Lovely new patio ... and Brian

It’s been a busy few weeks with lots going on outside the house. I’ve become a dab-hand at pulling out old tree stumps – some of which were HUGE. Now all the hard digging and hacking is over. We’ve also had some new fencing and gates put in to help contain the lil’ pup. They were part of the great plan we have for the house, the main part of which will hopefully take place this spring and summer.

We’re rapidly learning that whenever something nice is done to the house and yard, it makes whatever is next to it seem awful. This was the case with the fencing – the adjacent old concrete and exposed mud immediately needed sorting out. Because we’re having a room extension, we didn’t want to lay new paving or stamped concrete. Instead we opted for something more… flexible.

So, via soildirect.com we had 4 cubic yards of pea gravel dumped outside the house. This would be forming the outdoor patio/entertaining area. With shovel and wheelbarrow I shoveled all 6 tons of it and wheeled it through to the desired area in the yard. Jenn was then on hand to rake it out. The mound of gravel didn’t seem that big when it was delivered but as we worked it seemed to still be substantial. We ended up having enough to do a large area at the side of the house too.

We were also pleasantly surprised that the whole effort didn’t take that long. Prior to ordering we were racking our brains and wondering who we could get involved to help out – would we be needing a team of workers? However, after some quick calculations it soon became apparent it may be easier than we’d anticipated – 4 cubic yards is only 108 cubic feet, and with a 4 cubic foot wheelbarrow… well, you can do the math and see it wouldn’t take a week! Going at a steady pace, laying a weed barrier as we went, and having lunch, I’d say we had it licked in about three hours. Not bad, eh?

After all that sweat and graft and adding a sprinkling of patio furniture we now have a very tidy entertainment area ready for out guests who are due in the near future.