Introducing... Our New Patio

Our new patio is finally done, and we're thrilled with it.  There are a few little odds and ends that need buttoned up, but really we're done.

It took KGK Gardening about 5 weeks to complete.  From design through construction, they've been really great to work with.

Our Most Awesome KGK Crew

This is our team from KGK Gardening who built our new patio.  They've moved roughly 400,000 pounds of clay, gravel, boulders, and stone.  They've been unbelievable working long hours in incredible heat and humidity.  Not only have the done great work, but have been a real pleasure to have around.

From left to right:  Tony, Davy, and foreman Rob.

4 More Rocks to Go

We're down to the final 4 rocks and the surface of the patio will be complete.  I'll bet they have those knocked out in a couple of hours.  From there it's going to be about 1000 wheelbarrow trips with soil for the bed.  Once that's done, it will really begin to feel like a patio.

The bluestone patio is almost there

It seems like it's been forever since I posted to the blog.  While there's been a lot of progress on the patio, it's not been terribly interesting from a photographic sense.  The guys have been busy cutting and setting stones.  Getting the stones properly level takes a long time and the KGK team is putting in a lot of care on each stone.  It shows.  The surface of the patio looks amazing.

The guys today worked tirelessly through off and on rain.  By the end of the day, they were soaked, covered in a fine bluestone dust, and ready to keep working.  

They seem to think that with a full crew they might be completely done by the end of the day on Saturday.

Here's a little "bump out" for our grill.  The big pipes sticking out of the ground will be covered and will later serve as forms for concrete footers when we decide on a design for a cedar arbor over the grill.

Laura and Me sitting on the wall...

Well, since it's been so long between posts, I thought I'd toss another one in there.

This photo was taken by Phil Long early on in the construction process.

The Bluestone Continues

Yesterday the guys worked tirelessly and through the rain fitting stone after stone. It sounds like they are going to spend the day today setting and leveling as much of the bluestone as they can. Right now the stones are in, but not yet level.

Also, the lighting fixtures arrived and are even better than we were hoping.

The Bluestone Begins to Take Shape

They've been laying the bluestone for a couple of days and you can really see the patio beginning to take shape.  There are still a lot of odds and ends to get done, but the guys are making quick progress.  

Here the stones are being cut and shaped to size, but they aren't set yet.  Once the patio is entirely laid out, they will then go back and set the stones so they don't move and slope slightly away from the house.