavation will be filled with gravel and sand before dry fitting the bulk of the brick. I used 140, 60 lbs bags of concrete or about 90 cubic feet or 3 1/4 yards, in this project. It was difficult to get the forms as symmetrical as I'd planned because while driving the stakes, they'd hit a rock or root and deflect. I gave up trying to get them perfect, which effected the brick design later on. After all, it is outside and perfection has it's aesthetic drawbacks.
To contain the uphill side of the walk, I experimented with the plastic edging material and decided it was too expensive and flimsy. It cost over a buck a foot and the recommended metal stakes, which are to be placed every 2 feet, cost almost $5 each. For the experiment, I bought a 5 foot length and instead of the stakes, I cut a piece of 1/2" rebar into 20" lengths and put a 90 degree bend in the last inch to act as the stake head. I ended up using a "eco" bender board which cost 50 cents a foot and gave me a way to reuse all the wooden stakes from the building of the concrete forms.
You can see some drain and water pipes in the photos, installed before pouring any concrete. I also took the opportunity to replace the water supply line at this time, while the yard was torn up.
Pergola and Retaining Wall Foundations
In front of the patio, the yard slopes from about 2 feet at the high end down to about 6 inches, so a retaining wall is needed along the perimeter of the patio. The retaining wall footing includes cylindrical foundations for the pergola posts, formed with 10" sona tubes .
Along the front of the house, where the pergola will run, I dug down a foot and formed platforms for the posts. I embedded 3/4 inch threaded rod in all the pergola foundations to somehow use for securing the posts, but I'm not quite sure how.
Road Base and Sand
7 yards of road base and 4 yards of sand. Road base is a bunch of different sized gravel, from dust to 3/4 inch stones. The idea is that the smaller stuff fills the voids created between the largest pieces. The road base should be 3 to 4 inches deep and the sand, 1 inch deep. Give or take.
Gravel and Sand Base
After spreading and leveling the gravel, I rented a vibratory plate to tamp it down. The machine shakes the gravel to help the varying sizes of aggregate shift into place and creates a flat, hardened surface. (Though not hard enough to walk on without creating blemishes.) A layer of landscaping fabric between the road base and sand helps prevent weeds from growing up through the pavers. Before spreading the layer of sand, lay down 3/4" PVC irrigation pipes to act as supports for a "screed", which is simply a board that you drag along the pipes to level the sand, creating a smooth, flat surface on which to lay the bricks.
Laying Bricks
The curvy brick patterns I'm using reflect the curves of the patio and walks. Fairly wide spaces are formed between the bricks when laid in curved patterns, a bit of a problem with dry laid brick. Normally, just sand is spread over the freshly laid bricks to fill the small cracks, but to fill larger voids, I used a mix of 3 parts sand and 1 part cement. After sweeping the mixture over the bricks to fill the voids, I wetted the surface with a light spray from the hose. The cement-sand mixture hardened, but it's not like concrete and I don't think it will stand up to a 2500 psi pressure washer. We'll see.
Brick manufactuers offer a good variety of tumbled, textured, colored, stained brick to suit yoiur tastes; at a cost. I like old brick but the cost was $3 to $5 EACH for recycled stuff and the same for "manufactured old". I cheaped out and bought the clay brick from Home Depot for $0.42 each and mixed in some old brick that I had laying around. I've done a basket weave pattern on another patio in the back yard but played around with some circles and curves this time, some of which turned out OK. With an image of a stream in mind, I used a running design for the longer walkway because it seemed a walkway should flow. The circles I made on the patio are pools and there's an eddy or two near the front porch.None of it was executed vey well; like I say, I was burned out by the end of this project and I just wanted it done.
A curvy pattern like mine will leave you with irregular voids to fill. You could cut bricks to fit or try something like I did, fill them with concrete and add a topping of decorative stones. The voids in my pattern were somewhat regular and so, formed a pattern of their own. It didn't work out perfectly, but well enough.
This project still isn't complete. I'm re-thinking the pergola and I've still go to figure out how to hide the cylindrical concrete supports I built to help support it. The step fronts are still just concrete and though they don't show much, I may veneer them with something or maybe just paint them black. I'm making some copper landscaping lights, and I'll plant something along the walkway to serve as a backdrop to the lights because I imagine a light stuck in bare lawn will look wrong. I'll add to this project writeup as it happens.