Future Home of Our Patio Constructed with Pavers
Outlined by 2x4's
The Ad - Ya, I can do that.
What I found - Daunting
Slow Progress - But Progress Nevertheless
Chipping Away In Small Bites
Thousands to Move
I Would Wrap them and Tie them down to keep them
From Bouncing Around
Pile to Trailer to Pallet
Almost There
Pallets Growing
Starting to Look Like I'm in the Paver Business
And We're Done!
While all of this work has been going on I’ve been
eyeballing the back of the house thinking about what would fit best. We’d like
to have an area where we can relax and have cookouts with family, friends and
even just to sit and not watch the world go by. While we have a small deck, we
wanted something for a larger gathering.
I started thinking about a patio made out of pavers and the more
I thought about it the more I liked it. I’ve constructed a walkway out of
pavers and bricks in the past and have enjoyed the work and the look. So I took
some scrap 2x4’s and started laying out an area. And of course having an
abundant supply of scrap wood, the patio got bigger and bigger and the idea got
grander with walkways and storage areas under the deck and pergolas and so on.
But I needed pavers. On to one of my favorites sites; Craigslist.
Apparently pavers are in abundant supply. But only in small
batches. Until I found the mother load. Somebody was selling their Cambridge
pavers that had been around their pool. Perfect for me and it’s not like pavers
wear out. So after a phone call Mrs. IHB and I went to check them out. They
were perfect. Right amount. Right Color. Right size. Wrong place.
The owners had decided to replace the pool apron made out of
pavers with concrete to give it a different look. The downside was when they
pulled them up they left them behind the house. Behind the pool. Out in the
woods. A long way from the driveway. A very long way. No, really. A very, very
long way.
So there was this huge pile of pavers and moving them was
going to be quite the task. So after some deep thought over a couple of days
and calling for prices to move them and realizing that paying to move them
would not give me the bargain that I wanted, I decided I’d just do it myself. And
then my offer was accepted and the hook was set.
When we went back up and stared at the pile for a few
minutes and I muttered something about the task being daunting. But what the
heck, I’m in my 50’s and have never had a moment of common sense when it comes
to daunting tasks at hand so the cash changed hands. It was at this point that Mrs.
IHB looked at me with the sudden realization that she had obviously married a
crazy man.
Over the next few weeks (OK, maybe longer than that) I would
load the pavers in a Gorilla wagon (I need one of those) and trudge through a
neighbor’s yard (with permission) up a small hill with my load. I’d stack them
up in my trailer, drive them to the site and unload them into nice neat stacks
on pallets that I had scrounged around for. Of course I managed to do this
during the hottest, muggiest part of summer. I looked like a crazed man with a sweat
soaked hat and t-shirt. And I’m sure I smelled the part. One of the owners, Helen,
would come out and shoot the breeze with me from time to time. But would always
make sure she stood upwind. The other owner, Linda, just stayed away. She knew
I was crazy (but not as crazy as her when she watched football where I would
chuckle listening to her hooting and hollering away). I was lucky to meet them
though as they are both great people. The kind that you wish were neighbors.
So after all these trips, four pairs of leather gloves and gallons
of water, trudging a couple hundred feet with a wagon load, lifting each paver one
by one, I chipped away at the pile until they were all moved. I now have a nice
neat stack of about 10 pallets of small, medium and large pavers ready to go on
my project patio. This works out to over 1,000 square feet or about 3,000
pavers. Weight wise, that’s about 24,000 pounds or 12 tons done in my best “the
fish was that big” guess.
Yes, I am crazy. Now I’m certifiable.
Enjoy your weekend.
