So... he started digging...
Oh, did I mention that I was having a party and I needed this DONE? Ok... yea...
Once he started digging we were committed.
And he kept digging...
And finally he was done digging...
I told you... took forever... and we weren't even into the hard part yet!
Then we started mixing... and molding...
And mixing... and molding...
And after thinking this was a good thing for our budget, which I'm not sure it was in the end... we finished.
And the patio was done.
And by done, I mean there was no more mixing and molding.
There were a few mishaps along the way... like animals and darn neighborhood children leaving footprints in the wet cement.
But other than that, I WOULD NEVER DO THIS AGAIN! And I didn't even do it!
Couple of notes...
1. First chunk of stones have a different texture than others because Mr K was following the rules on the bag of mix. Less water. Less water = Rockier. Also... some of the bags were just Rockier than others. Some mixed easy and smoothly and others did not and were rough and chunky. I'm thinking that I will get down and hand sand them to try to make them a little bit softer to our feeties.
2. BAD IDEA. This took a lot of time, a lot of resources, and cause a lot of tension. LOL. But seriously... I wanted a pretty large patio so next time I will make sure to just save up and have someone else take care of business. Then I also CAN be mad when it's done and I don't like it or it's not how it should be. In this case, I just have to be thankful. ;)
3. After reading a lot of different blogs and Pinterest posts on how this was executed, it was about 50/50 on leveling the area before starting. Most said that the cement would level itself... Well... yea... It does, but it doesn't really... and since our ground wasn't exactly level, I wish we had taken the extra time to level it. I was just worried we'd never finish. And while it's not super unleveled... it's just not "perfect" which is another reason I'm going to attempt to "sand" it down in certain spots.
4. 1 bag made about 2.5 stones... And it again, depended on the mix. We used at least 50 bags. So I'm not sure this was exactly cost effective or as much of a saver as I thought it would be. 80lb bags were $3.65 each
50 x $3.65 = $182.50 = rounding up to $200 because I know it was more than 50 bags.
$6 = Mixing Tub.
Unsure on how many bags of sand as we haven't had time to do this yet, but let's just add another $150... because they are about the same as the quikrete.
So lets just say this project is costing me about $500... So I might as well have hired it out for a little more. Next time.
But for now, I have a patio with character that I know WE did. And honestly, even though it caused major tension between the two of us, even maybe Ells because we never hired a sitter and were always working while she was playing and trying to keep her off the mix, it is something we did TOGETHER... and we have that.
Look for the "reveal" later this week... I still need to finish staging it! :)
Couple of notes...
1. First chunk of stones have a different texture than others because Mr K was following the rules on the bag of mix. Less water. Less water = Rockier. Also... some of the bags were just Rockier than others. Some mixed easy and smoothly and others did not and were rough and chunky. I'm thinking that I will get down and hand sand them to try to make them a little bit softer to our feeties.
2. BAD IDEA. This took a lot of time, a lot of resources, and cause a lot of tension. LOL. But seriously... I wanted a pretty large patio so next time I will make sure to just save up and have someone else take care of business. Then I also CAN be mad when it's done and I don't like it or it's not how it should be. In this case, I just have to be thankful. ;)
3. After reading a lot of different blogs and Pinterest posts on how this was executed, it was about 50/50 on leveling the area before starting. Most said that the cement would level itself... Well... yea... It does, but it doesn't really... and since our ground wasn't exactly level, I wish we had taken the extra time to level it. I was just worried we'd never finish. And while it's not super unleveled... it's just not "perfect" which is another reason I'm going to attempt to "sand" it down in certain spots.
4. 1 bag made about 2.5 stones... And it again, depended on the mix. We used at least 50 bags. So I'm not sure this was exactly cost effective or as much of a saver as I thought it would be. 80lb bags were $3.65 each
50 x $3.65 = $182.50 = rounding up to $200 because I know it was more than 50 bags.
$6 = Mixing Tub.
Unsure on how many bags of sand as we haven't had time to do this yet, but let's just add another $150... because they are about the same as the quikrete.
So lets just say this project is costing me about $500... So I might as well have hired it out for a little more. Next time.
But for now, I have a patio with character that I know WE did. And honestly, even though it caused major tension between the two of us, even maybe Ells because we never hired a sitter and were always working while she was playing and trying to keep her off the mix, it is something we did TOGETHER... and we have that.
Look for the "reveal" later this week... I still need to finish staging it! :)
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