I am currently working on the 450 sq foot patio at my new house. It has been roughly 1 month but it seems like I am making some good progress. The initial weekend I was able to get everything done to the decomposed granite. Laying the flagstone has been a more difficult job than I anticipated. At first I was trying to lay the stone without cutting it, this was a painstakingly tedious and time consuming activity. I finally remembered my dad gave me a roto zip since he never used it. I went to Home Depot and bought a diamond blade and it has made the laying of the flagstone relatively easy.

Here are a few pictures from start to current:

Creating the outline of the patio with landscaping paint.







Digging the electrical trench for outdoor kitchen, lights, and a water fountain.






In this one you can see the white caps of the PVC for the different electrical needs

Pulling the electrical through the PVC.



Cover over the electrical connections.





Decomposed Granite


Flagstone

Now we are starting to go around the outline in order to remove the grass and dirt. Seems like Jager is really happy to be in the picture




Preparing the ground. I used a tiller for this. Next time plan to use one of the grass cutting machines.




Laying the weedblock




Some flower bed stones

Flower beds





In this one you can see where I will be boring through the outside wall to connect the electric to an existing outlet below the window.





Laying the base



Compacted base using a gas powered plate vibrator.



We had some leftover flower bed stone so we decided to make an "edge" for the patio.


Finally starting to lay the outside perimeter stones.



Laying the flagstone








Got a new phone, EVO, and you can tell a difference in the picture quality. The previous ones are from a Palm Pre.



The Gig'em Stone. This is the way it came on the pallet with no cutting or chipping




Luckily we had a downpour one day and noticed a water problem. Had to reset these stones to allow for drainage.





Framing for the outdoor kitchen




Outdoor Kitchen. Pouring concrete sucks. I rented one of the cement mixers but it was a pain in the you know what, so I did all the mixing in a wheel barrel.




Tool I used for chipping the flagstone


My dog relaxing on her new patio stones



[This message has been edited by Olag00 (edited 6/25/2010 1:48p).]

This is the way it is today.

Great job bud!
I know that was a **** load of work. My backyard is currently under construction as well and I've done more digging than I ever care to do again.
Seriously good job!

Can you share what the plan is for your kitchen? I've been thinking about doing this myself.

Great looking patio!

I plan to do everything myself, including the framing of the kitchen cabinets and grill(s).

These two photos were my "inspirations". I plan to do something similar.




I know I am shooting for the stars but it should be pretty nice by the time it gets finished.


Forgive the roughly drawn sketch but this is my plan...


On the left side will be the serving area with cabinets and counter top.

My gas grill will be taken off its base and the top will be put on framing to hold it up.

On the right, I am going to have my dad make a charcoal/smoker lid and exhaust pipe. This part is still in the infant stage of design.

The island will have cabinets on the grill side and a counter that extends over to allow stools to be put on the house side of island. Also, I ran electric for a refrigerator to be placed in island.

On the left and right ends, there will be light fixtures similar to the ones shown in above "inspiration" photos...

Everything will be faced with a veneer stone, probably the same color as the flower bed stone.

Next summer I will work on the shade part of the patio, maybe doing a gondola or something similar.

Great job. I've considered doing this myself so I appreciate you posting your progress.

One heads up -- you're going to want to keep a VERY close eye on those beds that you put up against the foundation. Your dirt is too close to the hardiplank, which can allow termites or other bugs up under the planking and into the framing of your house. I would heartily suggest running a gutter along the back side of your house and direct the drainage AWAY from those beds and the patio.

I noticed you're in a stylecraft house ... if you have any questions about things you need to look at, let me know. I lived in one for a few years and did a bunch of work to fix problems that stylecraft created through their shoddy construction methods.

Thanks Olag!

I like your inspiration pics and the idea you have going for your kitchen. I really want to do something like that myself. I have a large concrete patio of the back of the house that I want to tile and build an outdoor kitchen on. I'd be interested in seeing more pics as you make progress on this.

Thanks for compliments guys!

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you're going to want to keep a VERY close eye on those beds that you put up against the foundation

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I have thought about this and gutters are on the radar to be put up. Yeah I was hesitant about buying a stylecraft home, but at the time they were paying all closing costs and 5% interest rate if I used their lender. I couldnt pass that up.

So far I have been in it for 3 months and it seems to be holding up, although it is only 3 months.

I have also called Orkin and they come out every other month to keep everything in check.

Thanks for the heads up though. I'll keep my eye open for problems.



I will keep posting pics as I finish tasks on the patio.

[This message has been edited by Olag00 (edited 10/8/2010 12:22p).]

Olag - I saw in your profile you're in DFW...what part? I might be willing to lend a hand on the kitchen build to learn more about the process if you're interested.

My email is username at yahoo dot com.

The problems usually show up after about a year. If you have any exposed iron showing around the edge of your foundation, they need to come out and take a look at it. (You'll see the rust spot.) They used really horrible cheap caulk on the haridplank, so keep an eye on it... If it goes south, I'd recommend pulling it out with a razor blade and re-caulking with some high end exterior caulk (Polyseamseal, Big Stretch, etc.) The paint fades pretty bad; especially darker colors like yours. It's contractor-grade Sherwin-Williams. On the up-side, you can look up the paint colors at the nearest Sherwin-Williams when you go to repaint by just giving them your address. Check the insulation over your plumbing in your attic before it gets freezing this winter. If you got granite countertops, seal them *NOW*... don't wait, do it now. That's about all I can think of off of the top of my head... other stuff that I had to fix was specific to the floor plan I lived in. Other than that, it was an Ok house, and I like a lot of the ones my friends own.

A little hijack here - you should fire Orkin and go with a smaller company that does quarterly pest control. They have the same guarantees (and will come out again for free during the quarter if you see bugs). May free up more money for some brisket & steak for your new kitchen...

I was in Arlington but I took a new job in College Station last September thanks for offering though.

Yeah, I have already experienced the not sealing the granite counter tops

Olive oil stains, but luckily I think I got them out and you can't tell.

Olag, you're along Barron/40, right? Owners/Employees of ABC Pest Control and RP Lee both live in the next Stylecraft neighborhood over from you, and are better pest control companies than Orkin.

On the same note as the countertops, check your baseboards. Found out a year after moving in that one of them got primed but never painted... don't know how we missed that for so long, until the dust started to really stick to it.

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A little hijack here - you should fire Orkin

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I may do this anyway. They were just here 2.5 weeks ago and had to call them back because I still have problems with spiders (black widows) and grass hoppers. They are coming on Monday to respray for free, then my normal appointment is first week in July.

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Olag, you're along Barron/40, right?

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Yep, that is where I am. I wanted to call ABC but my better half set up Orkin before I had to chance to do anything. They will be my next call, maybe after I get Orkin to do second spraying for free

I used to live in Westfield Village, just up Barron from you. Did similar things with my old front yard...





Prolly looks like crud now, though, the house has been vacant for six months +...

Ive never seen flagstone on crushed granite. Ive always been implored to make sure that flag stone is mortared vs laid like pavestone etc with sand or gravel.

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Ive never seen flagstone on crushed granite. Ive always been implored to make sure that flag stone is mortared vs laid like pavestone etc with sand or gravel.

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I chose to do it "dry" laid, with morter is "wet" laid.

After I have laid all the stones, I will go back with a polymeric sand. This is supposed to be flexible enough not to crack if/when the stones move.

Too bad Olag. But please keep posting the pics as you make progess.

Olag did you draw up any plans for this? Or just do it on the fly. This is exactly what I want to do in my backyard. I live in a Stylecraft over by Traditions.

I had rough sketches...

This is the layout:



This is the electrical layout. From this I created the bill of material and went to Home Depot and purchased all the pieces.



The island is the only thing that didnt work out the way i "planned". This was because I had the kitchen placed directly against the back fence. When I created the forms for the concrete I noticed I wasn't going to be able to take the back forms off, which caused me to move the forms about 2' away from fence. However the electric was ran in anticipation of the main counters being against the fence. This is why the island may seem smaller than it really should.

I plan to plant some kind of trees/shrubs between the fence and counters, or maybe just light the fence for like an ambiance lighting? I will cross that bridge when I get there.

Thanks! I would be interested in coming out to see it sometime. I would be more than willing to help if you want it.

You have done an outstanding job!

As soon as it is finished, I will have no problem with showing it to anyone that wants to see it.

There will actually be a flat screen put under the existing patio also, so during the fall there will always be Aggie football on the patio.

Not to hijack, but have yall been pleased with the quality of your stylecraft homes?

I haven't had any problems with my stylecraft. However, when you buy one usually you have 2 walk downs before you buy. One walk through would be where you put blue tape on everything you see needs to be fixed (paint, missing closet clothes hanger, etc) and the second walk through is a week later to make sure everything was corrected. I had circumstances come up where I had to "forfeit" mine. But the superintendent took notes and they are supposed to come back and do the things from the first list. Well it has been 3 months and they havent fixed the issues. I have contacted my realtor and he is getting it corrected.

We will see how long it takes for them to fix the outstanding items.

Well this morning I got "a lot" done. It might not seem like much but trying to find the right stones when getting close to the edge is pretty difficult.

I thought I would show my steps I have figured out during this project.

I try to lay out the rocks overlapping an edge here and there as seen below.



Then I take a sharp object, I usually use the rock hammer as shown in first post, to outline the edges of the rock to be trimmed. After I have the marks, I take the rotozip with diamond blade to cut the edges. Once cut, they will begin to fit in their positions as seen below.



Another close up of the cut stones.



View of todays work with the dust still on the stones from cutting them.


To see this mornings work done, here is the before picture.


And here is the current photo. Again it may not look like much but it is about 4 hours worth of work. Later today I will go back and set the loose stones since right now they are just put in place.


Another view of the work


Also a view of the other flower bed. I didn't notice I didnt include one in the first post. I put gatorade bottles over the conduits so water doesnt get into the electrical runs since it isnt connected yet. A little later I plan to add more color to the flower bed but I am trying to establish perennials. Im not really having any luck since this area gets a lot of sun. I have had to change a couple of the plants already.


I will take a few more tomorrow after I set the loose stones to officially "halfway" done with the flagstone.

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I rented one of the cement mixers but it was a pain in the you know what, so I did all the mixing in a wheel barrel

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O RLY?



JK, awesome job. Not much grass left for your pup, though. Congrats so far.

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Not to hijack, but have yall been pleased with the quality of your stylecraft homes?

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Sort of. I've lived in a LOT of homes - houses are a hobby in my family, not just a place to live - and while it's shelter, it's not the type of place I'd buy and expect to leave it to my family when I die. Watch one being built if you want to know why. But for basic shelter or a starter home, they're not bad.

these might be dumb questions - but what keeps those stones in place? just smushing them into the base? how hard is it to get them level?

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these might be dumb questions - but what keeps those stones in place? just smushing them into the base? how hard is it to get them level?

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The stones I have placed already are just "smushed" into the decomposed granite (DG). Then I take extra DG and fill in the cracks. This keeps the stones locked with each other and I havent had any problems of movement with the original set of placed stones.

As far as leveling goes, I am making them pitch away from the house. I am trying to maintain the level where the bubble is half way out of the center spot. See below:


Its not "that" difficult to level the stones, but putting a 2" layer of sand on top of the DG seems like it would help. However, putting the sand down could actually be the reason some people have complained about the stones "settling" uneven. The DG almost acts like cement after it becomes wet and then able to dry.

Thanks for sharing.

You must have a lot of time on your hands...I'm actually hiring laborers right now, $8.50 an hour, Interested?? Looks good buddy, I will help come break it in sometime in August!!

Ha! you can keep your $8.50/hr job. I can barely do this and it is my own backyard. Now I know why it costs so much to have one of these put in, it is for the birds.

Be sure to bring your drinking shoes when you come down in August.