Weekend Project: Pavers

[Sizzle]

Since it's Memorial Day weekend, the wifey nagged me to get a project done. We have an 8' x 10' area in the front of our house that we haven't been able to decide what we wanted to do with. Monday Lowe's had pavers on sale at 20% off, and since I didn't want something as permanent as concrete, I obliged my better half.

This morning was nice enough to dig out a few inches of existing dirt, set our lines and get ready for the sand. (See "Start")

Once we had all the dirt removed, we started laying the paver sand. We decided that we wanted to give a bit of a slope to help with drainage away from the house, so we ended up needing a bit more sand than we anticipated, and then used the 2x4 with one line set along the back to the front to give us our slope. (See "Middle")

After about 6.5 hours from starting the project, and just as the rain started to fall, we finished the project. I don't love the color as much wet, and I wasn't able to sweep all of the sand because it started to stick with the rain, but overall I'm happy with the result. I'm not totally done, since I'm about a half an inch too long with the bricks I bought to finish the front gap between the pavers and the sidewalk. But I'm close enough to call it a day for tonight and should be able to finish on Monday in 30 minutes or so. (See "Finished")

I'm actually excited for the hedges to grow enough so they overlap the pavers and it creates a nice little courtyard in the front.

[il Padrino Ute]

Looks great, Siz. This reminds me that I have a pavers project that I need to start in my backyard.

[Shaka]

Excellent. I just finished excavation on a large paver patio. I'm about to start dumping the gravel base and compacting. I wish the rain would stop so I could get on with the project.

[fusnik]

Looks sweet.

I like how it looks against your brick.

[FN Phat]

Looks really good, sizzle. I need to put in a walkway from my garage to my deck in the backyard. I am tossing the idea around of pavers, an exposed aggregate concrete walk or try my hand at a textured and stained concrete walkway. Good find on the pavers!

[pellegrino]

you did a great job. Did you create the layout yourself or was it suggested by someone/something else?

In a few years we'll tackle our backyard patio. We have a small area that is done with old brick pavers. I like the look, but it's too small by about two feet in both directions, some of the bricks are broken, and it has settled in unevenly. I plan on taking up the old pavers, re-doing the foundation and then and mixing in some new bricks to expand it.

[fusnik]

Looks really good, sizzle. I need to put in a walkway from my garage to my deck in the backyard. I am tossing the idea around of pavers, an exposed aggregate concrete walk or try my hand at a textured and stained concrete walkway. Good find on the pavers!

Didn't know trailers had garages.

You rich, misleading bastard.

[FN Phat]

Didn't know trailers had garages.

You rich, misleading bastard.

I told you last night, I have the double-wide attached to a 2-car garage.

[Sizzle]

Looks really good, sizzle. I need to put in a walkway from my garage to my deck in the backyard. I am tossing the idea around of pavers, an exposed aggregate concrete walk or try my hand at a textured and stained concrete walkway. Good find on the pavers!

We had talked about doing a stained or stamped concrete (or just concrete we had left over from the sandbox) instead of pavers but my dad talked us out of it and I'm glad he did. The fact that the pavers were both significantly cheaper and if we ever want to put flowers/trees in that area we could easily tear them up and be fine. It's not likely but it is an option.

[fusnik]

We had talked about doing a stained or stamped concrete (or just concrete we had left over from the sandbox) instead of pavers but my dad talked us out of it and I'm glad he did. The fact that the pavers were both significantly cheaper and if we ever want to put flowers/trees in that area we could easily tear them up and be fine. It's not likely but it is an option.

You gotta talk Phats lingo, he calls concrete Mud.

[Sizzle]

You gotta talk Phats lingo, he calls concrete Mud.

Come on man, mud in Phats lingo is what he uses on drywall. Concrete for Phat is what we call gravel.

[Surfah]

I like it! Did you rent a saw to cut the pavers with? Nice job man.

[Jeff Lebowski]

Way to go Sizzle.

We are about to pull the trigger on a massive backyard overhaul (including pavers). I will try to post photos when complete.

[UteStar]

Sizzle - nice work. Just curious, how much did all of those pavers end up costing you? I have an area that could be somewhat similar in size and was wondering what to expect price wise.

[Sizzle]

Sizzle - nice work. Just curious, how much did all of those pavers end up costing you? I have an area that could be somewhat similar in size and was wondering what to expect price wise.

We got the pavers on sale for about 20% off. I think the whole project with sand and pavers will end up costing around $350-400. I believe the pavers were about $150 or so and the sand made up the bulk of the rest.