Last week Hal and I got fed up waiting for the HVAC guy, have become tired of doing less important things like window and door trims. and tired of wondering how to fix the muddy mess of our yard without money to hire the guy with the dozer so we decided to build a patio off the back of the house.
We originally had planned a concrete one halfway to the pond, but again, without the landscaping fixed, and having no money to hire the guy who did our garage floor either, Hal decided to move a whole lot of clay into the back yard from one of the many piles scattered about and started building one himself.
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| A giant pile of clay |
He bought five 16-foot-long pressure treated 4x 6 boards, drilled holes through the ends and middles to pound metal pipe into the ground for stability. One board he cut in half and placed either side of the steps as a landing pad, three others he placed to create a 16 x 16-foot pad a little lower (because the ground slopes, of course). The final one won't be set until everything is level and square. (Including the piping this cost $575!!)
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| Pounding in a pipe |
I've been digging out the weeds and grass up at the top today so he can add gravel. Ziggy isn't so much checking things out as just hanging with me.
He also set out a sprinkler to help compact the clay.
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| Gravel added, more grass to remove |
I'm looking forward to having a firepit on this, rather than in our driveway!
