Tuesday, August 5, 2008

Brickety-bam!

Dude. The Big Patio. Is Done.

Here's the story, start to finish.

Pre-digging:


Post-digging:

Wacking (a.k.a. compacting gravel base):


Wacking almost done:

Screeding sand then laying brick (a.k.a. hurting selves for 3 days):

Note: some of my shirt sleeves seem tighter. I seriously think I've developed bigger biceps from this project. Seriously. Not kidding. A brick weighs about 5 lbs on average. We moved 2000 bricks around at least twice (getting them here, putting in patio). That means we moved 5 TONS of bricks. I placed almost every single one of them in the past several days. That's right, my arms have lifted 5 tons in the past few days. That can't be good for you. Or else - Olympics, here I come! Discus, shotput, or weightlifting? What do you think? No disrespect to Ken - he moved most of the bricks across the yard, handed them to me, or cleaned & cut them. So he lifted 5 tons too.

Done:

9 comments:

Kristen said...

This is just phenomenal. You guys are king. I love the pattern and the incorporation of non-brick stones. It looks like it's always been there! Congratulations to you and your mighty biceps!

sarah said...

Kristen - thanks so much! We were a bit uncertain how it would come out, and people kept looking confused that all the bricks were different, but I love it too! I had some photos of walkways from the Bungalow Details: Exteriors book, that we kept out in the mud with us (!) and it really helped. I have to say, putting the rocks in there was a bit of a cheat - whenever the brick pattern got a little weird or there were odd shapes happening, we could stick a rock in. Thanks to the Brothers Greene for inspiring us with their classic brick & boulder bungalows!

P.S., you're no slouch yourself - I can't believe all the junk you had to haul away! Geez. At least we had a fairly blank slate.

Susie said...

Wow, wow, and wow! It is just TOO beautiful. I need to hire you as a consultant for our patio!

Anonymous said...

Wow - it's so much bigger than it looked in the night-time shots!

Amalie said...

Seriously, the stones really add to the patio, whatever reason they were used! They definitely help keep it natural. I love brick patios in general (having one myself makes me a bit partial, I suppose), but I especially like yours!

Sandy said...

How pretty! Love the pattern. You two did an excellent job!

Jan Marie said...

That is too cool. Love the pattern and the random stone pieces.

NV said...

That is AWESOME! Love the pattern, too. And if anyone can relate, I think it's me. Especially on the pain and the biceps. I hope I don't look like a lumberjack by the time my project is done. (Porch is finished. Now doing walkway.)

A. said...

This looks absolutely fabulous - so inspiring.