Patio Project
- Thread starter RobS
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RobS
Super Member
Wow, been a while since I posted progress on this little project. No progress on the patio, this is the circle out front of the house. A mason I'll never be, but I am getting better, faster mostly. Got the face brick on to the height of the concrete block foundation. I need another cube of brick and another weekend to finish. It's looking better though /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif
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RobS
Super Member
Farwell
Veteran Member
Bob,
I did something similar to a house I owned when I lived in California, but I took the easy route. I used the retaining wall blocks that Home Depot sells. No cement, no mortar, no looking at how to do it books on how the become a Mason and it took me only a couple of weekends to get-r-done. Yours will look nicer than mine when done, but I am lazy.
David
I did something similar to a house I owned when I lived in California, but I took the easy route. I used the retaining wall blocks that Home Depot sells. No cement, no mortar, no looking at how to do it books on how the become a Mason and it took me only a couple of weekends to get-r-done. Yours will look nicer than mine when done, but I am lazy.
David
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RobS
Super Member
I'm kind of wishing I had done the retainer wall block too! My finished project will certainly look nice but it's a lot more work than I had imagined /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif
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RobS
Super Member
Quick update on this long project:
Got three courses laid, inside and out. It's 78 linear feet all the way around. Rented a mortar mixer which was a huge improvement. Mrs_RobS got into the swing of being a masons tender, moving bricks, mixing mortar and keeping the kids busy. Got chased out by hot sun Saturday after about six hours and rain got us today (Sunday) after about eight. Today was hot, humid and sunny up to the rain. Horrible weather to be doing this but that's the price us un-retired folk pay (got that Garry). I figure another two hours and it's all done. I've got plenty of brick and mortar, so it's nothing but time now.
It's really looking nice, though it's got it's share of waves and wiggles. Nothing to put a string line on with it being a circle. Can't wait to put some top soil in and start landscaping it /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif
Got three courses laid, inside and out. It's 78 linear feet all the way around. Rented a mortar mixer which was a huge improvement. Mrs_RobS got into the swing of being a masons tender, moving bricks, mixing mortar and keeping the kids busy. Got chased out by hot sun Saturday after about six hours and rain got us today (Sunday) after about eight. Today was hot, humid and sunny up to the rain. Horrible weather to be doing this but that's the price us un-retired folk pay (got that Garry). I figure another two hours and it's all done. I've got plenty of brick and mortar, so it's nothing but time now.
It's really looking nice, though it's got it's share of waves and wiggles. Nothing to put a string line on with it being a circle. Can't wait to put some top soil in and start landscaping it /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif
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EddieWalker
Epic Contributor
WOW, thats huge!!!
Looks great, I'm also looking forward to seeing it all landscaped.
Eddie
Looks great, I'm also looking forward to seeing it all landscaped.
Eddie
Tractor_Jim_CT
Silver Member
How many bricks did it take to make the circle, what type of brick used and where did you purchase from.
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RobS
Super Member
<font color="blue">How many bricks did it take to make the circle, what type of brick used and where did you purchase from. </font>
A quick lesson in brick terms I've picked up. Brick are sold in "straps". A strap is stack of brick one brick thick. For these brick a strap is 105 brick. Five straps make a cube but you can buy by individual straps. So far, I've used four straps that were leftover from the house plus two full cubes and two more straps though I probably won't need the last one. That makes for a total of 1680 brick where I'll probably end up using something around 1500.
These are conventional, three hole, clay brick. Same as our chimney and porch piers. I'm using premixed mortar but would have been better off buying masons sand and cement.
Getting the mortar at Menards but the brick come from our local brick yard which I have to brag on just a bit. It's Rose Fuel and Materials in South Bend. They just moved from their age-old location to a new-old location. They renovated a part of the Oliver Chilled Plow Works for their new place and it's absolutely beautiful. Here's a link to their history page. They have been very helpful, especially considering I'm one of those pesky homeowners where they normally deal with contractors /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif
A quick lesson in brick terms I've picked up. Brick are sold in "straps". A strap is stack of brick one brick thick. For these brick a strap is 105 brick. Five straps make a cube but you can buy by individual straps. So far, I've used four straps that were leftover from the house plus two full cubes and two more straps though I probably won't need the last one. That makes for a total of 1680 brick where I'll probably end up using something around 1500.
These are conventional, three hole, clay brick. Same as our chimney and porch piers. I'm using premixed mortar but would have been better off buying masons sand and cement.
Getting the mortar at Menards but the brick come from our local brick yard which I have to brag on just a bit. It's Rose Fuel and Materials in South Bend. They just moved from their age-old location to a new-old location. They renovated a part of the Oliver Chilled Plow Works for their new place and it's absolutely beautiful. Here's a link to their history page. They have been very helpful, especially considering I'm one of those pesky homeowners where they normally deal with contractors /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif
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RobS
Super Member
Aah finally, a finished project! Not the patio but the sister project of a circle landscape feature. Got all the brick work done a week or so ago so this weekend we put in old fashioned steel edging and filled with pea gravel (because I had a pile of it). Then mounded the soil in the landscape areas for planting and mulch. I also wired in an outlet that will eventually power a fountain in the center.
Pic attached /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif
Pic attached /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif
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RobS
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RobS
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RobS
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Inspector507
Super Member
Looks good Rob.
Cowboyjg
Silver Member
RobS,
Can you tell me about your house some? My wife is a nut for victorians, particularly the more ornate versions. Yours looks like it is a somewhat newer version. We have tried to find an old one to rehab but have had no luck so it looks like I'm gonna have to build her a new old one. I just havn't found any plans that I'm real happy with. Many of them have a sort of "Cheesy" look to them. Yours looks clean and not over done. A good looking house.
Can you tell me about your house some? My wife is a nut for victorians, particularly the more ornate versions. Yours looks like it is a somewhat newer version. We have tried to find an old one to rehab but have had no luck so it looks like I'm gonna have to build her a new old one. I just havn't found any plans that I'm real happy with. Many of them have a sort of "Cheesy" look to them. Yours looks clean and not over done. A good looking house.
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RobS
Super Member
Thanks Cowboyjg! We were in a similar situation and finally decided to build new on property. We found a bunch of great looking plans at Historical Designs. Used one as a starting point and had a local architect take it from there. Our build process is all documented here /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif
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RobS
Super Member
Thanks Inspector, I was wishing you were around at one point in my work. How the heck do you strip direct burial 12/2 cable? I did a test piece and nicked through the inner insulation so I ended up carefully nibbling the outer insulation away but it took forever. Surely there is a better method?
/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif
/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif
Mavrik02
Silver Member
Looks great Rob! What process did you use to clean up the driveway (some of the earlier pictures showed the grass/weeds growing)?
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RobS
Super Member
<font color="blue">What process did you use to clean up the driveway </font>
I used a combination of my good friend Roundup and some additional stone. I needed some stone to backfill against the brick so I had 20 tons delivered. Used it for the backfill, to fill some developing pot holes and to top-coat the circle. I've already got some weeds peeking through again, so it's back to my good friend Roundup.
In some future version of my life, all that will be paved (and in the real dream, the circle will all be brick pavers) /forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif
I used a combination of my good friend Roundup and some additional stone. I needed some stone to backfill against the brick so I had 20 tons delivered. Used it for the backfill, to fill some developing pot holes and to top-coat the circle. I've already got some weeds peeking through again, so it's back to my good friend Roundup.
In some future version of my life, all that will be paved (and in the real dream, the circle will all be brick pavers) /forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif
