We have our new patio, and it looks great!! We can't wait to have good weather outside so we can really enjoy it. Here are the before and after pictures:
We basically replaced the whole patch of dead grass with an extended patio.
The mess the workers left behind, however, is unbelievable. Apparently, they decided to drive the cement truck into our back yard, and they left us some horrible ruts in the ground to fix. They left tools, string, wooden stakes, and chunks of cement all over the place, so Travis and I spent Sunday afternoon cleaning things up. Travis bought over forty bags of soil to fill in the ruts and spent at least five hours out there filling in the holes and pounding the dirt back into the ground. The major ruts are fixed, but there is still more work to do and soil to put back in place. I picked up all the trash they left around the yard (with Rio's help) and filled in a couple of holes (yes, Travis did most of the work...I was grading papers!!).
The grass will hopefully grow back in the spring, and Travis has done a lot of work to level the ground, so hopefully it won't be too noticeable. For the rest of the winter, though, the ground is muddy and dead. We decided to put up a temporary chicken-wire fence for the dogs so they wouldn't need a bath everyday and to keep them from digging more holes in our freshly laid dirt. The dogs only have about 1/5 of the yard now, but at least they are clean and our dirt is staying where we put it. We haven't tested the sprinkler system again yet...
Ahh, the joys of home ownership. :-)
Your new patio looks lovely! Congrats! We are thinking about eventually extending ours out as well (although it would be a little smaller). If you don't mind my asking, ballpark figure what did they charge you to do it? Stinks that they left behind such a mess, you should get a discount! I'm sure the yard will come back though and look nice and green! :)
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