WTxDaddy
Showing Great Promise
Joined: 30 Jul 2007
Location: West Texas (Map)
Posts: 518
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| Posted: Wed May 28, 2008 4:47 am Post subject: Patio improvement |
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Three years ago when we bought this house, we decided to have a flagstone patio. I bought the stones a few at a time & placed them myself. I'd never done it before and it ended up quite lumpy and not level at all. I thought I was careful, but it was a mess. People tripped on it and we've got friends & family members in their 60's, 70's & 80's, so we really couldn't have this hazard out there. We thought about growing something between the stones, but could not come up with anything that would survive the West Texas heat that was not either too big, or a weed. We put sand on it & that has slowly blown, or flowed away. My daughter liked to dig in the dirt between the stones, sometimes making a hole as deep as 4 inches - and then, of course, we had the large mud pie produced from her diggings. This year, we decided to have it done by a professional and here's the progress so far.
Here's a glimpse of some of it, so you can see how I filled it up. In my defense, in Spring, there are always more pots than usual, because I have the Spring/Summer stuff out while the pansies from Winter are still doing well. The number of pots is reduced in Summer as the pansies die. Here are two shots of my daughter on the patio before the work began:
Looking West
Looking North
I then cleared the patio to prepare for the work -notice the dirt & weeds on it. What a mess!(this photo looks East):
After the guy pulled up all the stones & piled them up:
The "naked" patio - no stones & half the fill-dirt gone (my daughter now has a "mountain" of dirt to play with by the barn - she will make a volcano, she says)
The guy started with the border of the patio:
The guy & his crew got this done today. When I got home, it was raining cats & dogs, so it's rather wet & there are leaves knocked from the trees due to a little hail:
When it's all finished (hopefully in the next few days[before a bunch of family come in for my daughter's dance recital this weekend!]), I'll post the finished pictures. My wife has threatened me, though - she said, it looks so pretty, she is not going to let me put any furniture or potted plants on it! 
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Droopy
Slug Slaughterer
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Joined: 11 Aug 2007
Location: Western Norway (Map)
Posts: 7163
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| Posted: Wed May 28, 2008 6:42 am Post subject: |
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I'll start by saying I think your patio looked very good as it was, especially with all the blooms on it, but I can understand the tripping danger.  If that patio was here, one might perhaps manage to fit a small chair and a table in between the pots once it was done.
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Biita
Arctic-ally Challenged Forager
Joined: 31 Oct 2007
Location: Norway (Map)
Posts: 1954
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| Posted: Wed May 28, 2008 7:27 am Post subject: |
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I understand the threat, for the elderly. And i too thought your patio looked fine before the rebuild. But it is looking very very nice work being done out there. Hope they are all done before your daughters recital.
Up here in the artic you could fit a small car, 2 snowmobiles, ski's, sleds, and a small blow up boat on that size patio.
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eileen
Moderator & Resident Taxonomist
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Joined: 07 Feb 2005
Location: Scotland (Map)
Posts: 14180
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| Posted: Wed May 28, 2008 8:49 am Post subject: |
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Well your patio didn't look too bad to me WT. However, now that I see the progress being made I must admit it does look better now. Do let us see it again once it's finished.
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EJ
Allotmenteer Extraordinaire
Joined: 10 Jan 2006
Location: Essex
Posts: 2270
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| Posted: Wed May 28, 2008 9:14 am Post subject: |
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I thought the before photos were the after photos! However, once it is finished, it will be safe and won't wobble and you will have nothing to worry about. And you will have to introduce the pots slowely, one at a time, over a few days, just to soften the edges of course, and where else would they go?? 
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xylona
On The Way Up
Joined: 14 May 2008
Location: Quincy, IL
Posts: 110
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| Posted: Wed May 28, 2008 1:07 pm Post subject: |
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Interesting. I thought it looked pretty good before, but it is always better to have it safe. Are they putting the stones much closer together than you did? I am curious to see how this turns out. I have been discussing periodically with my husband about have our concrete patio ripped out and replacing with stones.
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tschnath
Showing Great Promise
Joined: 06 Mar 2008
Location: Southern Maine (zone 5)
Posts: 732
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| Posted: Wed May 28, 2008 3:40 pm Post subject: |
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I have to agree also WT that it looked pretty good before. But having older relatives that spend time here I understand the tripping hazzard as well. It is coming along quite nicely and I can't wait to see it finished.
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Terry
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WTxDaddy
Showing Great Promise
Joined: 30 Jul 2007
Location: West Texas (Map)
Posts: 518
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| Posted: Thu May 29, 2008 3:32 am Post subject: |
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The stones are closer than we laid them, but we thought we'd be growing something small & green between them, then realized, we could not come up with anything that would survive our heat and that we'd actually want out there.
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