Backyard Landscape With Roman Pavers – Pt 1
So it is time to spend are hard earned money friends. We are landscaping the backyard with Roman Pavers with the help our friend and expert John Smitherman from JWS Construction in Calgary, Alberta. (403 462 7785 -- email is jwsmasonry@yahoo.com). John is an England trained masonry professional.He does amazing work -- a true artist to be sure. We originally saw pictures of his work and got a quote from him which was very reasonable if you consider his quality of work. He has shown up 10 minutes early for our meet and greets, and he has followed through unlike most contractors we have dealt with or what we “hear about”.
So this will be a REALLY long post as we start with before pictures today, and move on with video and still shots as the project progresses.
We are starting with a basic plan. Concrete forms for the RV pad, a patio, a fire pit, and a pathway to the garage. I will post a design here as well.
But first! A little background. We did at one time have a perfectly green lawn and a decent backyard by any standard. My only complaint would have been that the grass was beginning to wear down in a path between the garage and the steps of the deck. Then we got a Golden Retriever.
My brother-in-law Merle also got a Golden Retriever (a brother from the same litter as ours) and these fellas got to work digging, peeing, and pooping on the grass. After 2 summers our yard was completely destroyed.
This is what was left of our perfect grass, and a pic of the guilty and the gorgeous.
Click to enlarge
So we knew we had to invest some time or money in the backyard. We can’t sell the house the right way with the back yard in such a mess, so we decided to have it done in Roman Pavers. Onward is a collection of videos, pictures and posts showing the whole process of doing Roman Paving on a patio/deck, pathway, and fire pit.
Before
May 14th, 2009
Our Back Yard Before Landscape and Roman Pavers
Click to Enlarge
Design Outline
May 14th, 2009
Doing Outline of Path, Fire-Pit, and Patio with Spray Paint
by John
Click to Enlarge
Excavation
May 14th, 2009
Excavation of Path, Patio, and Fire Pit Areas
Click to Enlarge
Click here for the next series…
Filed under: Home Improvement6 Comments »
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May 14th, 2009 at 5:45 pm
LOL, awesome videos, keep em coming.
The guy should have charged you double for doing that yard. ;-D
Cant wait for the after vids.
Talk soon
Sandro
May 15th, 2009 at 9:00 am
Yeah…..we’re having fun on this one. John is really fast so I’m running to get the videos and pictures up on the post so I don’t miss any of the stages.
It will interesting when he does the concrete forms and then when the Roman Pavers arrive. We’ll get the camera in close to see all of the process.
After the gravel is spread and packed, then the sand is dropped off, spread and packed down. Not sure when the concrete forms come in…
Learning allot though.
May 15th, 2009 at 11:00 am
[...] Backyard Landscape With Roman Pavers – Pt 1 [...]
September 10th, 2009 at 11:00 am
[...] Backyard Landscape With Roman Pavers – Pt 1 – So it is time to spend are hard earned money friends. We are landscaping the backyard with Roman Pavers with the help our friend and expert John Smitherman from JWS Construction in Calgary, Alberta. … [...]
September 10th, 2009 at 11:03 am
[...] Backyard Landscape With Roman Pavers – Pt 1 – So it is time to spend are hard earned money friends. We are landscaping the backyard with Roman Pavers with the help our friend and expert John Smitherman from JWS Construction in Calgary, Alberta. … [...]
November 28th, 2009 at 12:04 pm
[...] to do the digging and laying out of the pavers, which was REALLY cool to watch. You can watch it here if you want. See the Kubota mini-excavator in action half way down the page. John is an excellent operator and [...]