Patio Update

Hello out there!  A while back I promised an update on our patio overhaul.  Well the patio is part of the reason that I've been so busy...ok, not really but its the reason the hubs has been so busy!  I've helped some. and so now I have some pictures.  So, last time you saw the patio it looked like this

Well there have been some updates since then.  First things first, we rented a plate compactor from Home Depot.  Hubby used that to compact down all that gravel that we spread around.  He ran some strings from one side to the other to make sure that things were all level with a slight slope away from the house.  

Next, we rented a hydraulic auger.  Also from Home Depot.  We ended up using an auger with a 12 inch bit. We had to use hydraulic because our soil is so clay-like, there is no way a regular one would've gotten through.  

 We drilled 6 holes total.  The holes ended up being 3 feet deep.  Two on the corners by the house, and 4 on the edge by the grass.  The holes looked like this

Finally, we purchased 6 large posts.  These were 6 inch by 6 inch by 12 foot douglas fir posts.  We purchased a boat load of concrete bags (mixed these up by hand - ughhh poor hubby!)  and set the posts into the holes.  My job was helping mix the concrete, and making sure the posts were level as he poured the concrete into the hole.  It's also good to note here, to make sure your posts are square with the house, as well as in line with each other.

Finally, it looks like this

The furbabies had to make an appearance!  So that's where we are now.  Next steps are to buy sand and spread that all around.  This will give the pavers something to sink into to help make sure they are level.  Then the pavers will go down.  Then we can fancy it up a bit, with some rock detail around the base of the posts, paint, and some sort of shade sale thingy-ma-bob.

I'll try to make sure I'm more on top of things as we progress.  But to be honest, it took a while to get from that last picture, to this picture mostly because of holiday traveling, and weather.  So I'm really not that far behind!

Thanks for reading and stay tuned for another upcycle project.