On the Back Patio

Over the past couple years, most of the bushery (or shrubbery) in our back yard has gotten away from the LOML and I, leaving our flower beds dead and barren. We talked a few months ago about expanding the little patio area off our back deck (home of dead shrubbery), and this past weekend, we commenced the tackling of this DIY/HGTV/FLN/TLC project.

Our good buddy, Craiger, gave us a tip about Alabama Wholesale Stone Company, and we were able to pick up 3,200 POUNDS (that’s over a ton and a half!) of Blue Flagstone at a pretty reasonable price (at least I thought so). This picture doesn’t do it justice, but we were riding low (and dirty).

I also rented a 5 HP Tiller from Huffstutler’s Hardware to till out the area where we would lay the patio. This thing was a BEAST!! After tilling the Earth, JD came over and helped move 15 or so wheel barrow loads of dirt to the back of our yard. I kinda want a tiller now for my Birthday.

Most of the instructions I read online said you should lay an inch or so of sand before placing your flagstone. I picked up 8 bags of sand (.5 cu ft each) from Lowe’s which was not near enough. The Mrs. and I “sprinkled” what little sand we had, and then started to lay some of the stones to see how it looked (we came to the conclusion, that we really did need that extra sand). Here is what our patio looks like now:

Luckily, Cahaba Heights Hardware Store has a pretty good deal on bulk sand (wish I had known that early Saturday morning!), but it may be a week (or more) before we can finish this project. Don’t worry, we’ll have it ready for the 2nd annual 4th of July Bash. Here is what you missed last year!! (the slide that is)

Boom!!