Digging It.

[robby]

I came home this afternoon and excavated more of the paving foundation. I've got a good technique now. I'm digging with a mattock, and I lay a long carpenter's level on the floor of the pit to insure a gentle slope away from the house. I'm 1/3 done with the excavation, and my knee and back are only protesting mildly.

The total area is almost 300 square feet, and once I finish the digging, I spread about 3 tons of road base and sand before I start laying the pavers.
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I'm plugging away with the excavation. These things always take longer than I expect, but I did another 1/3, and with a little luck, the digging will be finished tomorrow. At one point, I thought that I had hit a piece of an old foundation that's on the property, but it was actually a buried cinder block, that I was able to remove. I took off the metal threshold from the shed door, as I want the pavers to butt right against the concrete foundation slab.
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I dug again for close to 5 hours, but still not done. In this last section, I was converting an up slope to a down slope, so lots of dirt had to go. I'm running out of clever spots to dump the excavated dirt. I'm so glad that I was moderate about the scope of the walkway. I'm doing just the critical section, but there are two other adjoining areas that should be paved, sometime later. I will finish soon, and next is to put down a weed barrier on the floor of the excavation.
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Finished the digging, and bought most of the materials needed to lay the pavers. The total cost, will be about $300, and that includes about $100 for fancy polymeric sand. The plan for tomorrow is to stake down the weed barrier, pick up and spread one load of gravel, then pick up a second load of gravel before the place closes.
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The gravel is down and compacted, so tomorrow I pick up 1500 lbs of sand, and finally start laying pavers. I'll start in a hard spot, where I'll need to set some pavers in mortar, and then around the a/c compressor, where I'll need to cut some pavers to fit.

Comments

[sammason.livejournal.com]

You can do this! You lucky bugger. I hope it works out very well.

[robby.livejournal.com]

I'm working in small stages. I plan to dig another 1/3 today, and at this rate, I'll complete the project sometime next week.

The walkway is shaped like a fat 25' "L", with a gentle outward slope, so water won't collect. The pavers will be flush with the doorjambs on either end, because I want to be able to roll carts back and forth.