Stone down, pipes hidden!
This feels like a major milestone for the patio, it's looked a mess for a long time so it's nice to have moved forward with it. Dad's helped me every step of the way with this, he's my expert digger driver and he's always pushing me to get more done in a day, he'll think nothing of starting to concrete something at nine at night!
Here's what's gone on in the last week or so with the patio, most of it over last weekend ( I also had my brother help me one night to get the stone down, I'd be lost without my family on jobs like this!)
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| Before picture - it's looked like this since November last year! |
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| Pipe work and ducting to the boiler |
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| Drainage pipe in to pick up from the extension |
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| Levelling the ground before adding the top layer of stone |
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| Grading off |
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| Adding some concrete against the retaining wall for extra strenght |
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| Concrete added to the edges |
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| Weed membrane down then stone added to the top |
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| As usual we had a little bit of digger trouble! Track tensioner broke, not a difficult fix luckily! |
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| Stone then scalpings added and wackered down to give us a firm base to lay the slabs on |
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| Another view of how far we've got with the patio |
We can only get half of the patio in at the moment as the extension needs to go in before we can do the other half, but at least this way we can get somewhere to eat outside again, we've really missed out outside meal times!
What do you think to our progress so far? What type of slabs or finish would you go for up on our patio?
Its looking great Kev such a lot of work you have done, I like the look of cotswold one's we laid them on our first patio with there uneven surface they were a pig to keep clean, we have also tried block paving looks nice but all those little gaps to weed, when we do ours we are going for a smooth perhaps in a cream colour to reflect more light.
ReplyDeleteWe had block paving at the last place and it was a nightmare for weeds, I want maintenance free I think.
DeleteSo far, so good! The wall looks nice.
ReplyDeleteThe wall is good isn't it. Expensive but good!
DeleteI'm impressed. And I don't know how on earth people can "visualize" something and make it all happen. Great job!
ReplyDeleteI've been thinking about what this will be like for a long time! It changes all the time though!
Deletethis is going to be such a great area. can't wait to see it when its finished. the kids are going to love it!
ReplyDeleteIt's going to be huge when its done! I can't wait for summer BBQs and eating breakfast outside!
DeleteOmigosh, what a whole LOT of work you've accomplished! It's going to look fantastic when completed. For a patio finish, I'd choose something like you've done so it could be easily hosed off to clean (if necessary) and NOT have to be replaced (as some kind of wood would) ever again! (We just had to replace our wood decking last year . . . and have found this year that the protective [ha!] finish we put on it all but disappeared over the winter. So we have to find something else to reapply yet this year. Sigh.)
ReplyDeleteThere's a lot gone into it so far! I won;t go for decking for that reason, I want it to last a long long time!
DeleteWe went for decking in the end but the decision was based on the fact we will probably move within the next 18 months. I would have had Indian limestone it's stunning and not too expensive compared to concrete made ones. On the cheaper side you can buy council slabs which are 900 long and they look lovely in a brick formation.
ReplyDeleteP.S. It's looking good. Looking forward to seeing the progress and slab choice. Families are helpful.
DeleteYeah, we're here forever so I want it to be permanent even if it costs more. I'm looking at indian paving as well, I like the mixed colours one they do.
DeleteLooking great Kev, how lucky you are to have family to help you with all this. I'd have said Cotswold slabs like Dawn did, but not if they're a hassle to keep clean. Definitely not decking though, our neighbours spend half their lives pressure washing theirs! I dunno, how about crazy paving? that way you'd not have any gaps for weeds to grow in. You could leave the odd 'hole' here and there for some herbs or whatever. That way you could use all sorts of bits and pieces to put it together, even get the kids to design bits of it using pebbles or mosaics.
ReplyDeleteI am lucky with my family, not much we can't do between us! I have soem interesting ideas for planters - watch this space!
DeleteThat looks amazing.
ReplyDeleteThanks, it'll look a lot better soon!
DeleteWell we've had stone flags (weeds in every crack), slate chippings (crumble to dust and get everywhere), small stones (stick to the mud on your wellies and drive you mad) and we settled on Tarmac here.
ReplyDeleteIt works a treat and we're so pleased with it. Yes it can look messy when it gets muddy but a quick hose down and it's back to black ... to quote Amy!!