Paver Project

My project started last fall when we pulled the pavers out of the lower section in anticipation of putting sod in there. The neighbor boy and I dug them out and stacked them under the deck. While moving all those bricks two by two across the yard I had a lot of time to contemplate what to do with them. I eventually settled on putting them under the deck.

Once the lower section was prepped and ready for grass I began prepping the under deck area for pavers. Previous residents had installed 4-6 inches of larger rocks in this area, so I slowly removed them. I’d fill buckets with rocks and line them next to the trash can. On trash day we’d dump in 4-6 buckets and I’d refill them. I filled buckets all fall and most of the spring. We currently have every bucket at our house full of rocks.

As luck would have it, just as I was finishing up this stage our neighbor installed a retaining wall. She had gobs of leftover gravel and offered us some. It was just what I needed. I moved the pile of pavers and all the other stuff we were storing there from under the deck to the patio. Ryan graciously rearranged his Saturday to haul the gravel to our yard, and I’m grateful he did. I'm honestly not sure when this little project would have been completed otherwise.

Monday morning I started in on laying the pavers. Given my two little helpers the process was slower then I anticipated it would be, but I was still able to finish by the light of the moon. Caden thought the gravel was a great sandbox and didn’t seem to tire of piling it up, putting it in a bucket, and dumping it out. He liked to sit right where I was working and help ‘level’ the gravel, lay the bricks, and carry the bricks. Notice doggy watching Caden carry the pavers. If doggy isn't being held he is carefully perched where he can see what is going on.

By some miracle we were short only 6 bricks, which I easily scrounged up from other parts of the yard. All told there are 640 pavers in that little area. I still need to get some edging and sand to finish setting the pavers. Then we can move all our storage stuff back.