9/10th of the Way Done

We are almost finished with this project.  I keep telling myself that, and then we think of just one more thing we have to do to make it truly complete.

Our morning started with a trip to Lowe's to try a bag of more coarse sand, and to pick up a few more bags of concrete.  More on that later.

Starting at the Florida room, the walkway surrounds the patio.

We wanted to try a more coarse sand because the white diamond sand we have is very fine.  In fact, it is so fine that it runs out of the joints at the edges of the pavers.  We thought a more coarse sand may stay put, but we were wrong.  It fell out of the joints at the edges just as easily, so in the end we tried something very unconventional.  We actually used painter's tape to seal the joints and to hold in the fine sand until we could seal the pavers today.

The sand we tamped down yesterday did harden nicely, but the edges still gave us trouble.  By adding the tape, we were able to fill the joints with sand while we applied the sealant.  It penetrated all of the joints, so we can remove the tape tomorrow and be just fine.

Sadly, we still have a small mountain of sand left over.  If anyone needs sand, just let us know.  We have lots to give away!

Sand, anyone?

We needed to get more concrete because we still have to concrete in all of the edges.  That will hold everything in place in this soft, sandy soil.  Then we can backfill around the pavers and have the job finished.  A little grass seed, and all will be back to normal.

The area next to the patio will provide a good place for the grill.

Laying pavers was the most difficult project we have had to do.  Even building the fence was not this physically intense.  I am a little disappointed that some of the pavers are higher than others.  We had hoped that the tamper would even things out a bit more than it did; however, nothing but cement is perfectly flat anyway, and the pavers are just fine.  They certainly fulfill our desire to have a solid surface all the way from the driveway to the back doors.

The pavers go all the way to the front yard
and curve around to connect to the driveway.

The sealant left the pavers with a finished look.  They look good with the color of the house, so we are content.  Today was sunny and warm enough for the sealant to dry, and that was our goal.  We wanted everything sealed before the promised rains come tomorrow.