That seems to be the question on everyone’s mind when it comes to the walkway. The quick and ultimate answer: bricks. But first, there are a whole lot of “now whats” to be done.
Right now, the entire walkway is covered in heavy gauge plastic. We may get rain tonight and maybe again tomorrow. After all those years of having the sidewalk to safeguard against water seeping beneath the house, I sure don’t want to leave it exposed for any longer than I have to.
First, I have to finish the perimeter of the porch. Once you can no longer see the gray facing of the plain concrete, the porch will be complete. Then, once those bricks are in place, I get to play with rocks and sand. LOTS of rocks and sand.
Before I do that though, I have to even out the dirt sides and put in some metal landscape forms. Technically, I don’t have to do that, but I’d rather do it than risk having no barrier between where all the landscape rocks and the yard meet the bricks. Then, I will put down a few inches of gravel and level the whole thing and tamp it down firmly. This is going to take a while. In the pictures, the walkway may not look very big, but it’s about 30 feet long total and more than 2 feet at its widest.
Then, I get to do the same thing again with a combination of mortar mix and sand. Fill it up, level it out. Tamp it down.
And finally, I will get to lay bricks in what’s known as a running bond pattern. (I chose this first, because I like it, and second, because I saw several references to this being the easiest pattern when doing a curved walkway.) I won’t have that several rows of straight lines in between. It’s just a continuous curve with the rows of bricks having a staggered start. I think it’s simple and classic and won’t clash with the pattern on the porch.
Then, I get to sweep in mortar and sand and mist 'er down. I'm sure I'll be doing it a little at a time. Look how long it took to do the porch without all this prep work! *Sigh*
It’s going to be a lot of work and I’m not sure how long it’s going to take. I'm hoping to have it done by the end of next weekend. A lot will depend on Mother Nature’s cooperation and she has been quite the beeotch this year, so I won’t hold my breath. We'll just have to see what happens.
I keep telling myself it's going to look great, it will all be worth it and I'll be sooo glad I did it.
Uh-huh. Keep on talkin.'
A non-professional,faux home improvement blog dedicated to the insane yet diligent do-it-yourselfer,thoroughly peppered with random views and thoughts from me
4 comments:
Soooo, when you are done at your house do you want to help me replace my driveway with bricks? I haven't done the final math but how many trips in the 'Bird do you think it will take for about 140,000 bricks? I really wouldn't ask you to do this, I just wanted to see what the reaction would be!
You never cease to amaze me at your determination. There's not a day you take a break (unless Mother Nature forces one on you). Is that one of the brick patterns we voted on several weeks/months back? I like it.
MG -- For you? I'd do it.
V -- Aw, thanks. I'm just anxious to get it all done. I'm like a terrier with a rag doll when I get on something. Yep. That's the pattern I had mulled over and everyone liked before. I did a modified basket weave on the porch.
I really like the running bond pattern! I suppose it will help to make the path look even longer?
Any chance you would allows users to use their own domain as a comment signature?
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