Patio Complete

When we bought this house there was NOTHING in the back (just hard baked dirt that turned to mud when it rained) - nothing to even step down on from our sliding glass door. We had two back doors - one off the laundry room and the other was the sliding glass door from the kitchen. As part of the buying negotiations - I asked for at least a step. We got the cheapest wooden step imaginable that sunk in the mud and shook when you stepped on it but I guess that was better than a cinderblock. These steps were probably 12 inches wide and 36 inches long. Dan used to call it his 3 foot deck. He used to like to ask people what they thought of his deck. They always rushed to the back door and looked into the yard to find our deck and then Daniel would point to the step. HAHA!

So last fall we looked into a deck. We wanted something rather large because we wanted it to wrap around from the laundry room door to the kitchen door so we had a solid surface and could exit or enter at the same level etc... The decks were SO expensive so we priced out "stamped" concrete patios and patios made of pavers. In the end we went with the "stamped" concrete which was a third as expensive as a deck made of trex and half as expensive as a real wood deck. Plus I like the fact that the concrete is level with the ground so I don't feel like it takes a section out of the back yard which a deck that was raised 18 inches would.

We had had a very dry October last year and that is when I finalized the patio details. We were supposed to have it started on Nov 7th but then the rains came and came and came. They put it off several times because they didn't want to ruin my yard with their bulldozer. The big tracks on the bulldozer just sink right into the lawn and tear it to pieces. Finally it was the beginning of December and getting to cold to pour concrete so they just had to do it - they did ruin the yard but over the last few weeks we have spent a lot of time getting the yard back in shape.

I wished I had taken before pictures. There was a GIANT mountain of dirt in the back yard where they removed it from around the house so they could pour rock that goes under the concrete. As a family, but mostly Daniel, we moved that dirt one wheel barrow load at a time. We filled in the bulldozer tracks and leveled out the dirt all around the patio because our yard slopes down into the back yard. We ended up with a step down from the concrete. So we used all the dirt to level out the yard even with the patio.

This past weekend Daniel bought some sod to plant over the bulldozer tracks and fill in the giant circle of dirt where the mountain had been. Then he tacked weed paper in place - went plant shopping with my Dad (he knows what looks good where and how hearty things are etc... ) and planted and mulched with J all day Saturday. He also added this border around the outside edge. I think everything looks fantastic. We still have some seeding to do to get back some more of our yard they ruined while pouring the concrete, but I can't wait to get a patio table and chairs and have our first outdoor barbecue.

Here's the view where the sliding glass door opens. Now we have a step that goes the distance of the whole door instead of just half way. And this step doesn't sink or wiggle.
Here's the view from the side yard where you step out of the laundry room door. So you can see how it wraps around the corner of the house. I know it would have looked better in the pictures if I had moved the hose, scooter, grill and wheel barrows but I was tired and have a gimpy shoulder. My dad really wanted to see the final so I took these pictures quickly. If you look out toward those pine trees, you used to see a giant circle of dirt 12 to 15 feet in diameter. I love sod - you can't even tell where it was. We've never used it before (I'm sure it's expensive to do a whole yard) but I definitely like it and think it was perfect for our patch job.