Wish me luck--18 tons of sand delivered for DIY patio this weekend!

[eks6426]

My husband and I are putting our marriage to the test. We just got married in July 05 and this is our first really big home improvement project. It all started with a wrought iron gazebo I bought 2 years ago. It needed a floor. Then I decided we should have patio around the gazebo (with cut-outs from some flowerbeds of course) So, now we are making our own 760 square foot patio in the back yard. We spent last weekend moving 3 tons of scrap granite from a counter top company that let's people "dumpster dive" for their leftovers. We have pieces that are 3 inches by 3 inches and 3 feet by 3 feet and everything in between. The plan is to lay it in a bed of sand like a jigsaw puzzle. But of course you can just throw the sand down and do it. We are digging out the whole area, installing water lines and electrical lines, then building a frame on the outside and support framing on the interior since it is such a large area. Finally, put down the sand and start to lay the granite. Friends are telling me that my husband and I are still speaking by Monday, then our marriage will last.

To cover the needed depth in sand I had to order 18 TONS. The delivery people wrote down the wrong day and delivered a day early so now I have all of it in my driveway. Can't wait to see it. My husband met the delivery guy who asked what we were doing...my husband's response? "We have a REALLY BIG CAT." Ha!

Anyway, here's the before shot. You can see the lower 1/2 of the gazebo in part of the picture. There are 6 sides--each 6.5 feet long. A triangular top piece goes on top of each side piece and they meet in the midldle with a cupula. My table and chairs for 6 fits inside with extra room. I've already ordered some clematis to grow up the sides. I'll add roses next year. A piece of the granite is laying in the middle of the gazebo. The granite pieces are polished like countertops and are very pretty.

Pardon the messy yard--obviously we've been moving stuff around. I'll post the after shot next week.

 

[sevens one]

I hope everything goes well for you. Wow- 18 tons!
can''t wait to see the after shots too.

 

[Lorelei]

Island Dreams, I had to giggle! Whenever we have had sand delivered, all the neighbourhood cats thought it was wonderful - a huge outside litter box! You had better put your gloves on when shovelling it!

Can't wait to see the finished project!

 

[movie zombie]

congratulations and good luck! you''ll appreciate it even more having done it yourself.

movie zombie

 

[mingagreen]

UUUUUHHHHHHH Good luck!!!!!

I am jealous! We did a EP Henry walk way and I love it so much I want a patio made of the same material, but it''s not going to happen. I can''t wait to see the progress, good luck with the project.

 

[monarch64]

ID, it sounds beautiul! I can''t wait to see progress/finished pics! Good luck to you and your DH, you WILL get through this!

 

[moon river]

That''ll bo some sand box!

 

[Kaleigh]

What a great project, can''t wait to see the progress pics. Good luck. It will be amazing I''m sure!!!

Plus you guys are brave!!!

 

[Diam100]

Oh Yeah, home improvement project = marital bliss NOT!!

Count me in as one of the people that wants to know if your still speaking to each other after the weekend. When my husband & I did a major remodel on our kitchen (ok we hired people) we came close to killing each other. Dust everywhere, tripping over construction materials & fighting over design tastes. It was a lovely experience (lol)

Can't wait till we remodel the master bath oh boy is that going to be fun. I want multiple shower heads & hubby wants one. I might have to knock him over the head with the shower curtain rod..

 

[Mara]

hehe this is why i try to paint rooms and similar when greg is gone, that way he just comes home and look it's done and the 'mess' is gone...hehe.

can't wait to hear the update island dreams!! i love what you outlined, it should be fab esp with beds of flowers here and there and climbers up that beautiful gazebo!

oh and if you want a super fast growing climber for some coverage while the roses and clematis are taking off, try the white potato vine, i got one about 5 years ago at my old place and it was taking over this railing next to the door, when i moved out i gave it to my grandmother, and she put it alongside this white wood bench thing that is very tall and naked and she wanted some coverage, and now it is absolutely covering the whole top of this thing. it's beautiful, white blooms and green foliage and it blooms for what seems like forever...reflowering over and over.

 

[eks6426]

Well, first things first...my husband and are still speaking to each other. As a matter of fact me pretty much got along through the whole weekend. There were a few tense moments when we needed to communicate while he was operating the baby bobcat...he wanted me to shout over the noise and I knew I couldn''t. Once we worked out the hand gestures we were good.

Unfortunately, we didn''t get it done this weekend. We wanted the patio to be level with the sidewalk that comes out the back door (would love to take it up and have the granite there too, but DH said no to that one). Turned out that the yard was at it''s low point near the sidewalk and was much higher on the opposite corner...almost 2 feet higher which we didn''t know until we started digging and digging and digging. I had the string and a line level trying to get it even from one corner to the other and we had to take a lot more out than expected. We spent all day Saturday excavating.....and when we stopped in the dark there were still some humps that were too high. Also, we were moving the dirt to the back of the yard where I have a privacy fence. I was hoping for a small berm that I could turn into a water fountain...well now we have a wall of dirt so high, we''re considering a log flume ride instead....Seriously, I will have to come up with something to do with the dirt...way to much for my tiny city yard.

Got up Sunday slightly hung over from the pitcher of margaritas we had at dinner at 9pm the night before. Normally splitting a pitcher of margaritas doesn''t do me in, but we didn''t drink enough water and were dehydrated. Lesson learned...I put a jug of water on the porch with glasses so we would not be so dehydrated Sunday. We finally got the baby bobcat to level the dirt and then started putting in the framing around the outside. Put up an interior framing that won''t show beneath the gazebo area to make sure that was truly level. That mostly went ok. Still had do move dirt from one side to the other. Then put down landscape fabric and started moving the 18 tons of sand. To get the sand to the backyard we had to scoop it up in the driveway, drive through a fence gate that only left us 1" of wiggle room that then immediately had a drop off. The baby bobcat was something like a bucking bronco at times. But we dumped sand and built a ramp then we were good. As we were dumping sand, we had to be careful not to fill in where the flowerbeds would be. We eventually got the the sand mostly in, then put the metal edging around the flowerbed areas. This was the first time I''ve ever used metal edging. It worked well but was ab it challenging.

We started doing the electrical conduit but then it got dark.

So, in the evenings this week we are going to finish the electrical conduit which needs to go under the sand (couldn''t do it before the sand because you can''t drive on it). Then to plumbing lines (I want to put soaker houses in the flowerbeds without regular hoses going on top of the granite). Then we need to compact and smooth the sand. It''s raining today so that will help compact the sand.

We''re thinking another long weekend and we should hopefully be done. So, we didn''t get as far as we hoped because we had to move a lot more dirt than expected, but at least there is a ray of light at the end of the tunnel.....I''ve been taking pictures as we go so hopefully I can get them uploaded in the next couple of days.

 

[Tacori E-ring]

ohhhh! I can''t wait to see the final product! How fun (not doing the actual work but afterwards when you have a beautiful backyard)

 

[eks6426]

Here''s a work in progress picture. We have about 1/2 the granite done now. We put up our gazebo base to make sure it fits. We''ll need to make a few modifications but we weren''t off too much. Pardon the junk in the back yard. Also, the patio is still very sandy because we are continually sweeping sand in and watering it to fill the cracks.

 

[eks6426]

Here''s a close up.

 

[FireGoddess]

Lookin good!!!!

 

[monarch64]

I really like it ID! Great job, I am impressed!

 

[mrssalvo]

wow, it looks great so far. I bet you guys will be outside all the time once it''s done.

 

[MINE!!]

Oh wow.. I am mondo impressed!!

 

[movie zombie]

you''re going to be done in time for summer! and it looks great!

movie zombie

 

[SoonIHope]

Oh wow, it looks really great!!!

I looooove the granite and can''t wait to see pictures when you''re done, it''s going to be amazing! Good luck getting it all finished as painlessly as possible!

 

[eks6426]

Just thought I''d give an update on the patio project. The granite is done and the plants are growing. I planted a lot of zinnia & cosmos seeds to fill in for this year. They''re not quite flowering yet but will be soon.

We also did a square foot garden for veggies. It''s doing really well. We still have the back dirt pile area (currently growing a few volunteer corns) but that will in the fall or next spring.

Anyway, here''s a few pictures. The roses were just planted this year.

 

[eks6426]

Picture of the square foot garden

 

[eks6426]

And lastly the rose

 

[monarch64]

Wow, it turned out beautifully! Congrats!

 

[Sundial]

Huge improvement, your backyard looks wonderful!!!

 

[movie zombie]

congratulations on a job very very well done!
movie zombie

 

[aljdewey]

ID.....wanna come to my house? I want a patio, and you wouldn''t BELIEVE the quote I got from the landscapers!!

 

[mrssalvo]

It looks beautiful ID. what a great place to spend the spring/summer/and fall. I love it.