trying to order some concrete pavers for a short notice patio project this weekend.  planning on doing it the lazy way....only digging down a couple inches to remove the grass...then weed barrier....then the pavers right on top.  pretty sure i'll be skipping several recommended layers of gravel, sand, & other crap i don't have time for.  what's the worst that can happen?    

 

 

3 minutes ago, mr_hunt said:

trying to order some concrete pavers for a short notice patio project this weekend.  planning on doing it the lazy way....only digging down a couple inches to remove the grass...then weed barrier....then the pavers right on top.  pretty sure i'll be skipping several recommended layers of gravel, sand, & other crap i don't have time for.  what's the worst that can happen?    

 

 

paco and schmoopie could offer brunch ?

7 minutes ago, mr_hunt said:

trying to order some concrete pavers for a short notice patio project this weekend.  planning on doing it the lazy way....only digging down a couple inches to remove the grass...then weed barrier....then the pavers right on top.  pretty sure i'll be skipping several recommended layers of gravel, sand, & other crap i don't have time for.  what's the worst that can happen?    

 

 

You'll be redoing it in 2 years.  I used to do hardscapes.  Usually dig down 8-9" from where you want the top to be.  3-4" of modified tamped close to level (slight grade away from the house so water runs away from the house).  Then a coating grit tamped.  Pavers are usually 2-3" so that takes you up even.  Cement in the edges and backfill.  Then use a good polymer lock to sweep in the joints.  Never used sand.  Weeds won't be an issue.  Maybe just some surface ones but they aren't rooting through all that crap.  Just take some ground clear and spray it.

7 minutes ago, wholesale_Melvin said:

paco and schmoopie could offer brunch ?

brunch is just a mimosa delivery vessel.

4 minutes ago, rambo said:

You'll be redoing it in 2 years.  I used to do hardscapes.  Usually dig down 8-9" from where you want the top to be.  3-4" of modified tamped close to level (slight grade away from the house so water runs away from the house).  Then a coating grit tamped.  Pavers are usually 2-3" so that takes you up even.  Cement in the edges and backfill.  Then use a good polymer lock to sweep in the joints.  Never used sand.  Weeds won't be an issue.  Maybe just some surface ones but they aren't rooting through all that crap.  Just take some ground clear and spray it.

that's a lot of layers & a lot of work, brah.  i'm already looking at around 150 pavers (if i can actually get them with such short notice).  so weeds will be an issue or something else? 

2 minutes ago, mr_hunt said:

that's a lot of layers & a lot of work, brah.  i'm already looking at around 150 pavers (if i can actually get them with such short notice).  so weeds will be an issue or something else? 

not just weeds, but unlevelness. 

 

30 minutes ago, mr_hunt said:

that's a lot of layers & a lot of work, brah.  i'm already looking at around 150 pavers (if i can actually get them with such short notice).  so weeds will be an issue or something else? 

Don't know what to tell you.  You can slop one together and deal with it buckling, settling, popping, rolling out, etc...or you do it right and have it there relatively maintenance free for a long time.  Hardscaping is tough work.  There's a reason I don't do it anymore. 

Weeds would be the least of my concerns.  You can ground clears the joints and kill 'em for a year.  It's the "structural" part I'd worry about.  I put my own in at my old townhouse the right way and never had an issue with it in 12 years.  I don't know what kind of pavers you're putting in but it's a PITA to pull them and re-level after they're in, especially depending on the pattern.

yeah....that sounds horrible.  i think i'll drink this weekend instead & eventually hire somebody young to do the patio. 

thanks.

Just now, mr_hunt said:

yeah....that sounds horrible.  i think i'll drink this weekend instead & eventually hire somebody young to do the patio. 

thanks.

Good thinking.  Best not to halfass it.  You'll only kick yourself down the road if it's something that you want to last and be part of the house.  We even tamped the ground before we put the modified in. 

Order all the material, go to home depot rent a tamper and some Mexicans and direct them from you patio chair while sipping a beer.

We had a fence put in last fall.  450'.  I was pricing material and going to do it myself but have no knowledge really on it.  Would have taken me months with work and kids crap.  Hired a fence guy and a crew of Mexicans came out and had that thing in in like 4-5 hours.  I was amazed by how quickly they did it.

37 minutes ago, rambo said:

Good thinking.  Best not to halfass it.  You'll only kick yourself down the road if it's something that you want to last and be part of the house.  We even tamped the ground before we put the modified in. 

Order all the material, go to home depot rent a tamper and some Mexicans and direct them from you patio chair while sipping a beer.

We had a fence put in last fall.  450'.  I was pricing material and going to do it myself but have no knowledge really on it.  Would have taken me months with work and kids crap.  Hired a fence guy and a crew of Mexicans came out and had that thing in in like 4-5 hours.  I was amazed by how quickly they did it.

are there tunnels under your fence too?

3 minutes ago, HazletonEagle said:

are there tunnels under your fence too?

Yeah...damn groundhogs.

Ground hogs can ruin your days can't they? Except for Groundhog Day?!

On 6/10/2020 at 4:18 PM, mr_hunt said:

yeah....that sounds horrible.  i think i'll drink this weekend instead & eventually hire somebody young to do the patio. 

thanks.

i know you folks love follow-ups!  got a quote for doing the patio using pavers...doode wants $8,400.   we're taking about a 12'x14' area so that's $50 per sq ft.  nah.

i'm assuming it was one of those "we don't want the job" quotes because that's nuts. we might get a quote or 2 for a stamped concrete patio instead of pavers...should be less expensive.  

oh...and i started pressure washing the concrete patio around our pool last night...looks like brand new    

5 minutes ago, mr_hunt said:

i know you folks love follow-ups!  got a quote for doing the patio using pavers...doode wants $8,400.   we're taking about a 12'x14' area so that's $50 per sq ft.  nah.

i'm assuming it was one of those "we don't want the job" quotes because that's nuts. we might get a quote or 2 for a stamped concrete patio instead of pavers...should be less expensive.  

oh...and i started pressure washing the concrete patio around our pool last night...looks like brand new    

Yeah.  Pavers aren't cheap to begin with.  That's a lot bigger area than I thought you were going to try to do.  Mine at my old house was similar in size, maybe a tad smaller.  Think it cost $2k for all the materials.  That was like 12 years ago.  I dug it by hand and borrowed my old boss' F-550 dump truck to get the stone and grit from the quarry and some of the hardscape equipment (demo saw, tamper, skreet).  Had to shovel and wheel it all around the back of the house since it wasn't possible to get equipment back there.  Had to carry all the pavers around, too.

This, of course, was before kids when life was simpler, I was younger and beer and dinner was sufficient payment for friends coming over to help.

same with the section of yard where we want the patio...can't get equipment back there so everything would be done by hand... @probably why doode doesn't want the job. i can't blame him. 

Ive been considering buying DIY wooden pergola kit. OR trying to build an attached pergola (to my house) from scratch, Fing up my house, being off on all the measurements so it doesnt work out and then hiring someone to fix my work and build it for us.

But, our basement flooded yesterday instead so now  for that money we will have to replace the carpet and possibly some drywall. At least I didnt have to be the one to F up the house, so I consider that a minor win.

 

19 minutes ago, HazletonEagle said:

Ive been considering buying DIY wooden pergola kit. OR trying to build an attached pergola (to my house) from scratch, Fing up my house, being off on all the measurements so it doesnt work out and then hiring someone to fix my work and build it for us.

But, our basement flooded yesterday instead so now  for that money we will have to replace the carpet and possibly some drywall. At least I didnt have to be the one to F up the house, so I consider that a minor win.

 

Turn it into insurance, say it ruined your coal stove, too, so you can get something else in there.

4 minutes ago, rambo said:

Turn it into insurance, say it ruined your coal stove, too, so you can get something else in there.

Can you teach me how to launder money and get away with it?  I’ll let you ride Blobeph’s unicycle.  He recently put a 350 hemi on that ukn’ thing.

2 minutes ago, bobeph said:

Can you teach me how to launder money and get away with it?  I’ll let you ride Blobeph’s unicycle.  He recently put a 350 hemi on that ukn’ thing.

You can start by laundering your filthy chimphole.  Last time I was back there I puked.

30 minutes ago, rambo said:

Turn it into insurance, say it ruined your coal stove, too, so you can get something else in there.

oh yeah trust me at one point i said to Mrs HE, this may turn out good for us! We might re-do thre basement and maybe replace the coal stove with propane.

But guess what.  This is 2020. Nothing works in anyone's favor this year.

They told us they'll pay up to 5,000.

So then I said to Mrs He...well, maybe we can  just replace the carpet...

 

 

You think our 10 yrs/ 100k mile bumper to bumper extended warranty covered new struts on her traverse at about 3 years and still under 100k? Well no! "Mechanical" coverage expired back in september!

How big is your basement?  $5k seems like a lot for carpet and some drywall.  What is going on up in NEPA?  Got hunt getting gouged on paver patio estimates and HE is getting gouged on HVAC and carpet!  Must be NYC contractors thinking they can rip off these backwoods locals.

I don't know how much the mitigation and then new carpet will cost.  But regardless of how much damage was done insurance was only going to cover 5000.

We are lucky the stove, washer and dryer are not ruined.  We had 3-4 inches of water on the unfinished side.  Mostly just a soggy floor and a few inches of wet drywall on the finished side but no accumulation of water over there. 

My plan for around the deck is to kill this plant that no one knows what it is, it keeps spreading and has killed my other perennials, get rid of the much, and eventually fill it in with stone/pebbles.  Then I can just place planted pots, and some solar lights.  This is going to be a process.  I'm hoping the killing part is therapeutic for me.  Vinegar and salt in the dirt, round up, or anything else industrial my son may have.  Will repeat and leave it for the hot summers months to see if it's working.  Treat it again around Labor Day, put down that cloth stuff and then the stones.  I much rather just place pots around and take care of that in my old age.  Especially since I may be finishing a beach cottage, I simply won't have the time.