I have been doing a lot of work in our yard, a task so monumental that I it seems like it could never all be done. I worked on the small, bare area right next to our house, and now I have started work on a walk from our front porch steps to the driveway. I have asked myself who I think will ever use it, and then I remember: the cats! Of course.
Anyway, here is what it looks like now.
The walk will be about 70 feet long and four feet wide. We have decided on brick-sized pavers. The process starts with digging out several inches of dirt and leveling the resulting surface. Then I will put sand down over the dirt to provide a surface that can be truly leveled. Then I lay pavers in the selected pattern, which is to be a running bond with a course of soldier pavers on both edges.
You can’t really see the area about 10 feet long directly in front of the steps that I have excavated almost enough. It’s also hard to see how sloped from side to side most of the length of the path is. The depth of the excavation should be between three and four inches, at least, but in our case, there is so much variation in the level of this area from side to side that it will require a lot more digging. The ten-foot section resulted in four wheelbarrow loads of dirt. Once I get to part of the path next to the maiden grass (the wispy grass that looks dead but isn’t, quite), I will have to put in a low retaining wall, which will require more digging.
This first part, the digging, is going to be a challenge. The path base really needs to be close to level from side to side. It’s going to be a lot of digging through dirt that was only recently sandstone, and still remembers its past quite well. Once it has been dug up, it will have to be hauled somewhere else in the yard.
And then, leveling with sand, and then, laying pavers.
I have never laid pavers, and I’m not sure how well that’s going to go. Right now I have to dig. I will worry about pavers when the time comes.
Wow! That’s quite a project. It will look beautiful when it’s complete, but it is a lot of work getting there. I’m looking forward to future photos of this project. Good luck with it!
I’ve been slinging some gravel around my cabin, and I covered the kids’ old sandbox with paving stones once. Jobs for the young. That’s an ambitious project you’ve laid out for yourself. I hope you continue reporting on the project.
Robin — My biggest problem right now is that there are a number of other things I need to do before I really get into the front walk. Some of it involves using the dirt from the walk to fill in some low places in the yard.
Paul — This kind of thing really is a job for a younger person, but, unfortunately, there isn’t anyone younger than me available. It’s possible I could draft one of my nephews, but they live hundreds of miles away and helping me in the yard is not high on their list of priorities.