Cost and complexity for what? The slab or the retainer?
Ideas sought: brick patio needs attention
- Thread starter ibike2havefun
- Start date
OP
OP
Progress Report
Day 1...
Sagging courses of brick pulled back and old 2x8 edge removed.
The bricks sit atop a bed of sand, which in turn is underlain by a concrete slab. The edge of the slab is crumbling in places.
It appears that the slab may have a shallow V in the upper surface, to channel water down and toward the center of the edge that's in trouble. That could explain a lot about why that edge moves; the depth of the sand is only a couple inches, which to me seems insufficient to explain why the edge moved so far so fast.
Here you can see the slab. It looks tobe 5 or 6 inches thick at the edge, maybe 4 inches at the low point of the V.
New timbers in place but not yet pinned with rebar. They sit on top of a couple inches of drainage stone that I laid in and tamped lightly.
Bottom course is 4x6 stood on edge. Top course is 4x4.
Next steps include pinning the timbers with rebar then backfilling both sides. Exterior will be the dirt I disturbed when trenching, interior will be sand.
Detail of the gap between the timbers and the existing sand.
It's level, and plumb (for the moment at least).
Next, I'll drill for the rebar and drive those pins, then backfill both sides. Finally, I'll add sand and re-lay the bricks. But that's a job for tomorrow.
Day 1...
Sagging courses of brick pulled back and old 2x8 edge removed.
The bricks sit atop a bed of sand, which in turn is underlain by a concrete slab. The edge of the slab is crumbling in places.
It appears that the slab may have a shallow V in the upper surface, to channel water down and toward the center of the edge that's in trouble. That could explain a lot about why that edge moves; the depth of the sand is only a couple inches, which to me seems insufficient to explain why the edge moved so far so fast.
Here you can see the slab. It looks tobe 5 or 6 inches thick at the edge, maybe 4 inches at the low point of the V.
New timbers in place but not yet pinned with rebar. They sit on top of a couple inches of drainage stone that I laid in and tamped lightly.
Bottom course is 4x6 stood on edge. Top course is 4x4.
Next steps include pinning the timbers with rebar then backfilling both sides. Exterior will be the dirt I disturbed when trenching, interior will be sand.
Detail of the gap between the timbers and the existing sand.
It's level, and plumb (for the moment at least).
Next, I'll drill for the rebar and drive those pins, then backfill both sides. Finally, I'll add sand and re-lay the bricks. But that's a job for tomorrow.
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OP
OP
Sorry, I should have been clear that new concrete isn't the option at present.
I can do the timber for a couple hundred bucks, all in, without removing the existing patio or disturbing the majority of the bricks.
OP
OP
I ended up using that for the bottom layer and 4x4 for the upper. That combination got me to the height needed without requiring a deep foundation trench.
OP
OP
Well, for better or worse, I'm done, or as done as I will be for this trip.
After pondering what to do about the bricks that didn't fit in the space defined by the newly-realigned wall, I went for the cut-them-to-fit approach. A small angle grinder and diamond cutting blade will go home with me and join the other tools in the shop.
It's not perfect (none of my work ever is) but it's better than it was (my opinion, at least).
Keeping with the previous belt-and-suspenders mentality, I reinstalled the metal corner braces to hold the corner closed. Had I continued around the corner I'd have stacked the timbers log-cabin style and pinned the corners closed with rebar.
I'm hoping / expecting that the bricks I disturbed will eventually settle a bit more, and even out the surface. If they do, great, but if not I'm past caring.
Thanks again to all who offered information, advice, suggestions, and above all encouragement.
After pondering what to do about the bricks that didn't fit in the space defined by the newly-realigned wall, I went for the cut-them-to-fit approach. A small angle grinder and diamond cutting blade will go home with me and join the other tools in the shop.
It's not perfect (none of my work ever is) but it's better than it was (my opinion, at least).
Keeping with the previous belt-and-suspenders mentality, I reinstalled the metal corner braces to hold the corner closed. Had I continued around the corner I'd have stacked the timbers log-cabin style and pinned the corners closed with rebar.
I'm hoping / expecting that the bricks I disturbed will eventually settle a bit more, and even out the surface. If they do, great, but if not I'm past caring.
Thanks again to all who offered information, advice, suggestions, and above all encouragement.
Looks better than our patio, which was done by "professionals" five years old and sagging down and sand coming up between the bricks .
- Joined
- May 27, 2021
- Messages
- 1,156
- Age
- 64
- Location
- Coquitlam British Columbia Canada
- Bike
- 2009 ST1300
The bricks are a lot nicer to look at than concrete. I've done a lot of small repairs and minor renos on my old house a lot due to water damage left too long. I couldn't find any pics of the before, but when I stripped the wooden siding off the inside of my exterior attached car port supporting wall, the bottom plate and base of all of the studs were just about ready to drop the roof.
There's a very short concrete retaining wall at the edge of slab and about a three inch space between the outside wall of the carport and the retaining wall that doesn't so much fill with water, since I did the roof and eaves trough, but accumulates a bit during heavy rain. That would have made some good pictures or a good video; man slides down colapsing carport during torch on repair... without spilling his beer.
I ended up using black roof repair and coating galvanized angle that covered the bottom and outer part of the new bottom plate and then metal flashing along the lower part between the wall and then vinyl siding. The whole job was done by squeezing between the wall and neighbor's hedge. Some odd eight years on and it's all holding up and no rot, just a bit of seepage during heavy rain... I mean heavy for here, think 80 mm for a couple days, and a rainy season that can last six months.
I managed to get a lot of good deals going around different places; I got about 600 feet of siding on a clear out and the guy asked me if I needed shingles. Apparently no one likes light brown so over they came with ridge caps for around $800.00 might even put them on if I'm around long enough.
It's a tear down when I go. No one's going to care about the color.
There's a very short concrete retaining wall at the edge of slab and about a three inch space between the outside wall of the carport and the retaining wall that doesn't so much fill with water, since I did the roof and eaves trough, but accumulates a bit during heavy rain. That would have made some good pictures or a good video; man slides down colapsing carport during torch on repair... without spilling his beer.
I ended up using black roof repair and coating galvanized angle that covered the bottom and outer part of the new bottom plate and then metal flashing along the lower part between the wall and then vinyl siding. The whole job was done by squeezing between the wall and neighbor's hedge. Some odd eight years on and it's all holding up and no rot, just a bit of seepage during heavy rain... I mean heavy for here, think 80 mm for a couple days, and a rainy season that can last six months.
I managed to get a lot of good deals going around different places; I got about 600 feet of siding on a clear out and the guy asked me if I needed shingles. Apparently no one likes light brown so over they came with ridge caps for around $800.00 might even put them on if I'm around long enough.
It's a tear down when I go. No one's going to care about the color.
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