RENOVATION: Reclaimed Brick Patio
What would provoke you to frantically call (not text or email) a friend or family member in the middle of the workday? An emergency, I imagine.
But, this particular midday conversations with John, back in March, went something like
Me: "I found old bricks, for free, on Craigslist. They're really old. We need to go get them!"
John: “Ok..... I didn't know we were in the market for "free, old bricks".
I also didn't know that these "free, old bricks" would consume over 15, post-work hours that I'd much rather have spent, I don't know, eating dinner, drinking wine or just not moving bricks, but again, ok...
Sanity aside, we decide to get the bricks.
I call the homeowner, and she basically says, come and get them before the weekend, or she's going to have them hauled to the dump. Nooo!
But wait. Was this threat real or equivalent of my Dad and John bantering about who's going to consume the last, of a dozen hot dogs, they've already taken down? Challenging each other with indigestion. One hot dog, simply, could not be thrown away. Someone has to eat it!
We had to eat the last hot dog, and we had to get the bricks.
We borrow my Dad's truck, because our truck could only haul so much weight, and we caravan to Brielle, about 40 minutes south of Content.
The bricks are in a huge, crazy pile in the backyard. Of course, about as far away from where we can park our trucks.
This means John + I are loading about 30-40 bricks per wheelbarrow trip. Oh, and it's dark out now and we're using flashlights...
We load the trucks for about an hour, and head back home.
We unload the trucks for about an hour. It's 11pm. We eat dinner, and pass out.
A photo posted by c o n t e n t + c o . (@contentandcompany) on Mar 21, 2016 at 7:35pm PDT
The next day, John heads down to make a dent in the brick pile, by himself. But, about 3 minutes to arriving the "brick house" his phone dies. I've forgotten to put the phone charger back from last night's caravan, he has no idea where he's going and can't call me. Brick Mission 2: Fail.
The next night, we use our multiple, college degrees worth of intelligence, and recruit a friend to help. Thank God!
A photo posted by c o n t e n t + c o . (@contentandcompany) on Mar 24, 2016 at 6:48pm PDT
Ryan + John head down first, to get a jump start while there's still daylight, and I arrive about an hour later. They continue loading my Dad's truck (I supervise...) and we head back to Content to unload. It's 10pm. We have a beer, high-five Ryan, and pass out.
"Free, old bricks" from Craigslist only cost us gas + beer money. Success!
A photo posted by c o n t e n t + c o . (@contentandcompany) on Mar 27, 2016 at 5:15pm PDT
Fast forward to mid April. John + I, sporting our rose colored glasses again, decide to lay a brick patio. How fun? Something new. Masonry!
Let me preface the rest of this post by saying, I've never, in all my years, been so completely exhausted at the end of a weekend, as I was after laying this patio.
Doesn't John look thrilled... I followed up taking this picture by cheering, "Half way there, honey!"
John and our friend Mike laid out the patio with length and depth strings a few days before. John then dug about 8" down.
During this initial leveling, we used a manual hand tamper.
We first put down a layer of large gravel as a base. Using a rented tamper we compacted each layer as we went, and used a string line, line levelers and 6ft level to check our progress as we went.
This is a very time consuming process that takes lots of patience.
We rented this from Home Depot. Or if you are in the market for something long term, we recommend the Tomahawk Tamper.
Then, we put down a thick layer of fine, diamond dust which is basically finely ground gravel that is easily spreadable. It's not as pretty as it sounds. We found this at our local landscaping supply outlet.
Using some piping (temporarily inserted into the base layer) as a guide, we use a 2x4 to skim the top of the diamond dust, perfectly level. This would serve as the base of the brick.
These two layers took all Saturday. This pic was taken at sundown. Then my parents rescued us, and took us to dinner. Hallelujah!
On Sunday morning, we were up bright and early to realize a mischievous cat had used our patio as a highway throughout the night. Luckily, no presents were left behind.
We continued tamping the diamond dust layer, and started to lay the bricks.
Feral Cat Highway.
Then John reminded me I hadn't decided on a pattern. After some quick design in motion, we decided on this.
The new patio design! Now let's repeat that 50x... #contentfrontpatio
A photo posted by c o n t e n t + c o . (@contentandcompany) on Apr 24, 2016 at 6:21am PDT