2013-07-09 - Far From Perfect But Finished

Of course I know perfection is not even on the table in this life in spite of what some like to think but it is nice to do things as well as possible. This morning I extended the frame and got the last row in place. It all came out pretty well. I have a bit of dirt to move around and a touch of cleanup but I will save that for this evening when it is cooler and my back has settled down.

2013-07-08 - Mostly Out Of The Woods

I went out this morning and staked down the frame. I put in 4 rows of blocks and decided to take a break. I was very hot and tired and my back was very troublesome. Driving stakes with the sledge hammer had aggravated my poor old back beyond what Advil could deal with. I took some pictures then noticed I had set 3 blocks in the wrong orientation (see picture below). I guess I was more out of it than I realized. This was a bit demoralizing but I decided to deal with it later. I did some of the usual computer stuff, ate lunch and took a nice nap which I needed badly.

I went back to work in the 5:00 to 6:00 range. It was still pretty hot in the sun but around the corner the work site was in the shade and not bad. I had to take up several blocks to turn the misaligned ones. It was much easier than I expected. I had already put sand in the joints an I expected the sand to cause a problem when trying to reset the blocks but the joints are narrow enough with these blocks that there was not enough sand to cause any problem. It only took me a few minutes to repair the damage and start laying more rows. I was very careful to make sure I had each block properly oriented before setting it down in the sand. Thew routine is to screed about 20 inches of sand beyond the last row set then lug 5 blocks over and set them in place, use a screw driver to adjust alignment as necessary, sweep sand in the joints then repeat. In this case there are to be 17 rows of 5 blocks. I did 16 today.

By about 8:00 I had put in all but the last row and cleaned up most of the mess including cutting off the extra weed barrier which also was much easier than anticipated. I was every happy I had decided not to lengthen the frame ahead of time because it looks like I will have to add about double what the calculations indicated. I seem to have accumulated about 3 extra inches of length in about 21 feet. The blocks are not absolutely consistent and some joints end up wider than others. As it is it is no problem. Tomorrow I will lengthen the frame and put the last row in and be finished.

I had not worked with blocks this large before (16" x 16") and all I know about before I started setting them was that they are heavy. The advantages include that they cover more area than smaller ones I have used in the past (16" x 8") and consequently the job goes faster. They also float on the sand better due to the large size an are less inclined to wobble or rock. The only down side I can see is the weight. I was lucky to be able to stage them on the patio wall which is about 3 feet high so I did not have to bend over to pick them up, only to put them in place in the sand. My back is ready for a few days off.

If I was going to do this again I would try using 1/8 or 1/4" spacers between the blocks when setting them to try to get all the joints equally sized. Some of the blocks seem to have a small lip at the bottom and using "L" shaped spacers which would not reach the bottom of the block sides could keep the lips from holding some joints open more than others. As it turned out the variation in joints is not a major problem especially for an outdoor patio. I hope the family is satisfied with the result.

PS The patio is broken in already. One of the dogs promptly pooped on it when I went in the house for a minute.

Ad Hoc Stepping Stones for Convenience

2013-07-07 - Not So Bad

I went out sometime after 7 this evening and started to fix my screw up. I moved sand and dirt away from the east and north frame rails. Fortunately I had used mostly screws to fasten everything together so I could take it apart without doing too much carnage. I undid the east and south rails from the stakes holding them to the ground and unscrewed the corners. I cut a new north rail at 80 3/4" (1 1/2" longer than the original). This should give 1/2" on either side instead of the 1/4" I originally used. I added a 1 1/2" piece tot he south cross rail. I did this first because I only had one decent 8' 2" x 4" left and also because this rail is temporary. It will come out and be replaced by a higher rail if and when we cover the existing sidewalk and patio. It is only fastened to the side rails with screws and not staked to the ground so it can be lifted out and replaced with a minimum of effort and disruption.

I decided to leave the north end more or less open for now. I just put the new rail in with a couple of screws to hold the east side in the proper place. When I get within a row or 2 of that end it will be clear exactly how much I need to extend the side rails. The will hopefully eliminate any further fiascos. It got dark so next work session I will stake the east rail in place and start laying blocks (I hope). Whew!

Undoing My Fine Work

2013-07-06 - OH NO!

I went out in the evening and moved about a yard of sand into the backyard and into the frame. My back was very sore at first so I took some Advil and after 20-30 minutes it was all good. So, I got what I think is enough sand in the frame then decided to screed a couple of feet and trial fit the first row. I put the first 4 blocks in then found the 5th would not fit. At first I thought I had put the blocks in to loosely so I out out some tools and tried to pry things together. I soon discovered that the frame is about 1/2" to narrow. As you might imagine This was very disconcerting as it is all fastened to the ground with about 1 1/2 tons of sand in it. This is not a good time to find out you screwed up!

Originally I had laid out 5 blocks on the patio wall and measured the length. Somehow I got it as 78 3/4" and used this number to Compute the width and length of the frame. I had added 1/2 inch to the width and an inch to the length for safety. I set up 5 blocks again and could not make them come out to 78 3/4" no matter how I did it so I guess I just plain screwed up. I thought I had double and triple checked all the numbers but apparently not. The frame is also about 3" short. Oh well. At first I was despondent but then realized I can fix it without too much difficulty so the next work session I will take a crack at it.

Oh Shit!!

2013-07-05 - Some Progress

I finally go myself on the job about 1:30 this afternoon. Right away I noticed how tired my lower back muscles are. No pain just tired and and sore. I set everything up and built the patio frame, set it in place, touched up the grade inside the frame a bit, put down the anti-weed barrier and brought in a couple of barrows of sand. I wanted to pin the weed barrier down and to see how wicked the sand was going to be to move. In practice a moderately loaded barrow of sand is much lighter and easier to handle than a load of 8 pavers. Getting the sand out of the upper bags is a challenge though. The good news it that I do not have to bend over and torque my back. The bad news is that it is all arm work and my arms are not used to this sort of effort. Once again I will just have to take my time. It is the one thing I have plenty of (I hope).

I have not used the weed barrier before so this is a learning experience. It seems like it would be helpful to staple it to the frame but I do not have a stapler with me so I will just lap it over the edge and cut it off later, either after the sand is in or after the blocks are in place, assuming I can screed the sand adequately with the fabric on the frame.

Ideally I would start at one end and put in sand then some rows of blocks then more sand, more blocks, etc., but in this situation I cannot get past the frame with the wheelbarrow and I cannot run a full wheelbarrow on the incomplete patio so I have decided to put all or most of the sand in first then start and the upper (south) end and work my way down. I think it will come out OK if the animals do not have too big a field day in the sand.

The Raw Frame Sitting on the Ground

The Frame Straightened out and Staked in Place

The Weed Barrier

The Weed Barrier with Some Sand to Hold it in Place

That Did Not Take Long

The Prime Suspect - Notice the Shifty Look - Obviously a Hard Case

2013-07-04 - An Easy Day

I slept fitfully and woke up early. I started watching the Tour de France stage then went out before sunrise to play with more patterns (only the middle row changes in these photos):

I came in and made breakfast and watched the TDF to about the half way point then went back to bed and slept until 11:00. I watched the remainder of the TDF stage (a good one!), ate a sandwich then fell asleep on the couch for 2-3 hours. Even though I am used to doing quite a bit of work on the bicycle my body is not used to the heavy lifting stuff I am doing here. It is probably very good for me but I seem to need plenty of rest between bouts.

It looks like it will be tomorrow before I start doing the wood work.

2013-07-03 - The Material Mover

The Home Depot truck came about 1:00 PM. The driver was able to get the blocks pretty high up on the drive near the gate.

As soon as he left I move the lumber into the back yard and started on the blocks. I found I could take 8 per load in the wheelbarrow with a reasonable effort. It saved a lot of effort to not have to push them up the drive which is quite steep. After moving the blocks I weighed one and found it to be 35.4 pounds then went on an extended break which included a nap.

In the cool of the evening I went out and started trying out various patterns. I emailed Tara some photos and she indicated that she likes this one but will finalize a choice after checking with the rest of the family:

2013-07-02 - More Prep Work

Roughly Leveled About 2/3 of the Length

I did not sleep well and got up early the napped on the couch until 11:00. I worked about an hour and got quite a bit done. I came in and ate and goofed off until about 7:00 then went out and finished the rough grading including widening the bed to give plenty of room to set the frame in.

The materials are to come between 12:00 and 5:00 tomorrow afternoon. My first chore will be to bring all the blocks into the back yard to eliminate the possibility of theft. The sand will be in 4 750 pound bags so it is harder to imagine anyone absconding with it at least without a forklift.

Ready to Put in Frame and do Final Leveling

The Boys Keep me Company

2013-07-01 - Preparatory Work

Ready to Start

I took the family to LAX to catch a plane to Hawaii this morning and came home and started grading the side yard. I worked about an hour with a shovel and realized this was not going to work without a pick. It was also getting quite warm. I went in the house and fixed lunch then took a nap. After I went to Home Depot and bought a small adz/pick combination and a cheap pair of work gloves the went to Trader Joe's and Ralph's and got food or a week or so. As I told a friend I am not in the best pick and shovel shape so I am trying to ease into this project and at any rate there is no real reason to hurry or to push it. I have 2 weeks.

In the evening after it cooled down I went out and worked about an hour and made some decent progress with the pick. The soil is not super hard but it has enough clods and hard spots to make it almost impossible to grade with a shovel alone, at least given my condition at this point.

2013-06-29 - Shopping

After discussing what was to be done Tara and I went to Home Deport and bought 90 16" x 16" pavers, some lumber and supplies and 1.2 yards of sand. It is to be delivered Wednesday, 7/3.

Originally we found some terra cotta 4" x 8" brick like pavers on-line but they turned out to be much too orangish in person so she settled on the 16" squares which are much more beige. The pavers are a yellowish beige and have a brick pattern stamped into them. They offer the possibility of making an interesting pattern although the fact that the patio will be 5 squares wide will probably eliminate the possibility of having a symmetrical pattern. The patio is to be 6' 8" (80" = 5 blocks) wide x 24' (18 blocks) long. I will play with possible patterns and see what will work and also look reasonable.