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This is the THIRD rendition of this patio - it keeps getting larger and
larger! First, we had to level the base and make sure the slope was
correct.
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Then, Mike used a rental compactor to firm up the base.
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Can you see the red spot on the number 5 in the middle? That's the
spot from the laser level we used to set the heights on the whole pond.
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Then, we had to order the bluestone. Again, luckily - they
deliver, as we had about 400 pieces to the order. We reused all of the
old stone - this was just the additional needed for the 'renovation'.
Once again, we had rock being moved over the roof.
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There were 3 pallets of stone, sorted by size. Todd created the
original patio block pattern using AutoCAD on the computer. We had fun
designing the integration of the original pattern into the new area.
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One requirement was to have large, thick stone near the edge of the
pond. That way, you are not likely to tip the stone into the pond by
standing on the edge, and it looks more substantial. The problem is
that the bottom of the stones are very irregular, and each one has to be
carefully set so that it's firm, and doesn't rock when you step on it.
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As we placed each stone - we kept checking the slope. The rock had
to slope away from the pond to keep ground-water out of the pond, and away
from the house to avoid water in the basement! Here's Todd using the
hand tamper to maintain the right slope.
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'Do you think you can rent out some of that water to the local
aquarium?'
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Another problem was that the edge of the pond was curved, but of course,
the rocks are straight. Todd created this ingenious measuring device
to assure that he could mark the 2" overhang on the top of the stone so we
could cut the curved edge accurately.
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This is a detail of the PVC measuring tool. When the bottom pipe
was up against the wall of the pond, Todd could allow for the additional 1/2
of plaster that would be used to finish the pond, and still get a perfect 2"
overhang of the bluestone.
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One final edge cut with a multiple curve. Some rocks had convex
curves, some had concave curves - both are murder to cut on 2" thick stone!
We used a small diamond saw to score a line on the top of the stone, then
used the big diamond-blade stone saw to nibble out chunks. Finally the
curve was smoothed with the little saw. Very time consuming, but it
looks great!
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From the yard, you can se 1/2 of the patio completed. We didn't
want to finish the other half until we had completed the planting beds, and
transported the LARGE stepping stones that make a path behind the pond.
We figure another 3 days, and we can be done with the patio. The back
edge (nearest the bottom of the photo) will have a wrought iron fence next
to it, to make the pond 'pool safe'.
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