Urban essay: A landscape, grounds keeping photo journal of transforming a weed lot into a garden. A "How we are doing it from scratch" web log. Topics include: grounds keeping, gardening, planning, landscape construction design, materials, equipment and supplies. Tools for lawn and turf care, tools for gardening, tools for landscape construction, and tool maintenance. Sources for tools and equipment, product evaluations and price comparisons. Garden project cost accounting.

Sunday, October 25, 2009

West side


I decided to go ahead and completely underlay the gate area with brick. Now it is a solid landing. The top photo is of this side of the house taken just before we closed on it. Note the bricks stacked up. The location of the gate can be judged in the top photo by the air conditioner.
I would join this landing with walks made from concrete tiles. A tile would be about the same ratio of its area as a brick. I haven't measured to know for sure, but if a brick is twice as long as it is wide, then that is what the tiles will be, only something like 1' x 2', depending on how wide the sidewalks need to be. I would also cast half tiles. I want them to be the same thickness as the brick. I would lay them on a bed of gravel screenings as this construction. They would be laid lengthwise across the path with the half tile alternating on either end. As you walked it would be half tile on left, whole on right, next, whole on left and half on right and so on.
I need to survey the walk ways currently proposed to get my dimensions and quantities. Assuming a whole tile is 2'x 1' and a half tile is 1'x1' and using a factor of 1-1/2 tiles per running foot covering a distance of 120 feet I would need 120 whole tiles and 120 half tiles. This would give a walk that is 3' wide. My lawn sweeper is the widest wheeled tool I have. I will have to measure to see if the walk could accommodate it.
I will need a whole form and a half form to begin manufacturing the tiles. The operation would see the forms used like cookie cutters. I think I could devise methods to make a half-dozen of each tile at a time with relative ease or whatever 2 sacks of ready-mix will make.