paveStuff: A Rockin Path
We've had this path through the rose bushes on the side of the house for years now, but it's been just dirt/sand once you cross the arbor near the entrance. It was kinda muddy a couple weeks ago, and I busted my ass on a slick spot. Gotta do something about that, especially since it's mum's primary access to the back yard, and a slip there would be a hip breaker at her age.
Here we go!
Picked up about 80 pavers from the Lowe's (three trips, was kinda wingin it on the spacing as I went. Around the same time, we ordered two cubic yards of these 1-2" "neopolitan" rocks from Utah Landscape Supply in Draper (shout out, they're awesome!)
At first I thought I might need to add some concrete berms in a couple places to keep the rocks from sliding down the hill, but I ended up just filling those trenches back in with dirt and packing it down. The pavers are doing the job of keeping it stable. Plus it's not THAT much of an angle. |  |
 | At the bottom of the path, I decided to use some bricks from Lowe's to create a defined "end" to the rock section. There were already some flagstones down there arranged into somewhat of a path, so I took the four that were in my way for the rock project and will incorporate those into that path section. The red pavers are kinda temporary too, gonna build a fire pit there. Stay tuned! |
Once all the pavers were set, and the rocks spread out, gotta give em a quick rinse to wash off the dust and get the color to pop. It sure did pop! Also took the opportunity to build rock pad right where the faucet and hose station is, there on the right. The 1x1 post right there by the water station is a hose guide, more on those another day. |  |
The last part is down by the tomato gallows, where you can see the brick edge a lot better. I used the same bricks as that pre-existing flowerbed in the right-hand corner there, so it looks like I planned this or something. If the rocks end up covering the tree's root flare too much, I'll conjure up some kind of ring for that, but for now just gonna let it ride.  | |
I expect the rocks to settle a bit, and the pavers to shift slightly, and that's fine with me. Nature isn't precise, so why should I try to force it?
| Bonus: I knew going in that I was going to have leftover rocks, since I estimated about 1.25 cubic yards for the path and the delivery minimum was 2, unless I went with the hella expensive "bag" option. |  |
Total Cost: About 500 bucks worth of materials, and I've still got a little over half a cubic yard leftover. There's a spot down by my koi pond that will probably get a good amount of them, and there's another slick path down the other side of the house to consider too! Probably about four hours of labor, I spaced it out over a few days to not get overly sore and because that side of the house gets the worst of the sun. (It can seriously be 10-15 degrees warmer over there on any given sunny day)
So if you're thinking about rockin a path, freakin do it. It aint that hard.
