The Pergola is Up!

The pergola is finally up! The guy that we hired was back logged with work so he wasn't able to come out until last week. I was out of town so Frank snapped this picture for me when he first got the posts up.

Here is what it looks like as of today.

I really love it! A few more things need to be done, like placing the removed bricks back in place and reseeding the lawn where it was regraded for the patio. I also plan on staining the pergola an opaque white, but the treated wood needs some time to dry out before I can do that. I'm so excited to see the backyard coming together. For reference, here is what it looked like less than two month ago.

I can't wait to get this all done!

New Back Patio

After getting the stump removed from my backyard I moved on to my next step of my backyard plans for this summer, having a patio put in along the side of the garage.

I like to do a lot of things around my house, but I decided to hire out the patio and pergola. When I was a struggling student my time was worth nothing so I would always do everything myself. As I've grown older my time has become valuable, especially as I always have more on my plate and ideas in my head than I have time to do.

In determining if I want to tackle a project myself I consider whether I will save money doing it myself and if it is something I think I will have fun doing. If the answer to both is no then I will hire it out.

Regarding the patio, I did a lot of research for the first patio I had put in on the back. When I calculated the costs for me, including equipment rental, I wasn't going to save money and it would have taken me all summer which meant I would have had to delay other projects that I was excited about working on. I ended up hiring a local landscaper and within a week the back patio was complete, allowing me to enjoy it all summer.

For this second patio, I hired the same contractor to have matching pavers laid down along the side of the garage. They started by excavating along the side of the garage. Some of the excess dirt was used to help even out the grade of the backyard.

They then put down a base of crushed stone and fine gravel to create a flat, stable base for the patio. After lots of tamping and leveling the surface was ready for the pavers.

The pavers were put in using a herringbone pattern for the field and then a concrete border was put in to stabilize the patio and keep it anchored. After brushing sand into the cracks between the pavers the patio was complete. 

I love how the patio turned out and it is huge, extending 10 feet out and nearly 40 feet deep. Next up is the pergola and then repairing the lawn. I'm really excited about how the backyard is shaping up and I think it will make a fun space to spend the summer.