You wouldnt believe how long the patio project has taken. We started it in 2007 so I guess weve been working on it off and on for 7 years. It looks like we may finally get to the end. Im very excited! (Only read on if you want to know the long winded story.) When we bought the house in 2002, the northeast corner of the lot was one big slab of concrete surrounded by a concrete block retaining wall. I didnt like the look of it from the beginning; the concrete was too flat so that it built up slippery slime and the retaining walls on the north and east sides seeped water in the winter. The top of the retaining wall on the north side was so tight to a chain link fence that there was no space to plant anything to screen the neighbors yard from view, and the wall of retaining wall blocks wasnt particularly well laid; the corner was angled too sharply so the blocks didnt lay together correctly. I wasnt going to do anything about it other than clean it up and let the kids use it for a sport court. We used it for an above ground, inflated pool and there was a basketball hoop the kids used. The patio started falling apart after we had lived there a few years. It had been poured in layers and the thin top layer started splitting off in little chunks. So in 2007, Trevor broke most of one layer off with a sledge hammer and chisel with Brian hauling the chunks away in our trailer. The layer underneath was looking OK until we got to the southeast corner and discovered the concrete was poured in one layer about 14 inches thick! So, in 2009, we hired a contractor to finish removing all the concrete. We then had them put in some drainage and a small brick patio and sidewalk. Unfortunately the dirt under the concrete was terrible; rocky and very hard. Also, the drainage that was put in was inadequate and we ended up with some very muddy spots. We figure thats why the patio was poured in the first place; it covered over some serious drainage issues. In 2012, we hired someone else to come in and remove the bad dirt, bring in good dirt and, again, improve the drainage. This project was more successful but we were still had some seriously muddy spots and, frankly, the original retaining wall was still unattractive. The pipe the contractor had installed to drain the area actually went up before it went down the hill. Im not sure how that was supposed to work. Now, in 2014, Trevor Bygland took the wall down and started this project. Its definitely been a bigger job that he thought but hes being persistent. Hes moved the north wall out several feet farther than its original position so we will now be able to plant a row of arborvitaes on the top. Hes used levels and strings to make sure its very straight; properly curved the corner; and, most importantly, hes dug down several feet below the surface level, put in gravel and perforated pipes behind the wall. He is now back filling behind the wall with several feet of gravel before we get the top soil added. Im really hoping this solves the drainage problem. Im sure that it will look much better.
Posted on: Sat, 19 Jul 2014 19:07:04 +0000
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