Back in 2006 we installed a
paver patio
between our house and garage. We liked the look but after nine years the
pavers were settling unevenly and weeds were growing between the pavers.
We had also installed the patios before the landscaping was in place, so
many of the grades weren't sloped well for drainage. So we decided to
replace the pavers with a concrete patio and reuse the pavers to build a
walk behind the garage.
Removing the Pavers
One of the reasons the pavers settled so
badly was because I used regular sand in the joints. This let weeds grows
between the pavers, and didn't lock the pavers together very well. My
sand base was also thicker than it should have been, so rain and water
dripping from the garage gutters caused them to settle. Thankfully, it
was easy to pull them up by slipping a flat prybar under the paver and
lifting. I used a flat blade shovel to scrape up as much of the bedding
sand as I could to reuse later.
Dismantling the Stairs
I built our back stairs in 2004 when we
finished building our house. I didn't put a lot of thought into them, we
just wanted to get something in so we could move in. They still looked
good from the outside, but as I started dismantling the stairs I
discovered a lot of rot on the ends of the cedar boards and cedar posts.
So it was good timing to be replacing the stairs.
Busting Out the Old Sidewalk
When we
built our house in 2004, we poured a small sidewalk
between the house and garage. I was worried about it settling on the
backfill around the house, so it was nearly 6" thick and reinforced with
rebar. It never settled or cracked over the years, but it took a lot of
work to bust it up and haul away the pieces.
Pouring the new patio
Because the patio is boxed in between the
house and garage, I decided to pour the slabs in five sections. We poured
the odd sections first, then came back to pour the even sections once
those were finished. I used 2x10 boards to build simple bridges over the
slabs so I could reach both sides of each section for finishing. I used
this same method on the opposite side of the garage with great results.
Unfortunately, my slabs didn't match up as evenly this time. It is a very
minor inconsistency, but being a bit of a perfectionist it is annoying to
me. :)
Building the new paver patio
The yard behind the garage never
gets sun, so grass never grew there anyway. I decided to dig it out and
reuse the old pavers to extend the walkway behind the garage. The walkway
needed to slope in two directions, so I spent some time running string
lines and setting up forms to ensure the proper slopes. I salvaged enough
bedding sand from the old patio to build the new walkway. I only needed
to pick up a few bags of sand to finish the new walk. I used polymeric
sand to lock the new walkway pavers in place. We still have extra pavers
leftover from the old patio, so we'll probably reuse those in a future
project in the back yard.
Building the new stairs
The new concrete patio is about four
inches higher than the old walkway, so I was able to eliminate a step
from the stairs and make the top platform a bit wider. This also gave us
a bit more room between the stairs and the garage. After seeing the
weaknesses in my old stair design, I designed the new stairs to have
better drainage. Hopefully they won't rot as quickly as the old ones
did.
Finished
It took more than a month to tear out the old patio and
rebuild everything, but we are very happy with the results. The new patio
drains better, the stairs look nice, and it's great to have the walkway
behind the garage. No more walking in mud or mowing in the dust bowl.
