small progress

[mellowtigger]

Physical exertion didn't exhaust me today like it did yesterday, so I made more progress on the patio.  I would have done better, but sporadic bursts of rain have chased me inside already.

The books and articles mentioned 10'x10' (or 12'x12') patio decks.  They detailed exactly how many of each kind of brick was necessary to complete a 10'x10' patio.  What all of the papers FAILED to mention, however, is that if I were to add just a single inch onto the size (10'1" x 10'1") then I could lay the patio without cutting any of the bricks.  Me and power tools are a really bad idea, so of course I chose to push out a cinder block border by one additional inch.  A quick test run with some bricks showed me that, yes, they now fit squarely within the border without needing to cut any of them.  Yay!



So that's where I'm at now.  Ready for sand, then bricks.  Progress, slowly but surely.

Comments

:o)

[otterlover01.livejournal.com]

WOW now that is a very NICE WORK there, congratulations Terry! Big hugs your way and hope you are having a wonderful Sunday! Luis. :o)

Re: :o)

[mellowtigger]

Never having done work like this before, I am pleased with the "look" of it so far. I'll be able to judge more accurately once it's completed, but I think it's going to be nice. :)

:o)

[otterlover01.livejournal.com]

The work looks symmetric and nice alredy. What are you going to do once it is completed? Pu some plants, or chairs in it or something? :o)

Re: :o)

[mellowtigger]

There probably won't be any plants (since it will have garden on 2 sides already) or permanent chairs. We have folding chairs in the garage for easy setup. One of the landlords has a portable gas grill that would be good for having a barbecue outside this fall.

I didn't tend the garden very well this year, and I actually smothered a lot of nice plants with dirt while digging for the patio. I was sorry to bury the carrots, especially. :( Next year should be better. No more moving dirt, and my time can be spent on plants instead of bricks.

I hope to harvest some ears of corn for roasting during a barbecue this year, though. :)

Re: :o)

[mellowtigger]

A chiminea might be nice as the weather turns cooler here. We should be seeing them in our stores here soon.

[dodecadragon.livejournal.com]

I have a big pile of sandy dirt in my yard free for the taking, lots of rocks in it though, so would need some sifting. I have some mesh which would work to take out the larger rocks. :o)

[mellowtigger]

I like the idea of reusing stuff, so I might drive by your place before or after work on Monday to take a quick look.

[dodecadragon.livejournal.com]

What times? I have a chiropractor appointment at 1pm so will be gone between 12:30 and 2pm, will be home the rest of the day, so feel free to knock on the door and say "hi" I can show you the screen I have too, maybe even test it out to see if it works. I'd like to get your input on some of the plants growing around my place too. :o)

[mellowtigger]

Sounds like an extended visit, so I'll plan on dropping by after work so there are no deadlines to interfere. I expect to be off at 5pm. Shouldn't take long to get from there to your place.

[dodecadragon.livejournal.com]

Sounds good. :o)

[dodecadragon.livejournal.com]

Do you need another piece of fabric for that corner? I have some if you do. :o)

Very Nice work

[(Anonymous)]

Hey it's uncle Dale. I really like it. How much did it cost for the blocksY. I'd like to do that in the front of the house.

Re: Very Nice work

[mellowtigger]

It varies a bit depending on variety and color, but the patio bricks will be about $1 each while the retainer wall bricks are about $1.50 each. There's a Home Depot near the house here, so that's where I've been buying everything.

[bluebear2.livejournal.com]

Very nice...

[pi3832.livejournal.com]

Having been in a classroom full of liberal arts students attempting to calculate the resizing of a photo, I am not surprised that the books and articles missed the 10'1" option.

Example of the resizing problem: you have a photo that is 4" wide and 3" tall. You want to fit it in a column that is 2" wide. How tall would the resized photo be? Yes, this was beyond many of the undergrads, even armed with calculators. Being an ass, I started bringing a slide rule to class to do the ones I couldn't figure in my head or on paper. (I never used it.)

Anyway, it looks really nice. It should be useful.