This spring I had decided to spend some heavy duty time making some additions to the back yard. The children no longer use the yard to run and play, so I felt that perhaps it was time to modify it into something more usable by me.
Last year I had already put up a 10x16 wood patio. I wanted to add something to it where I could put the firepit and the grill; out of an abundance of caution I felt that I wanted to use brick, not wood, for the fire-containing devices, so moved forward with the idea for brick. Two items to note:
- I already had a number of leftover red bricks.
- I have a $%$@-tonne of trees and thick, heavy roots in the yard.
I could use the leftover bricks, but couldn't really dig down into the yard to properly place them. So I did what I could.
I began by measuring out the dimensions for the first half of the new brick patio. Here you can see roots getting in the way. Trees need their roots, so I didn't want to just hack them up; I worked around them the best I could. When I could, I would dig under the root to be able to push it down. It didn't always work.
Honestly, I was wanting to keep costs to a minimum and use what I already had. I was able to keep costs to a minimum, but still spent more than I wanted. I had to buy some more bricks to extend the length that I wanted, dirt to fill in some holes where I just dug out (how ironic is that) and some pebbles and sand to level out for the bricks.
I am not a person who maps out a plan ahead of time. Quite frankly, I generally make up decisions as I go along whatever I'm doing and figure it out/learn/get frustrated on the fly, and building out this patio was no different. The design changed a couple times before I decided on a final layout, but this is how it began to take shape.
And, eventually, the first half of the patio was complete, all with the help of my best dog buddy Tetra.
So, while I was building this I ended up with three decently shaped pallets. Pallets are fun. There are a lot of things a person can do with pallets. As it turns out, I happen to have "dead space" between the edge of my wooden patio and the house; this is a type of no-mans land where grass doesn't grow and the A/C unit resides. Dead space in the yard just bothers me, perhaps more than it should, but these pallets gave me an idea; I could use them as a base to extend the patio!
Lengthwise, the pallets measured 154 inches by 44 inches; a decent size for a small extension to use some space that I have no other use for. The pallets are different widths, so I had to add some of my own attachments to make them a similar width. Luckily for me I happen to have had some leftover 2x2 and other wood that I could attach to the sides to widen them.
I also had to add some slats to make the pallets the same height. Ultimately I was able to get them in the right shape. Bear in mind, digging in this yard is difficult because of the roots and the clay ground, so I felt that using some (also left over) cinder blocks as a base would be perfect.
Unfortunately for me I did not have any leftover deck planks, so I had to buy those.
Guys and girls, wood has gotten expensive. Holy %^^@$.
So, with that base in place, I went back to working on the brick part of the extension. Unfortunately for me, I noticed that the cement path that leads to the front yard has shifted quite dramatically. Luckily for me, I always make things up on the fly anyway, so did my best to adjust to try to keep angles as sharp as possible. Long story short, the patio ended up looking like this:
And yes, I had even more left over cinder blocks to use as an edging. I'm thinking of filling them with dirt and planning succulents in them.
Finally, back to this mess
Wooden slats in place and it began to look like it might be a patio. You can see the power washer in the background; I was making a mess and had to plan on cleaning. Oy. There was crap everywhere
Finally... tada! I am very happy with how that turned out.
After everything was finally in place it was time for the end game. I brushed some sand onto the brick patio to fill in the cracks and cover some gaps. I also had an old fire pit that lost a leg; instead of throwing that out I'm simply going to repurpose it into a flower pot on my new pallet-patio. You can see it off in the distance here.
My goal was to have all my outdoor projects done by the Memorial Day weekend, which is next weekend. I still need to paint the window trim, and I could do that today, but I'm going to go bike riding instead. I'll paint during the week instead, and then Memorial Day will be mine.
(c) All images and photographs, unless otherwise specified, are created and owned by me.
(c) Victor Wiebe
About Me
Amateur photographer. Wannabe author. Game designer. Nerd.
General all around problem-solver and creative type.
My Favourite Tags
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| #digitalpinhole | #pinhole | #firehydrant |
