Impressive

The backyard has now been transformed into a usable space, with the addition of a patio and deck stairs.

Honestly, I am not that easily impressed... but my friends Gary (who built the stairs) and Bill (who poured the patio) are incredibly talented individuals, and I cannot show them enough respect. I wish I had that kind of talent. Absolutely incredible work.

Truly guys... thanks very much.

Patio progress (final)

I figured I would condense all patio posts into one, and keep it updated with progress photos.

Pre ground-breaking. The yard is great, but there's no access from the back door. (notice the deck has no stairs)

Day one, 6/10/08. Bill and crew got a lot of work done this morning, clearing out the vegetation and brick work and building most of the form. The concrete truck is coming tomorrow, when they'll pour, stamp and finish it.

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Day two, 6/11/08. The concrete truck arrived, they mixed in the dye for the concrete, (sort of a reddish-tan, to match the deck) and started wheeling it down the hill to fill the form.

Offloading and filling the form - it required 3 cubic yards of concrete.

After smoothing out the pour, they wait for it to start drying... then apply the stamp, which will make it look like stone work instead of concrete. Hey, why buy stone? This is much less expensive and looks nearly as good.

The surface is stamped, and the "grout dye" powder has been added. (so it will look like the stones are grouted with reddish material) This will settle and dry overnight, and tomorrow the forms will be removed and the surface powerwashed. I'm going to add a sealant to the surface to keep it in good condition.
The finished product! We started building the stairs at 10-ish yesterday, and finished about 10:30 last night. I can't stain the wood for about 60 days - it needs time to dry and season.

Thanks, Gary and Bill, for making this happen.

Before

This week our friend Bill will be pouring a concrete patio behind our house. Then Saturday, our friend Gary is building stairs from the deck down to the new patio. With friends like this, who needs contractors?

Currently, we have no outside access through the back door - only access to the deck. This will serve to open up the backyard, which includes a beautiful lake with fountain, ducks and other natural shit.

Here's a "before" shot of the back yard and deck: