The Gravel (even crusher) is more water permeable than Clay. I'm not sure what the soil is like where you are but from the pics it looks like the stuff we have here. Mostly clay. Clay likes to move with the water into the drain pipe where it plugs up the hole and stops the flow of water. The whole point of the rocks are to give the water a good path to the drain. Here we normally use river rock, or 3/4" crushed limestone for drainage (we have a few tile/brick yards locally so crushed tile or brick are subbed in because it's cheap). The Geo fabric goes outside the gravel Layer to help cut down on the clay ingress to the drain field. The dimple board is the modern replacement for the impervious board. either way tar the wall behind it (with masonry you keep the water out of the brick so it can't freez and cause the bricks to fail over time.) Again it's about giving the water a clear path to the drain. Also make sure that Drain has a good slope on it.
Here are some pictures. I'm going to add a French drain in another location to prevent water building up in the crusher gravel run. Should fix any issues.
Got a couple courses of stone work done and some gravel behind the stone. Lots of shimming to get the stones so they don't wobble. More tomorrow!
Not sure if you can even tell the difference but worked on it for about 3 hrs today and got maybe another ton of rock placed.
Some updates. The slog continues... finished digging pathways, compacted ground, laid crusher run of gravel 4 to 6" deep, compacted that in 2 inch layers. Sand and bricks are 2 weeks out from delivery. In the mean time I need to do some fine tuning and grading to get gravel base nice and perfectly leveled before the sand arrives. Then brick laying can begin. Will plant the garden beds in the next couple days too. Since its spring and the plants can grow in the mean time while I'm working on paths and patios. Laid 22 tons of gravel. Probably need another 5 to finish the deal. About 2000 square feet of paths and patios done. Hoping my 6000 bricks will cover that with some to spare lol...
My KNEES hurt just thinking about his brick laying project. It's gonna look much better than boring old concrete! Zap, did ya consider stamped concrete?
Haha yeah lots of hours sunk into this. My dad is helping and I'm bribing friends with beer money for occasional help. Yeah the concrete looking stuff is compacted crusher gravel run (bits of left over small rock/dust/sand/gravel in the bottom of the crusher machine). Very good for making path bases. I checked stamped concrete but prefer herringbone pattern laid brick. I do t like concrete that much in general though some of the stamped stuff is decent. Still got an absolute ton of stuff to do to finish the back yard. Probably sunk about 10 to 12 k into supplies and parts/tools/some help digging /etc so far. Still about 10x cheaper than hiring a greedy contractor though...
Good job man... Nothing like a little Sweat Equity! Herringbone brick is nice look, I don't like it for neck chains. I dressed up my boring ass driveway when I moved in. I ripped out the ugly dated brick facade around my fireplace and laid them soldier course along the sides of the driveway. They were the same brick that's on the outside of the house. Coming from Florida where everything is CBS block and stucco, I wasn't a fan of brick when we bought here, but years later and I haven't had to paint except some exterior trim. SHIT! THAT WORKS FOR ME!
Nice! Yeah I don't like facade brick too much. I prefer solid brick or some other material. Have you seen the fake plastic sheets that are printed to look like brick at the hardware stores? It's a joke. Its satisfying work but I don't think it will add any real equity to the house on paper. Oh well, I will enjoy it. I laugh if the next owner rips it all out and puts in a plain lawn hahaha.
On no... Curb appeal like landscape and hardscaping is never wasted. The sad truth is 10% of a home's value should be in the outside. Very few homes align with that. I'm not even close, but I have yet to work outside except for some small details.
I mean, I agree, I dislike the formula: perfect lawn around house and 2 bushes on either side of front door. Very boring. Waste of land in my opinion. But most people don't have the patience to maintain a nicely landscaped yard or build it I guess. And in this area most people don't have the $ to buy food never mind waste it on the yard. Probably not a good idea long term in terms of investment etc, but oh well I like it Hows your pool going by the way?
Pool? You mean the one in the Fking GARAGE?? lmao!! I released a new video with what I think is my holy grail! Now if I can just figure out how to get a roll of this magical shit outta china without it costing me a grand, I'll be golden! But, yes, 10% is a lot of money these days to have wrapped up in shit that can DIE!
One of the things that was so appealing about my house when I bought it ten years ago is that it was turn-key. News flash: it wasn’t. I spent about 20k in the first 3 years on a new driveway, barn roof, many trees cut down etc. I had about another 8k done last fall in the front yard (plus another 2k for an old half dead beech tree behind the house) and I’m glad I did it. All contracted and no regrets. The old bed and fence below were about 40 years old. I missed my chance the previous spring to get it weeded etc, so it was unkempt all last year, but the fact was, it was dated. The perennials were nicely timed to bloom in a nice rhythm throughout the seasons, but they were old and symbiotic, the fence was rotted, the trees needed their bangs cut really bad, and the whole area behind the fence couldn’t support anything but ferns because of the shade. So I had it cleared, scraped, new topsoil, seeded, and new beds cleared of insidious ivy and installed around the front and sides of the house. New shrubbery installed with a 2 year guarantee. It made a huge difference. Below picture the camera is pointed roughly in the same direction as above but from the house side of the fence. You can see the last fence post in the background. I just have to get the A/C compressor relocated to the side of the house and I think it’ll be done. Pete
Lots of work clearing land. Looks much better now than before with the random weeds and the gate. Amazing how much money goes into property maintenance. I'm still new to all of this since I've only had my own house for 2-3 years. I'm glad I don't have any large trees to deal with. None that I couldn't easily cut myself and not worry even if they fell the wrong way. I'm still fighting the weeds back. Trying to kill them off with mulch.
Calculated area on Google maps looks like around 1370 sq ft of brick, so I ordered more brick 14 pallets total (7000 bricks). Unfortunately this maxed out the truck and 8 had to remove 2 of 3 pallets of sand to make it all fit. Ill probably order sand from lowes and have them deliver. Laying all this brick is gonna be a massive endeavor. What do you guys think about that poly sand stuff that hardens between bricks? Or should I go with regular sand between the bricks once laid? Or something else?
You sure have your work cut out for you. Resale considerations are important but having your home the way you want it trumps resale as far as I'm concerned. If you can have it both ways, then so much the better. It's going to look great. Pete
Finally started laying pavers. I'm gonna use a diamond saw to cut straight edges then line them with straight bricks.
