Sunday, August 11, 2013

I must be Crazy

Future Patio (about 25 x 20) Outlined by 2 x 4's
Green area with Garden and Grass to the right
 
The Stairs from the Deck will come down alongside the Garage wall
We'll tie that into the Patio with a walkway
 

Paver Pile

From the Other End
 
There a lot of things that get thrown at you when building a house.  Change orders that mean we need to give the builder more money or things that looked good on the plans but not in real life (or missed altogether) will all drive you crazy. And then there are those things that are self-induced that you know full well that somewhere along the way you're going to say "I must be crazy!"
 
Mine, at the moment, is self-induced. I saw this ad on Craigslist for pavers. You know, the kind that are used in walkways and patios. I’m planning on building our own patio and when I saw that someone had a boat load of them for sale, I jumped. I’m always on a quest for a “deal”. The ones I found were from folks that had replaced the pavers that served as a patio around the perimeter of their pool with stamped concrete. About 1,000 square feet and perfect for us. One small catch though. They are piled up behind the pool and the pile is about 20 feet long, 10 feet wide and about 5 feet high. And it’s not a neat pile. Just a pile. And they had to be moved from out of the woods behind the pool to the driveway out front (there is no trailer access to the “pile”).
 
When I first saw them, the first word that came to mind was “daunting”. The second thought was OK, so you’ve spent an evening in the emergency room and another morning in an outpatient clinic because of throwing out your back so this is a good idea why? So of course, being the knucklehead that I can be, I bought them anyways.
 
I tried some horse trading early on to try get some help in moving them saying in my best Tom Sawyeresque voice “Don’t you want a patio? I’ll trade a pallet for your help.” No takers (yet).
 
So I started moving them myself yesterday with my trailer. I figure if I do small loads, and listen to my back when it’s murmuring, not screaming to stop, I should be OK. Besides, I have some leftover meds from that ER visit that I kept around for the next back “emergency”.
 
I’ll keep you posted. Now let’s see, where are those meds…?
 
 


3 comments:

  1. Use your legs! Not your back. And small loads. Good luck!

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  2. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  3. Score! I like using Labor Ready for jobs like this. Where I live, guys are $25/hr. They come with insurance and there's no need to have cash on hand.

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