Tweet
I had thought we'd go with pavers. I love the product (we had them at our old house), and I can get them installed (labor plus materials) for $3.85/sf. I've done a small paver patio before, and the only reason it was acceptable was because it was entirely covered by the hot tub. ;-) Setting/cutting the pavers isn't the issue, especially with my HF saw, but the proper grading, tamping, etc. is--the pros who installed the pavers at our old house did the job SO much better and it made the difference between a nice patio and an incredibly amateur looking one. I'm wary of trying to do it for myself, and at $3.85/sf, it seems like a no-brainer to me. Materials cost, including delivery, would only take us down to about $2.75/sf.
Now that it's time to do it, however, Husband is freaking out. Mostly because he had a wildly inaccurate idea of what the square footage of the space is (lots of insisting that the rules of mathematics must be wrong, a 432sf space couldn't possibly be more than 150sf, because he doesn't want to pay for more than that).
Yeah, it's been a fun few days. So I'm trying to explore other options, cast about for other ideas, in the small hope that I'll be able to come up with a more affordable alternative. I'm already trying to redraw plans, reinvent the design, but that only goes so far--the space is what it is. Even eliminating the fire pit area and a walkway to join the existing patio with the outdoor kitchen only brings me down to 252sf. And looks stupid and incomplete, but that's a different issue.
Here's what I've researched and considered:
Plain concrete. Lowest prices around $3.50/sf, and since I had six concrete vendors, including two small-job premix delivery services flake out on me, plus it would be unattractive, I'm not particularly interested in this option. Based on my skills pouring the hearth, I'm not sure I could do a reasonable job doing it myself, either.
Stamped concrete. Seems to be about $6/sf around here. Looks nice, but it's more expensive than the pavers. No go.
Flagstone. Costs $11-$13sf installed. Materials to do it ourselves would run a little north of $5/sf. I'm giving birth in about 4 weeks and don't think I'll be particularly effective in hauling around 150lb slabs of rock for a while. It needs to be cemented in place, since ground cover really doesn't grow well in between the cracks (much as I absolutely love that look, and it sounds easier to install).
Gravel. Ugly. Painful to walk on. Hard to move patio chairs around. Needs to be raked and maintained. Looks cheap and incomplete. Costs $22/ton to be spread, costs about $20/ton, plus delivery. We'd need at least 20 tons to do the yard, though, so it's slightly cheaper at the moment, but not very usable, and would need to be hauled away whenever we eventually put in a more permanent floor.
Grass. We'd need to completely redo the sprinkler system--grass doesn't grow here without it. That would also mean we'd have to redo the curbing. At $2/lf for curbing, we're talking about higher cost for a much less attractive, less usable surface.
Dirt. what we have. Incomplete, dirty, very dusty when the wind blows, grows weeds like crazy in our rainy season without rock barrier. The only positive is that it's free, but I'm not exactly happy just doing nothing and leaving the project incomplete indefinitely. If we're not going to get rid of the dirt now when there's cash in the bank to cover it, it's not going to happen in the future.
Wooden decking. I could definitely do this myself, but people just don't have wooden decks out here. Perhaps it's the termites, perhaps it's the sun, who knows. It's just not done in this part of the state, and I'm afraid we would never get a return on our investment. The stuff I've already built is at a level appropriate for more standard patio, too, so we'd have to do substantial digout to make the deck the right height.
Anything I'm missing? Throw out any ideas, no matter how wild they sound!
Now that it's time to do it, however, Husband is freaking out. Mostly because he had a wildly inaccurate idea of what the square footage of the space is (lots of insisting that the rules of mathematics must be wrong, a 432sf space couldn't possibly be more than 150sf, because he doesn't want to pay for more than that).
Yeah, it's been a fun few days. So I'm trying to explore other options, cast about for other ideas, in the small hope that I'll be able to come up with a more affordable alternative. I'm already trying to redraw plans, reinvent the design, but that only goes so far--the space is what it is. Even eliminating the fire pit area and a walkway to join the existing patio with the outdoor kitchen only brings me down to 252sf. And looks stupid and incomplete, but that's a different issue.
Here's what I've researched and considered:
Plain concrete. Lowest prices around $3.50/sf, and since I had six concrete vendors, including two small-job premix delivery services flake out on me, plus it would be unattractive, I'm not particularly interested in this option. Based on my skills pouring the hearth, I'm not sure I could do a reasonable job doing it myself, either.
Stamped concrete. Seems to be about $6/sf around here. Looks nice, but it's more expensive than the pavers. No go.
Flagstone. Costs $11-$13sf installed. Materials to do it ourselves would run a little north of $5/sf. I'm giving birth in about 4 weeks and don't think I'll be particularly effective in hauling around 150lb slabs of rock for a while. It needs to be cemented in place, since ground cover really doesn't grow well in between the cracks (much as I absolutely love that look, and it sounds easier to install).
Gravel. Ugly. Painful to walk on. Hard to move patio chairs around. Needs to be raked and maintained. Looks cheap and incomplete. Costs $22/ton to be spread, costs about $20/ton, plus delivery. We'd need at least 20 tons to do the yard, though, so it's slightly cheaper at the moment, but not very usable, and would need to be hauled away whenever we eventually put in a more permanent floor.
Grass. We'd need to completely redo the sprinkler system--grass doesn't grow here without it. That would also mean we'd have to redo the curbing. At $2/lf for curbing, we're talking about higher cost for a much less attractive, less usable surface.
Dirt. what we have. Incomplete, dirty, very dusty when the wind blows, grows weeds like crazy in our rainy season without rock barrier. The only positive is that it's free, but I'm not exactly happy just doing nothing and leaving the project incomplete indefinitely. If we're not going to get rid of the dirt now when there's cash in the bank to cover it, it's not going to happen in the future.
Wooden decking. I could definitely do this myself, but people just don't have wooden decks out here. Perhaps it's the termites, perhaps it's the sun, who knows. It's just not done in this part of the state, and I'm afraid we would never get a return on our investment. The stuff I've already built is at a level appropriate for more standard patio, too, so we'd have to do substantial digout to make the deck the right height.
Anything I'm missing? Throw out any ideas, no matter how wild they sound!
Comment