Decision made!
Our neighbors are building a deck. They’ve wanted to do it for a long time. They have a very small yard, so to have a deck of any size, they have to remove the concrete slab that the builders slapped down there.
Hooboy. Jackhammers all day. Any idea how honkin’ big a 4 foot by 4 foot by 3 foot deep slab is? And if you give me a smart ass math answer, I’m comin’ over and not leaving until the jackhammers are done. ; ) The contractors began on Friday and are back today and very little progress has been made. That’s how big a 4x4x3 concrete slab is.
Tom’s take? If it were our house, he would have drilled a hole in the slab big enough for a stick of dynamite. Riiight…’cause our homeowners insurance wasn’t high enough.
But our neighbors, whom I love, have made the patio decision for us. We briefly considered jackhammering out our slab (which is bigger and has a roof over it) to have a full deck. No thanks…and please, no smart ass “full deck” comments either…unless they’re really funny. Cost of a Trex deck (holy crap! I suppose I could get along with only one kidney…) sealed the decision that we won’t be going that route. So a pressed concrete patio is the leading contender…and extending the porch roof across the western side of the house so we don’t bake every afternoon May-September. You know…’cause the money tree I planted last spring is now producing fruit.
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Wait a second…..didn’t you just SELL a kidney? You can’t get rid of the only one you have left!!
Btw, that slab was 48 cubic feet.
When should I expect you to be here?
Let me tell you… I was once a naive new homeowner. My hubby and another guy friend took a sledgehammer to our buckling concrete patio. Turns out it was 2 layers, first being riddled with mesh reinforcement. Sledgehammer = getting nowhere.
“So, we can whip this out in an afternoon”, turned into a job for a big man that sweats profusely running a bobcat, the patio was a bear!
Now we have a pretty tumbled pavestone patio (we did it ourselves) and have a great local supplier that’s super cheap, I may just have to post about it!
See, now if rhubarb was considered a currency in Colorado, you’d really be laughing!
Kat
If I lean over your fence can I pick from your money tree?
I blinged you!
We’re going through all the same dilemas right now…trex? stamped concrete? stained concrete? and let’s just say that hubby and I are not agreeing on it…stay tuned for who wins!
We have a patio and love it. Get a fire pit and you’ll never want to leave.