Patio Renovation - Part 1 - Clean Up

So the patio has become a bit of a dumping ground the last year. Every grout joint has started to grow pretty much every weed you can think of, the children have dumped every toy and made "potions" that have leaked clay and mud all over the floor. 

 So I decided it was time for a big clean up, wash out the grout and try to get it ready for all the outside eating we want to do this summer. Watch the video above to see the first part of this. 

What would you repoint it with? 

How much time do you spend doing maintenance on things like this?

Patio Progress - Footings Finished & Retaining Wall

Another busy weekend here. 

I had a phone call from my bricklaying friend, Dill, last week and he said he could come over and work if I had the footings ready. 

I mentioned this to dad and he sprang into action. He came over Friday night and we got them dug out, it didn't take too long and surprisingly we weren't doing it in the dark! 

Digging more footings along side the steps I built last year. 

Footings for the curved bit

 Then on Sunday my dad and my brother came over to give me a hand, we started mixing concrete and got all the footings poured by about two o'clock, I was pleased as it meant I had time to get ready for my bricklayer!

Pad for more under patio storage

Dave, my brother, digging another two foot as we had some concrete left! 

Footings done! 

 I then spent ages moving everything around, getting blocks in the right place, moving the mixer, getting sand out for him. 

Dill is a quick worker and he managed to get most of the retaining wall built. The new section includes two under patio storage cupboards and a curved section to try to soften the look of the whole thing! 

Under patio cupboards

Curved wall

Cupboards from above - I now need to create some shuttering to pour the slabs on top

The view at the back of the house, I think the patio goes nicely with it all. 

There's still loads to do, I need to shutter and pour the concrete for the patio storage, then the hardcore needs back filling against the retaining wall, stone added to the top and wackered down, loads of slabbing, then dwarf walls built with planters in them, cupboard doors to make, etc...

But in spite of that long list it really does feel like we're making serious progress and at least half of the patio should be finished by the end of next week, giving us somewhere outside to eat without worrying that our little boy is going to run off the edge learning to fly! 

What do you think?

Do you think the storage areas are a good idea or too much work for what I gain? 

Is the patio going to be too big (I think it'll be great for parties!)?

Patio Progress - Concrete Steps

This has been a labour of love over the last three weeks! Blood, sweat and the whole of my little finger nail (which got ripped off on a piece of reinforcing bar) have gone into these steps! 

With the patio being so large I decided that having a nice, wide flight of stairs would really set it off. There was a few ways I could have made them; timber was out of the question as I wanted something maintenance free and to last a long time (it's very wet here and they'd rot in ten years or so). 

That left me with either using blocks or concrete, the blocks would be more expensive and I'm not great at laying them (so I'd get my brick layer to do it. The concrete on the other is something I could do myself but it does involve a lot of work (and I mean a lot!).

First step form work

Not one to be deterred by a bit of work I went for the concrete option. I have built full flights of stairs like this where you pour all the concrete for the steps in one go (have a look here) but I decided that as I was mixing the concrete in a small mixer by hand I'd do one step at a time, doing it this way means I can use the same timber to form each step as well so it save money. 

I join each step by leaving some reinforcing wire between each step to tie into the one above. Each step is also vibrated to remove the air from the concrete using an industrial vibrator (no rude jokes please!) 

These pictures show the process, there was a bout 6 to 8 mixes full of concrete in each step! I tended to move and set up the shuttering/form work one night, then mix and pour the concrete the next and strip it the night after that. 

Pouring the concrete in for the first step

Removing the shuttering/form work 

Second step form work in. Stone fills in behind and is compacted down. 

third step - note teh bars in the back to tie in the next step

Another step - I did this one when we poured the footings for the extension as I ordered enough concrete to do it - seemed daft to mix it if we were having some delivered.  

Nearly there! 

Steps finished!

I was surprised how much work were in these stairs, even though I knew there would be. I guess mixing concrete after eight at night after doing a ten hour day on a building site is going to make me a bit more tired as well! 

Still it feels great to have them done. They'll get clad in the same stone that the patio will be with a handrail down the sides. 

What do you think? 

Ever made steps like this?

Patio Progress - Stone Down

Stone down, pipes hidden! 

This feels like a major milestone for the patio, it's looked a mess for a long time so it's nice to have moved forward with it. Dad's helped me every step of the way with this, he's my expert digger driver and he's always pushing me to get more done in a day, he'll think nothing of starting to concrete something at nine at night!

Here's what's gone on in the last week or so with the patio, most of it over last weekend ( I also had my brother help me one night to get the stone down, I'd be lost without my family on jobs like this!)

Before picture - it's looked like this since November last year! 

Pipe work and ducting to the boiler

Drainage pipe in to pick up from the extension

Levelling the ground before adding the top layer of stone

Grading off

Adding some concrete against the retaining wall for extra strenght

Concrete added to the edges 

Weed membrane down then stone added to the top 

As usual we had a little bit of digger trouble! Track tensioner broke, not a difficult fix luckily!  

Stone then scalpings added and wackered down  to give us a firm base to lay the slabs on

Another view of how far we've got with the patio

We can only get half of the patio in at the moment as the extension needs to go in before we can do the other half, but at least this way we can get somewhere to eat outside again, we've really missed out outside meal times! 

What do you think to our progress so far? What type of slabs or finish would you go for up on our patio?

Patio Progress - Under Patio Storage

So on the post I put on Wednesday night I mentioned that I was installing some storage under the patio that I'm building. 

The idea behind this was that the patio was going to be raised no matter what (the garden is on a north facing slope) so it's a good way to add storage space without another structure in the garden.

By adding the ribs to the wall it adds a lot of strength anyway and I wanted a flight of steps down the middle so it wasn't much more work to increase the foundation size to allow for my under patio storage idea. 

It has created me some work though. 

The tops of these storage areas are going to be reinforced concrete, I can only work on the one at the moment as I have to leave the blockwork for the other down to give e access to the garden at the moment.

Last Saturday I managed to put up the form work (shuttering) for the slab on the right hand storage bay. It's only about 6ft wide by 3ft deep but it should still provide a useful area (I'm thinking kids toys at the moment).

I cheated a bit with the shuttering and used blocks to support it, with timber supports just under the OSB sheeting that I could knock out when the concrete has gone off (this is very important as they're is a lot of weight in concrete). I also used sash clamps to fix it to the block work as if I had screwed it to the blocks the chances are it would have pulled that single block off the wall. I did wrap my clamps in bags to save concrete getting on them (I'm sure that there was a god of carpentry angry at me somewhere!). 

When we started to pour the concrete some friends turned up - just at the right time (for us anyway) so it helped to get the concrete into the form work. We managed to get the tractor and mixer right up to where we were working as well, so with the addition of a little bit of tin sheeting it meant that we didn't have to use a wheel barrow! 

Dad forgot about a trench we'd dug earlier in the year. 

Concrete poured

Looking good, I roughed up the surface to provide a key to the slabs that will be laid on top

Form work removed, self supporting concrete roof/shelf.

Next job is to start shuttering the steps up to the patio and then to fill in the top (our pipework from last November is still exposed at the moment) with stone and slab it. 

A lot of work for my silly ideas - but it'll be worth it in the end! What do you think?

Outside Progress - Patio

I've been doing my usual of taking on so much work that things here fall to the wayside, but we have managed to do some things lately. 

One thing I managed to organise a few months ago that I haven't posted about was to get the retaining wall in for the patio.

The old wall was crumbling and inadequate and for my plans I want to build something that's going to last and cause me as little maintenance as possible. So I got in my trusty bricklayer, Dill, and he came for a day and put up all the blockwork you see in the picture below. 

I was impressed with how much he managed to lay (as most of those blocks are laid flat), I had made sure that I had put all the blocks ready for him and the sand, cement and mixer were as close as they could be (good tips for keeping costs down when having work down). 

The "ribs" coming out of the wall above serve two purposes; firstly they add strength (pretty important) to hold the soil back, secondly they allow me to break up the front in sections. The middle part is going to be a wide set of steps to make going up and down to the garden easy and then a section either side will be storage under the patio (more on that on Friday's post). 

Hopefully this should make a great outdoor eating place, I have plans for a BBQ and hopefully some form of outside oven and/or smoker. 

What would you have in your ideal outdoor eating space?