November 11, 2008

Stone and gravel galore: days five and six.

When last we left off, the patio was poured and faced with cultured stone. We had added back into the mix the 15 foot planter box for the bamboo...the rest of the work would be to finish the install of the remaining cultured stone, add blue stone caps to the box, stairs and patio edge, layout the pathway and seating area, then bring in our reused (and some new) bluestone for stepping stones, layout the pavers on the patio...add in a final layer of pea gravel, then the crew at Your Way Contracting would be done! Here's how the two days went.

The main work yet to be done was the final grading of the yard and the layout of the 11X11 foot seating area and paths.

Photo: Bird's eye view of the work site.

In the meantime half the crew worked on the setting of the blue stone caps for the patio ledge and stairs (the planter box would get capped as well on day six) along with finshing off the cultured stone application.

We chose to go with blue stone, rather than the typical lime stone (less expensive, we realized later), to complete the transition of colors from the patio to the seating area. The big decision was a clean finished edge or an "aged" edge that has a worn look. After some on-line research and consultation with Diana of Fun City, we decided on the clean finished edge which literally "capped" off the organic lines of the cultured stone with something clean an modern (and slightly Asian influenced, hence back to the bamboo).

Photo: Laying in the blue stone treads.

Photo: The patio blue stone cap.

Back to the seating area and pathways. We decided on landscape edging to separate the seating area and pathways from the planting beds/veggie garden, rather than more stone as the edge. We found this great interlocking aluminum system from PermaLoc (in Holland, MI) Pro-Line edging in eight foot sections. The install was a snap for Gaspar and his crew who had not used it before.

The interlocking pieces also have self tapping stakes that make it perfect for our install needs. Highly recommended (and we received our order only 2 DAYS via UPS). After the install, weed mats were laid down, then a base of 3/4 stone. From there we worked with Gaspar on the layout of the re-used blue stone from our patio (originally from the old sidewalks ripped out in the 1970s) and some new pieces that Gaspar sourced. We were unable to source an exact match to what we had, so Gaspar recommended a warmer Tennessee blue stone for the seating area, picking up the colors of our stone and the new cultured stone.

After finding the correct "step-able" spacing on the pathway, they crew laid down DG (decomposed granite or stone dust) and sand to level out the stones.

Photo: Pathway all laid out and leveled.

Once the paths and seating area were underway, the pavers started to be laid out. We had spec'd a "random pattern" from Gaspar, but after looking at the possibilities (and realizing we needed one other paver size), we opted for a modified herringbone pattern, substituting in smaller pavers in to the pattern of 6X9 inch standard pavers.

Photo: The pavers are laid out.

All of this orchestration went on during days five and six of the project, with the final part of day six culminating with the arrival of the pea gravel. There were several ways to go: gray stone, mix of grays/reds/white/tan or a mix of white/tan which we felt completed the natural "tiki house" look with its abstract look of sand and the beach (at least to us).

Photo: Tennessee blue stone and pea gravel.

Photo: Finished pathway to our shed.

Now, the reality was the crew needed just one more half day to finish up and clean up the site. We had gone this far, what's one more day, right?

Below is a larger slide show of the two days.

And the final hardscape post for phase 1 is up next! Stay tuned.

Posted by tikihouse at 8:00 AM | Comments (7)
Categories: Fall 2008, contractors, cultured stone, landscape edging, paths, seating area

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