After the Rain
Just when we were really getting somewhere, it rained. And rained and rained and rained. We're tough, but the last weekend kind of kicked our asses, so we weren't about to power through downpours to keep laying brick. It was also the last week of school for me and the kids during all this rain, so we sat out (or in, as it were) for several days.
Which brings us, once again, to a Sunday.
Sunday
These are the bricks I laid on Sunday. This whole run along the house is 62 feet long and 8 feet wide. It takes 4.5 bricks to cover a square foot, so through the magic of math you can figure that I picked up and put down about 2,232 bricks that day. Not a bad day's work, right?
This amount of work doesn't get done without a system, and here is ours.
First, Kirk puts down 1-inch PVC pipes, then covers them with stone dust. The PVC rails help measure the amount of stone dust and lets us keep the same amount across the entire surface. Once the dust is dumped in, Kirk (and sometimes I help, in the bigger areas) spreads it around and then uses a straight edge to smooth it all out. He drags the edge along the pipes to make a level surface. He says this part is fun, like playing in sand. I disagree.
Next, Kirk carefully picks up the pipes so as not to disturb the perfectly smooth stone dust and throws them in the dirt somewhere until he needs them again. He gets out the compacter, which is big and loud and has a big plate on the bottom that presses everything down into the ground so it's good and tight. The brand name of this machine is "The Wacker," which we never fail to pronounce with our best Boston accents. Once this step is done, all that stone dust is a mostly solid surface that we can walk over without leaving footprints.
Finally, I stop eating bonbons and put down bricks on the prepared surface. This involves walking all the way over to the drive way to flip 4 bricks upside down and stack them, picking up that stack, and carrying it over to the area where I am working. Repeat 4 times. Then go to the back of the yard where the pallets of old bricks are and repeat 5 times with old bricks. Finally, once 20 old bricks and 16 new bricks are stacked where I need them, I can put them down in the running bond pattern you see here. That's the easy part. It's all the hauling that's the giant pain in the ass. While I am doing that, Kirk has moved on to the next section of stone dust and compacting.
The reason for all the 5-4 ratio stuff is that we are reusing the bricks from the old patio, but had to buy additional new bricks to finish all the paths. We need to mix them together as we go so the difference in colors and texture in new vs. old brick isn't obvious. Going to the trouble to keep the ratio correct but the bricks randomly placed is working well visually, but also is taking some extra time and effort.
Tuesday
Kirk set up the base of the major cross paths Monday night, so while he was at work on Tuesday I did this:
120 square feet; 540 bricks. A better picture would have been of me, I think, all sweaty and dirty and looking like a roadie from the "Born in the USA" Tour. This stellar fashion moment consisted of a blue wife beater, cut-offs, and a red bandana tied around my forehead. Retro and effective at keeping the suntan lotion-y sweat from running in my eyes.
Elsewhere in the yard:
Good help is hard to find.
Wednesday
At long last, the end of the road:
Ok, so it's the end of one of the roads. Progress as of today:
If you're playing along at home with the blueprint, we have finished the large patio square in the lower left corner, the large path that runs along the back of the house, the whole center path that runs up the middle of the four quadrants, and half of the path running to the left across the middle (which is the part you see here).
Kirk seems to think we can finish the bricks tomorrow, but I am not so confident. I pretty much passed out into a dead sleep after a shower this afternoon. We'll see how it goes. Now I am caught up with the history of the project, so updates will be in real time(ish). That will probably give a more accurate sense of how fast we're actually working (which is to say, not as fast as you may think).
Which brings us, once again, to a Sunday.
Sunday
These are the bricks I laid on Sunday. This whole run along the house is 62 feet long and 8 feet wide. It takes 4.5 bricks to cover a square foot, so through the magic of math you can figure that I picked up and put down about 2,232 bricks that day. Not a bad day's work, right?
This amount of work doesn't get done without a system, and here is ours.
First, Kirk puts down 1-inch PVC pipes, then covers them with stone dust. The PVC rails help measure the amount of stone dust and lets us keep the same amount across the entire surface. Once the dust is dumped in, Kirk (and sometimes I help, in the bigger areas) spreads it around and then uses a straight edge to smooth it all out. He drags the edge along the pipes to make a level surface. He says this part is fun, like playing in sand. I disagree.
Next, Kirk carefully picks up the pipes so as not to disturb the perfectly smooth stone dust and throws them in the dirt somewhere until he needs them again. He gets out the compacter, which is big and loud and has a big plate on the bottom that presses everything down into the ground so it's good and tight. The brand name of this machine is "The Wacker," which we never fail to pronounce with our best Boston accents. Once this step is done, all that stone dust is a mostly solid surface that we can walk over without leaving footprints.
Finally, I stop eating bonbons and put down bricks on the prepared surface. This involves walking all the way over to the drive way to flip 4 bricks upside down and stack them, picking up that stack, and carrying it over to the area where I am working. Repeat 4 times. Then go to the back of the yard where the pallets of old bricks are and repeat 5 times with old bricks. Finally, once 20 old bricks and 16 new bricks are stacked where I need them, I can put them down in the running bond pattern you see here. That's the easy part. It's all the hauling that's the giant pain in the ass. While I am doing that, Kirk has moved on to the next section of stone dust and compacting.
The reason for all the 5-4 ratio stuff is that we are reusing the bricks from the old patio, but had to buy additional new bricks to finish all the paths. We need to mix them together as we go so the difference in colors and texture in new vs. old brick isn't obvious. Going to the trouble to keep the ratio correct but the bricks randomly placed is working well visually, but also is taking some extra time and effort.
Tuesday
Kirk set up the base of the major cross paths Monday night, so while he was at work on Tuesday I did this:
120 square feet; 540 bricks. A better picture would have been of me, I think, all sweaty and dirty and looking like a roadie from the "Born in the USA" Tour. This stellar fashion moment consisted of a blue wife beater, cut-offs, and a red bandana tied around my forehead. Retro and effective at keeping the suntan lotion-y sweat from running in my eyes.
Elsewhere in the yard:
Good help is hard to find.
Wednesday
At long last, the end of the road:
Ok, so it's the end of one of the roads. Progress as of today:
If you're playing along at home with the blueprint, we have finished the large patio square in the lower left corner, the large path that runs along the back of the house, the whole center path that runs up the middle of the four quadrants, and half of the path running to the left across the middle (which is the part you see here).
Kirk seems to think we can finish the bricks tomorrow, but I am not so confident. I pretty much passed out into a dead sleep after a shower this afternoon. We'll see how it goes. Now I am caught up with the history of the project, so updates will be in real time(ish). That will probably give a more accurate sense of how fast we're actually working (which is to say, not as fast as you may think).
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