Using old Cement-all.

[deezler]

$4,000 for that tiny patio!?!?!? yikes. Looks super nice and durable though.

My patio projects are free. I watch craigslist all spring/summer and go snatch up free pavers whenever someone pulls out their poorly constructed patio and decides to do something different, or when rich folks have extra materials left over after a job.

My soil is naturally sandy. I own a plate compactor and generally go to town with it on every job I do. I always keep a pile of 21A limestone gravel around, mainly for retaining wall base courses (ok, this part isn't free, but nearly). I really like your instructions though!

Back to the thread topic, I just used some older cement bags myself (maybe 9 months old?). I had to smash up a few clumps, but it mixed up fine. If you can easily smash the clumps back to powder, it'll work fine. If you find a lot of resistance to breaking it up again, time to toss it out. Worth a shot.

 

[deezler]

We are also attempting to create a space that looks like it is ancient. So, artistically, perfection isn't the goal. The below pic looks like I've made a valley,.... this is a lens effect. View attachment 768604

Patio looks like a nice spot to relax, that will hold up just fine. But I mainly just wanted to say, that Festiva is amazing. Not even rusty?

One of my best friends in high school drove a clapped out festiva for years that he got for $50. Then sold it for the same $50 a few years later. Yours looks like she's worth at least double that, heheee.

 

[LD1]

$4,000 for that tiny patio!?!?!? yikes. Looks super nice and durable though.

My patio projects are free. I watch craigslist all spring/summer and go snatch up free pavers whenever someone pulls out their poorly constructed patio and decides to do something different, or when rich folks have extra materials left over after a job.

My soil is naturally sandy. I own a plate compactor and generally go to town with it on every job I do. I always keep a pile of 21A limestone gravel around, mainly for retaining wall base courses (ok, this part isn't free, but nearly). I really like your instructions though!

Back to the thread topic, I just used some older cement bags myself (maybe 9 months old?). I had to smash up a few clumps, but it mixed up fine. If you can easily smash the clumps back to powder, it'll work fine. If you find a lot of resistance to breaking it up again, time to toss it out. Worth a shot.

~$600 for the steps, $150 for the handrail, $150 in stone, Bout $500 for pavers, $100 or so for perma-edge and poly sand.

Equipment, and two guys labor, yeah, pavers aint cheap if done right with quality material. The picture wasnt the finished job. The finished job was spreading and regrading the excavated dirt, bringing in a couple yards of topsoil topsoil, + seed and straw everything that was tore up through the course of the job with the equipment.

$4k is the cost of having a job professionally done that will last vs a weekend warrior trying to make a few bucks, cut corners, and not leave a finished appearance with backfill, seed, and straw. But ~$1500-$2000 in material, + delivery, and equipment is a must at the very least to set the ~700 pound concrete steps. $4k starts to seem alot more reasonable.

Would I ever spend that to hire a job like this done....no way. But there is no shrotage of people willing to do so.

Heck, a ~15' circle with a fire ring in the middle and seat wall around the perimeter with a little lighting is a $10k job all day long

 

[JasperFrank]

This is the finished base that I'll be buttering the pavers to. On post #9 you can see how I used the older cement-all, as retention backfill. The clumps didn't matter with that use.

Good eye Deezler on spotting the Festiva. Most people think its a Metro. Its one of the best cars I've ever owned. Cars don't rust out in the PNW, cause we rarely salt the roads in the winter. I get offers all the time, cause they were so light, and good shells are highly sought after by racers.

 

[spitter]

Worst part of using regular sand it attracts ants. Around here we use QP [quarry process] 3/4" blue stone and stone dust in a 6" layer for foot traffic and 10" for driveways. Then 2" of stone dust. Compact all in 2" lifts. For textured pavers tie a piece of old carpet on plate compactor. Will not mar the pavers.

Don't have a wet saw anymore so I use an old slide saw with a diamond blade use a pump sprayer to keep the dust down.

 

[JasperFrank]

When doing things the "Correct" way, ants were a problem. Those little buggers worked hard undermining the sand base so that the pavers became un-set and uneven in prior projects. This might be why it is advocated, now, to use a larger stone final layer? Something they can't move.

 

[spitter]

Sand isn't listed in [ Correct way] stone dust is base layer. I stated sand attracts ants what don't you get. Polymetric sand hardens like concrete they or weeds cannot penetrate it.

 

[harrydarwen]

Using cement as a grout will lock everything tightly together which will fail quickly as you go through hot and cold cycles of simply a summer day.

Nox Vidmate VLC​