1st tractor project

[Kevin_in_Mi]

First I'd like to say Hi to all at TBN. I'ts been a pleasure viewing all of your posts over the past year. this is my first post so bear with me until I get the hang of this. My first major project is a flagstone walkway that goes from the front door around to the side door of our new home. Had to excavate a trench 120' long X 7' wide approx. 10" deep. Est. 30 yards had to be removed. I couldn't have done it without the newest adition to our family. A brand new JD 4300 hst mfwd r4's, She's a real bute.

 

[Kevin_in_Mi]

2nd try

 

[rdln]

Looking good keep it coming, that is the better looking part of Farmington Hills, no?

 

[Kevin_in_Mi]

Actually, we live in Howell, Mi. I must have put farmington hills
down on where I work. Heres one of the front.

 

[rdln]

Yeah, I was pretty sure there weren't any dirt roads in FH. Are/did you chip the edges to get a tight gap between the stones?

 

[hazmat]

Looks great. I continue to amaze myself as to how much time the new tractor is saving me. It is great fun to do a job with the FEL that you've done before by hand. I spread 1.5 yards of mulch last night in about 30 minutes! It would have taken me a couple of hours to do by hand.

I think I know what the second project is: Cut the grass /w3tcompact/icons/wink.gif

 

[tdenny]

hazmat,

I know what you mean - I spread 10 yards of bark in about an hour. No wheelbarrow for this guy ever again.

 

[Kevin_in_Mi]

Steve,
I'm really trying to piece this thing like a big jigsaw puzzle.
this stuff is really hard to split where you want it to, trying to maintain a 1-2" gap later to be filled with the slag stone

 

[WVBill]

Nice looking place and good work.

I'm doing a patio/garden in my back yard using flagstones. About a 16' x 20' area. I posted about it in <A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.tractorbynet.com/cgi-bin/compact/showthreaded.pl?Cat=&Board=projects&Number=156424&page=0&view=collapsed&sb=5&o=&vc=1> This Thread </A> Couldn't have even considered doing it withoug the tractor. I see you're using stone dust too. Did you put it down over a gravel base or just build up the stone dust. What to they get for flags in Mi? Mine are costing me $249 per pallet for wallstone.

 

[rdln]

Looks dark like Canadian flagstone hence the the strength. The only one I have done was in Rochester using sandstone.
I fitted it like you are and filled joints with slag. That way looks more natural but there is more slag to get kicked around brought into the house etc. If you have that problem, the paver sealer might help.

 

[Kevin_in_Mi]

I saw your pictures earlier. Would have been a lot easier like you said if the fences weren't already up but all you can do is try and make them happy. As for the base, I put 6-8" of 21AA driveway gravel down first and then I rented one of those power compactors and ran that over the gravel for a couple of hours. Then I laid down about three inches of the slag and compacted that. They get 285/ton for pennsylvania blue irregular which is what I'm using.

 

[butzkeg]

That looks good Kevin. I didn't think it looked like Farmington Hills either.

Nice choice on the tractor too. Same tractor I have, and I live in Howell too. Maybe we should drag race our 4300's down some of the dirt roads out there. /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

 

[MarkV]

Kevin,
Nice job and I can see you are doing it the right way. It is amazing to me how many people put only a couple of inches of sand under the stone and can’t figure out why it doesn’t lay flat after the first winter. Around here the guys use a circular saw with a masonry blade or an angle grinder with a diamond blade to score the stone. Once it has been scored it chips off pretty clean.

MarkV

 

[Kevin_in_Mi]

Steve,
I,m interested in knowing more about this paving sealer. Will it bind the slag sand together and does it make the flagstone look like it has just been rained on? All the rocks including the retaining wall look much better when they are wet.
The place where I bought the rocks is going to let me borrow a wet saw this weekend for the cost of the diamond blade. Great deal except it's gonna hit 90 deg both Sat and Sun.
Looks like more than just the rocks are going to get wet. Gotta love that Michigan humidity!

 

[rdln]

It's stinky and expensive but will keep the wet look. Maybe recoat in three years? For sure the mfr. wont claim to keep slag intact especially across a 1-2in band but if you are constantly tracking the stuff around its worth a try. I believe its called Techniseal.
sounds like you need at least 5gal

 

[rdln]

Correction: The sealer I used was "Euco Diamond Clear".

 

[Kevin_in_Mi]

Hi again to all that were following this post. Well, It's been two months and many back aches but I'm proud to say that all the pallets that were laden with rocks are ready for the ceremonial bonfire. I laid the last of the flagstone walkway this past Saturday and it was an exilerating moment. Still need to do some finishing touches, but other than that, the walkway is complete.

 

[Kevin_in_Mi]

This is a shot off the corner of the porch

 

[Kevin_in_Mi]

Here's a picture of roughly half of the pallets full.

 

[TAB]

Kevin, congratulations on a beautiful project. You had alot of willpower to work through some of the weather we had, but it looks like you did a nice job.