Show me your patio.....

[nova65ss]

I know this really isn't garage related but I've seen alot of other nice projects around here. I'm about to get some estimates to have a patio put down in my backyard between the garage and house. I'd like to do pavers and have an idea of what I want but would love to see what you guys might have. Appreciate it

Jimmy

 

[nova65ss]

No one has a patio around here? I guess I probably put this in the wrong section also, sorry guys. Anybody ever done one themselves? Thanks again,

Jimmy

 

[joecaver]

I built one less than a year ago but I have no pics to post. I can upload some to link them here tonight or tomorrow. Mine is round and about 20' dia. with a fire pit right in the middle that is about 30" dia and around 12" deep. I paved with Crab Orchard milled rock 2" to 2 1/2" thick random shapes and grouted with cement. It's nice to sit around at night with a fire and enjoy the night.

 

[BowtieNut]

I'd be interested to see any of these too. I have to do a patio behind my house this summer also. It'll be approximately 15x40, and I was going to use pavers or bricks. Never done it before either, but I'm sure I can't afford to pay someone else to do it.

Doug

 

[REFLEXX]

Jimmy,

Ask and ye shall receive:

What I learned:

1. put brick laces in your patio! don't have a slab of concrete bigger than 8 x 8. I guarantee that it will crack! With the brick (see pics) the crack will be in the brick laces and damn near invisible.

2. If you're doing a wood patio cover with wood posts, make sure that the brackets that are sunk into the concrete make the wood sit about 1+ inches off the ground. That way the wood will not absorb water constantly and rot.

3. Our patio is 16 x40. I used some 30 year old electric company lumber. Whatever they treated that wood with will keep the bugs away for a LONG time. make sure you paint/stain/treat the wood VERY well.

4. When the concrete truck comes to pour the patio, make sure he knows where the septic tank is, otherwise he might find it himself.

5. Check out Goggle Earth in a few years and see your patio! That was the coolest!

PS: no illegals were hired to do this work. I prefer to torture family and friends!

plus a few before and after shots, just to brag.

 

[mleichtle]

Same here, we were thinking of stamped concrete to make it look like stone. I've been lurking on lawnsite.com the hard scaping section, they post alot of pics on there.

 

[trovato]

I'd be interested to see any of these too. I have to do a patio behind my house this summer also. It'll be approximately 15x40, and I was going to use pavers or bricks. Never done it before either, but I'm sure I can't afford to pay someone else to do it.

Doug

check out www.unilock.com for some ideas. Be sure to get an estimate or two before you conclude that you can't afford to pay someone. The typical homeowner has to pay for delivery of the pavers, sand, base material, compactor rental, etc. These things can add up to very close to what the installer will charge. Of course, if you have your own truck to do these things, you're not "typical"! Laying down the pavers looks like fun, but most of the work is in the preparation.

 

[nova65ss]

Nice patio Flexx, very nice outcome. Unfortunately I cannot use concrete because it will be going directly over my septic tanks

Just off of my screened porch is the tanks and here in NC we have two large covers that stick up off the ground and they are very unsightly. My plans are to build two small towers above the covers and put the grille in between them, sort of a storage cabinet around the grille.

I don't have the time (or energy for that matter) to do it myself. Running a business and keeping up w/ a wife, 3 year old and one coming any day now leaves no time for projects of this size. I feell like I'd save money having someone do it for me. Thanks,

Jimmy

 

[Kuhlryde]

I will try and scan a drawing of what we will be doing. I want to put down flagstone over a concrete base. Reflexx, you mention not putting down more than an 8x8 base, what if you are going to cover it with mortar and flagstone? Think a giant slab with 10x10 cross sections will hold up nicely? the patio will be about 1000 sq ft when complete.

 

[joecaver]

OK Here are a few pics I just took. I hope they post OK since I've never posted pics here before.

 

[nova65ss]

Very nice I like the firepit idea. Bet that would come in handy for the bugs also. That long stone near the entrance looks a little heavy!

 

[rasputin]

REFLEXX, love the boots.... You had me at WOW, till you started painting it... Looked kinda nice rustic and natural...

 

[REFLEXX]

The boots came from a friend in the cowboy mafia (you know, concrete, into the river)

I painted it to match the trim on the house and to protect the wood.

That flagstone firepit looks great! I bet it will outlast modern construction by hundreds of years!

The whole deal with concrete in smaller 8x8 patches is just to avoid those ulgy cracks that always show up on bigger patios.

 

[joecaver]

That long stone near the entrance looks a little heavy!

My 17 y.o son helped with that one (and a few others). It ended up at the entrance because we didn't want to move it any more than we had to. It was a beast.

 

[barn9]

This is mine between the house and garage. Little messy in this pic, the leaves were starting to fall. The stone I picked up many years ago out of fields at my dad's farm, that is what he would make me do when he was unhappy with me. So I now take great pleasure in walking on it!

 

[Scott Pearson]

Ok,
So here is my deck and patio. A friend and I built all this. I still need to finish the ceder siding on the stairs going up to the second floor of the garage. When the weather breaks I will get it done. I think is like 3800sqf all together. Nice in summer and great for parties. Looks cool when all the patio funiture is out.

 

[gb387]

Ok,
So here is my deck and patio. A friend and I built all this. I still need to finish the ceder siding on the stairs going up to the second floor of the garage. When the weather breaks I will get it done. I think is like 3800sqf all together. Nice in summer and great for parties. Looks cool when all the patio funiture is out.

WOW! You could get lost on that deck/patio!

 

[69lkmno]

Here's mine:

 

[nova65ss]

Those are all great, thanks for the ideas. Most of those are alot more elaborate than I'll be doing. I've called a couple of landscapers and of course none have called me back. I'll let you guys know what we come up with. Thanks alot,

Jimmy

 

[z28toz06]

Here's mine, at least what you can see of it with all the snow and my son's quad sitting smack dab in the middle of it!

This is looking down from up stairs through the window

smae view of the other half off to the side, this is where the hot tub is going in the spring

side shot looking along the house. Its really quite nice, these pix dont do it justice.

This is looking from the back door out. theres a nice garden behind it in progress

This is what is just out of the last picture that I have been working on.