Patio, Pavers, and Ethnic Groups

When we first bought our money-sucking-sponge-of-a-house, there were a few obvious repairs that had to be done.  The house had a lot of qualities that we liked--first on our list was that we could afford it.  When I saw the walk and patio, I knew this was something we could negotiate with on the price of the house and also, my dear ole stepfather happens to be a mason.  Actually, I should qualify that: he's an Italian Mason. One thing I learned with this ever continuing project is that different ethnic groups are "the best" at different things.  (And listen, I'm just telling you what they all told me--so don't start sending me emails telling me I'm racist.) Apparently, the Irish are good masons too (said the man we hired for phase two).  In addition, if you have some concrete work to be done (we have, and do) you want to hire a Portuguese team. 

The Plan

The height difference from our driveway to our patio (and back door) is about 7 feet.  And, there was this really nice concrete ramp coming down from the driveway. I used to hold my breath every time I saw my 2 year old son Max running down it hoping he wouldn't trip on one of the MANY cracks. 

Next to the ramp was a retaining wall that had collapsed.  The owners stacked block in front of the collapsed wall, threw a little trash behind it (I'm not kidding, you wouldn't believe all the crap that they threw back there) and considered it repaired.

This picture  shows the house on the left with the walk and patio in front of you and the driveway to the right.  Any wonder why we jumped at buying this place?  (What the hell were we thinking?  oh right..we could afford it...)

Phase One: Retaining Wall and Steps

Without getting too  mason-talk on you, the walkway and retaining wall needed to be done at the same time because they tie into each other for support.  There was an additional retaining wall that needed to be repaired (beyond that umbrella you see) but we could hold off on that for a future date.  

Actually getting my stepfather to Long Island is an incredible feat. My parents live in Upstate New York--and I'm not talking Westchester.  (Get out a map, there's a whole mess of land above Westchester.)  They are about as far north of New York as you can get, they live right by the Canadian border.  I normally can only get a visit from my parents if I have a c-section.  Now, the walk WAS important to me... so I got pregnant (I'm a team player).  I was able to casually mention to my Italian-over-protective stepfather Al that the walk was dangerous and boy I hope I don't slip on those steps this winter--you know, with the new baby in my arms.

A few weeks later, Al arrived ready to work.  It took him almost 2 weeks and he did it completely by himself.  It was an impressive amount of work and I think he did a fine job.  (I do need a few tweaks done but there's no way I'm having another baby--so I may have to hire someone local)

In order to maximize the patio area, we hired a guy with a back hoe to come in and push the earth back about another 6 feet.  We decided to tier the new wall in two levels.  Al said in his thick New Jersey accent, "It's a long drop.  Know what I'm saying?  Fall three feet and you get your feelings hurt, fall six and you break sumthin."  As it turns out, I really like the look of the tiered wall even if it did encroach on the patio area by a few feet.  (I learned all about encroachment earlier this year when I got fined for an encroaching pop out on my garage.

The wall, steps and walkway was an expensive project even though we didn't have to hire it out.  The estimates we received from masons in the area were anywhere from 20 to 35K .  We spent about a 1/3 of that and the kids got to spend a lot of time playing in dirt and hanging with Grandpa.  

 

The wall and walkway were finally finished and that was the extent of the work we could do that summer.  Phase 2, the patio floor and back retaining wall, got fast-tracked when I fell down the stairs holding my daughter and breaking my foot in more than 9 places (she was safe an unharmed) two years later.  Would it be considered irony to fall down the stairs that were built in order to not fall while holding the baby? 

 

 

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