Brickfest

We've been spending a lot of time at home. No surprise there, for those lucky enough to have a place they can hunker down through this crazy year. And with small energetic kids, a lot of that time has been spent outside. So it was also no surprise, I suppose, that the first major project we're taking on since our kitchen remodel would be something to make our outdoor space more enjoyable.

D has wanted a deck for a while, but I was not sold, enjoying the existing brick patio (at least for those parts of the year when bugs don't attack me). Rumors that mosquitos did not tend to attack on a deck did not seem to hold up after visits to friends' patios in the neighborhood. D came around on the 'no deck' idea when he realized how much he liked being to walk into the yard from every edge of the patio. But both D and I knew that we needed more space, and space that did not constantly have weeds growing up all over the place.

And so after a few estimates, we're converting this space, as seen in the two pictures below (just ignore the giant slackline--it's been a long year...)

To this:

In the pictures we submitted for permitting, you can see that the patio will expand out behind the back of the garage (hopefully ending just before it starts to become a problem for the roots of the nearby magnolia tree) and another foot deeper. Some of the greenery immediately behind the garage (where we constantly battle ivy crawling up the house) will be filled with river rock to mirror the existing river rock not he other side of the steps). Instead of the individual bricks currently making up the patio space, we opted for giant flagstones. Fewer spaces for weeds to grow. We briefly considered Belgard pavers but were surprised how much they just looked like concrete when we saw them in person.

We have other plans for what we're going to do with this space after the initial install, but I'll keep that a secret for now. But one of those plans involves using the bricks that used to be part of the patio. So in the run up to next week's professional crew, D and the kids spent the week digging up bricks. Some were worn out, cracked, or edged with mortar. But most of the patio was held together simply by pressure, so plenty of the bricks are clean and in very good condition.

We were surprised to find a tiny little water way under the bricks. It led down to a pretty deep hole before we gave up trying to follow it. It was fun pouring water into it and watching it flow.

In the end, we have over 500 bricks piled up for future use. Now we're ready for the professionals!