I have not had much time of late to allocate to the Metal Wurx series due to an on going project. When I had my foundation repaired last Summer, several holes were drilled for the piers around my patio area. The problem was, they piled all the dirt in the middle and when they lifted my foundation (9 1/2") it also raised one end of my patio. That night my wife and I were watching TV and heard what sounded like a sonic boom. It scared the hell out of us and we thought part of the house was collapsing. When we finally looked outside we saw the patio broken in both directions from the weight of the dirt.

To make a long story even longer, we had to jackhammer up the entire patio and haul off the debris to the dump ourselves. (not an easy task for a 62 year old man and his wife) We and our dog endured an entire year and the muddy seasons, saving up enough money to replace it. We had plenty of time to think about it and finally decided to not pour concrete since it was going to cost over $1,000.00 due to the minimum order (6 yards) when we only needed 1 1/2 yards. In the process, I ended up replacing the patio cover as well. In retrospect, I am really glad we decided on pavers in lieu of plain concrete. It was a labor of love that almost killed us, especially my poor back, but I think it was well worth it!

All that's left is to modify the downspout and hang a light fixture. Now I can get back to more important things like GIMP.

I left out the most important part.....we also have the supervisor's approval!

It's looking good!

Very beautiful Drac.
BTW, the supervisor should be sitting in the directors chair in your first image with his directors visor and sunglasses on.

Absolutely wonderful

What an image! That would be more appropriate for her as she already has the run of the house.

Thanks for the comments everyone. We bought some chairs today and a table and spent the afternoon playing Aggravation and smeelling the white star jasmin growing just ouside the lattice fence.

Ahhhhhh. Life is good!

That's what makes it all worth while!

LOve the square pattern you made with the pavers.

Your pool and gazebo brick deck work job looks great Drac; your dog appears to be happy with it too and that's all that matters.

So how did you lay it down? I guess what I am asking is how you made the patio's base level?

Your patio looks great!!

thanks 2-ton. I would love to lay claim to the idea of putting the coblestone rectangle in the middle but it was my wife's idea. I love it too cuz it really sets off the chisel block low wall around the outside.

If you go to Lowe's or Home Depot all the information is in the brochures for how to do it. I own a company called Frame-Rite Construction so I've been building and remodeling, and landscaping for years. I actually cheated and used Portland cement tilled into the soil, compacted it and wet it down and let it set-up for a couple of days. The decomposed granite goes down next (paver base) and I only had to use about 2" instead of the regular 4" to 6" because I stabilized the soil first with the Portland cement. (cheaper).

The 1" pipes are laid on top after the base is down and compacted to the apropriate height and then sand is laid on top. the pipes serve as guides so you can use a 2x4 to "screed" the sand so the depth is uniform, then just remove the pipes and fill in carefully. I use a 14" trowel just like I was finishing cement to get it smooth and even where the pipes were. The rest is carefully laying down the pavers and using spacers. When you are finished, use Polymeric paver sand in the joints and spray lightly with a fine mist of water several times. Polymeric sand sets up kind of like rubber when exposed to water so you get a semi-permanent joint that is very resistant to UV light and weeds. Works great and is really worth the money.

As far as getting everything flat and level, there is actually 1" of falloff away from the house which is accomplished by using stringlines and a line level. Once your strings are in place you can use a piece of wood with marks on it for each layer to get the depth the same all over and maintain the slight slope you want. It would be extremely difficult and would require an incredibly talented eye to guess at it and get it to look even close to right without the strings to guide you.

Sorry to go off, but you did ask how I did it.

Thanks Lyle & Tux. I have a feeling I'm gonna really enjoy this summer. Wish I could invite everyone over for a real Texas Bar-B-Q. Wouldn't that be a hoot!

Actually, that would be a blast!

Ohio is a long way from here. The next best thing is to post my recipies for Baked beans, Cole slaw and my famous (or infamous) "Daves's Backyard BBQ Sauce". Any body interested?

I also have several rubs that are really fantastic.

Awesome, much better than what my dad and I did lol. We just slid the pavers together and made them look level. Well after filling in with sand and watering it in, the next day it was a little lop sided. lol

cole slaw...my favorite bar b q side dish!

For me, I can't eat BBQ without cole slaw and baked beans. Tater salad is good too, but I gotta have beans!

Super simple slaw dressing:

1 cup Mayonaise (the real stuff)
2 Tablespoons sugar
2 Tablespoons white distilled vinegar
4 teastpoons yellow mustard
1/2 teaspoon celery seed

Dave's Smokin' Baked Beans

1 great big can of pork & beans (or 4-15 oz cans)
2/3 cup brown sugar packed
1/3 cup ketchup
2 Tablespoons yellow mustard
3 to 6 strips of hickory smoked bacon (I use Wrights)
1/2 medium onion finely chopped
1 Tablespoon grandma's molasses
1 tablespoon Colgin's liquid smoke

1. Drain the beans but don't rinse.
2. In a medium sauce pan, combine the brown sugar, ketchup, molasses, mustard
and liquid smoke. Stir occaisionally over medium to low heat until the sugar melts.
When the mixture begins to bubble, remove from heat
3. While the mixture is heating up, cut the bacon lengthwise and then cut into small pieces about
1/2" wide and brown in a pan.
4. When the bacon is almost done, throw in the onions and cook until translucent.
5. As soon as the bacon and onions are done and the mixture is heated thru, throw
everything together and pour into a large oven safe casserole dish and bake at 350 degrees for
about an hour and no more or they will be too dry. If youlike your bean a little sloppy, just add a
little more ketchup and brown sugar.

I love coleslaw but it tears my stomach to pieces (though I did eat a slaw dog for breakfast at Kangaroo's Gas station this morning; lol. Stomach didn't hurt either so maybe I'm finally getting over the stomach issue; crossing my fingers). BBQ hurts me too but I tolerate that pain. Summer's a coming and it's definitely getting to be BBQ time.