We've debated for some time what to do with the back yard. We toyed with the idea of a deck and had several contractors out to give us a bid for a patio. We finally decided on the patio made of pavers about 18" on a side. First we had 50 metres of pavers delivered. The man who did the delivery could sure make the equipment do what he wanted it to. He didn't have much room, but managed to put 5 pallets of pavers in a little space beside our driveway. This is an aerial view taken from our bedroom window.
Here's another view, this time from my office. The driver got a little nervous if we got too close. I don't blame him.
This is a bit closer, but I'm still on the other side of the fence that goes around our yard. You can see he had a little trouble with the trees, but managed to get the pallets unloaded.
That thing looks awkward, but works on the principle of center of gravity. When the pressure is on, it stays put and lifts the load. When the pressure is off, the center of gravity shifts to the closed end and the whole mechanism slips out of the pallet.
Aru is a student of Karen's who used to do this kind of work before coming to SIT. He's quite a worker. He dug out the back yard and together we hauled the dirt to the tip. Dirt is heavy, so they charged us quite a bit to dump it.
Here are some views as he started to get the pavers in place.
He did quite a job leveling the area. We opted to raise the patio above ground level, so now Karen is calling it a terrace.
I got the brick trim on this side of the terrace in place on Saturday. Here, it is Sunday morning about 11:00 and Karen is enjoying the morning sun while she talks to her mom. Note the angle of the shadows. I'm standing to the north of her and all the shadows from the rafters are pointing south. By the time of the winter solstice, the sun will only be about 40 degrees above the horizon at noon.
Later in the afternoon, the angle of the sun's rays is about the same. I'm hauling dirt out that I dug out to place the brick border around the terrace. Would you believe I moved four wheel-barrow loads of dirt?
On the last bit--the edge along the fence. Hard on knees and harder on hands. Unfortunately, one section went right under a beech tree with a huge root right where I wanted to put bricks. After trying to chop it out with a shovel and saw it out with a tree saw, Karen suggested a hammer and chisel. That eventually worked, but it was tedious.
The finished product (almost). We've still got to put pave-lock in the spaces between the pavers to lock them into place.
I think it looks pretty good. It certainly looks bigger than I thought it would.
