When I extended my deck last summer, I brought it out to the edge of an existing concrete slab. That was all well and good, except for the fact that I lost a clear path to the bottom of the stairs. We’ve been getting by since then, carefully walking and ducking to make our way to the stairs. I’ve had this project in the works for a while so it was just a matter of taking a day off of work and doing it. Bear in mind, this is only meant to be semi-temporary as I have plans on leveling out this area, pouring concrete and having a patio area around a nice fire pit. I’m thinking I need this walkway for 2-3 years tops. Trying to do it on the cheap, I scored a whole bunch of reclaimed bricks for exactly zero dollars. The paver base, leveling sand, and polymeric sand all came to about $200 today. Not bad. Pictures are kind of self explanatory. I’ve been going at it for about 8 hours straight and it’s done (for the day)
I wanted an eyesore there to mess with my OCD wife I knew no matter how much work I put into it, she would have nothing but negativity to say about the final result. After I finished up today she did not disappoint This is what I have to do to keep my sanity Mike.
I really like it when someone recycles stuff. So many times building materials wind up in a landfill. I can tell from your step by step pictures that you did it right. Nice work!
My parent's have similar sidewalks....but their place was build on an old brick factory. There are old bricks everywhere...more than you can imagine.
Thanks all. I actually found all the bricks at the edge of the woods last winter. Someone had taken something down, hauled them away and just dumped them in a ditch on a backroad. At the time I was thinking they’d make good top cover weights for my woodpiles, but after seeing how many were still decent enough I decided to use them this way. I have no shortage of rocks in my yard anyway.
Not sure if I want to laugh or cry reading this post. I just disassembled by brick driveway last month. 50 recycle bins x 65 bricks per bin x 5.5 lbs per brick went to the transfer station. So, I just dumped ~3,250 of these. I'd have given them away if I could find a taker. Since I had to handle each brick 3x, I calc'd at as 53,625 lbs of brick + ~$100 for a trip to the doc for tennis elbow + ~$30 for an overpriced band to fix my sore elbow. Why? You don't know frustration until you try to shovel a 40 year old brick driveway and hit a crack every 2.5".
Thanks. It’s just how things are. I stopped beating myself up over never measuring up a long time ago. Otherwise it would’ve gotten the best of me. Funny how once that ring went on, everything changed. At least I’m learning all I care to know about patience.
Definitely don't want to get off in the weeds here with this, but just wanted to make a little comment that critical people are often very hard on themselves too...they don't even measure up to their own standards (which often comes from a critical parent) And just a quick word of wisdom, a good counselor can make a huge difference in learning how to deal with this...both as the "offender" and the "offended"..."grin and bear it" only works for so long, most peoples patience wears out eventually.
