Job Walk Through

Recently, I undertook a project in Dadeville, AL. My clients wanted me to convert an existing rock patio into a more appealing and usable patio area. The design I presented included a kidney shaped patio, a 15'+ moss rock sitting wall w/ flagstone coping, and a fire pit (raised and also with moss rock and flag coping). We also decided to rebuild/enlarge an existing small pond and water course that is within just a few feet of the patio. You are welcomed to take a tour of this job with me, if you like. Here we go!



This is a before picture. The existing patio was there long before my clients bought the house and, as you can see, it was very uneven and practically unusable.


The first thing I did was bringing a mini-excavator to the job. That machine helped pull out all the stones from the old patio, as well as digging a foundation for the sitting wall/fire pit and leveling the patio area. The blue tarp was my way of working even when it was raining.


Once the mini-excavator work was done, it was good ol' pick, shovel and rake time to complete the fine grading. I had to start work on the sitting wall and the fire pit before getting involved with the patio construction, as well.

With the sitting wall and fire pit in progress, I installed a crush and run gravel base for the patio, which I compacted with a plate compacter.


This is the stone patio with out grouting....Using the stone from the old patio presented some challenges because a lot of the stone was not very flat and the thickness of the stone varied from 1 inch to 5 inches.


More stone patio installation before grouting....The reason for using the stone that was already there as opposed to simply getting new flagstone was that, despite the difficulties I've already described, this stone was very pretty stone.


Here's a shot of the project nearly done. The sitting wall w/flagstone coping is completed and the fire pit is also done. Just a little bit more grout work before the patio project is complete.



I encountered all kinds of weather while working on this job. Did I mention it snowed down there?



The finished product!


Here is the pond redo. I pulled up all the rocks and replaced the liner of the old pond, and then redesigned, installed and enlarged. You can left click on the any of the pictures on the right side of my blog to get a closer look.


View from a room!