Hey everyone. While there are plenty of amazing before/after photos and projects on here, I wanted to add my own amateur project since I love coming on here and reading everyone's different experiences and seeing different projects. Here's my material list along with my experience. Pics, kind ofMaterials/Cost:126 basic red pavers (~$130)2 yards of crush and run (~$100 with delivery; no one I know has a truck/trailer)1 yard of sand (~$50)Weed blocker (~$35)Tamper (~$25)Edging (~$35)Since we moved into the house, I've been wanting to redo part of the back "patio". It was just a cleared ground in a circular shape with rocks covering it and brick kind of outlining it. It looked like shit.After doing a little research, I decided to add a 9x14 paver patio section to our concrete patio to clean it up and make it more inviting. I wanted to do it as right as possible (emphasis on as possible) that way it'd be something to look forward to for years to come.I started out by marking out the area with stakes and measuring how far I would need to dig to make it level. This varied from almost 7 inches to over a foot at the elevated portions which sucked. I dug the whole area out over the course of two days; this would've gone faster except the area was littered with roots from a bush. Fuck roots. Also, it rained a good amount during this process.After tamping the bottom and laying weed blocker, it was time to add the base layer which I made 4 inches deep. I would recommend renting a compactor; I used a hand tamper which wasn't effective, slow, and definitely tiring. While compacted decently enough, it wasn't as level as I would've liked, but I didn't want to put the extra time and effort to make it more level. I hoped this wouldn't completely come back to bite me.After adding another layer of weed blocker, I added about an inch of sand. I say about because remember how my base wasn't perfectly level? Well, this reflected when leveling the sand and made using a screed rail ineffective. I pushed forward with maximum effort (no joke) and instead leveled small sections of sand at a time until I finished the whole area (note, a compactor would've been nice here too).As I was doing the above, I was adding pavers and doing more fine-tuned leveling since I'm a sucker for ineffective ways of doing things. After it passed my minimum acceptance standards, I brushed sand into the cracks (this is still an ongoing process) and hoped it was worth the effort.While I still have to clean up the edges, I've spent about 24 hours working on this and did the bulk of the work in a weekend. Considering how much money I think I saved in the end, I feel it was worth it (hopefully). Side note, it drains really well which was my biggest worry about it not being a perfect grade.Thanks for reading! via /r/DIY https://ift.tt/2trDHrS
