We’re Putting Our Shabby Old Patio Out of Its Misery — At Last. Sheltering at Home Week 22

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Monday, August 10, 2020. Sheltering at Home Week 22

Our patio was not a pretty sight when we first laid eyes on it.

Forty-two years later, it’s still not a pretty sight.

The Arizona sandstone has been cracked and moldy from the get-go. And all this time, the half of the patio that was set in sand has been sinking and parting company with the half that was embedded in concrete.

Despite its shabbiness, our patio has seen some action over the years. Kids spread out their toys here. He-Man defeated Skeltor on its moldy surface. A gift of ice cream, delivered while we were out of town, melted and left a permanent butter fat stain next to the welcome mat.

shabby old patio with sinking-patio-flagstones — The flagstones that were set on sand are sinking and pulling away from the stones set in concrete.

And now, home-bound as we are by the coronavirus, with no place but our front yard and our back yard to go, Jon and I find ourselves looking at that shabby old patio. We look at it lot.

We see it for the crumbly deferred maintenance mess it has been for decades.

Wobbly Cocktails

You can’t walk on it safely, let alone put a table and chairs out there and invite your neighbors over for wobbly, socially-distanced cocktails.

It’s time to do something about that patio. And, thanks to the pandemic, there is time to do something about that patio.

Salvaging-Arizona-sandstone-flagstones in a shabby old patio — Our neighbor dug up some of the Arizona sandstone and took it to his yard, where he’ll build a rustic patio on a level spot under a tree. Can these stones be cleaned up? I’d like to know.

There’s time to locate a reliable contractor. (The hardest part.) Time to sweat out the plans. Time to consider the costs.

The sky-high, 21st-century, West Coast costs!

It’s stunning. Jon and I will be spending more on redoing this patio and stairs than my parents spent on an entire house back in 1953 (the year after our own house was built).

But we’re going ahead with the project. Decision made.

Neighbor to the Rescue

A neighbor from down the street came by yesterday to rescue the loose flagstones before they could be sent to the dump.

new-flagstone-patio — Our neighbor took this photo of his DIY patio — and the Arizona sandstone flagstones he rescued from our front yard.

Men with sledge hammers and a mega jackhammer arrived this morning to decimate the old concrete base.

Three more weeks of dust, noise, and a porta-potty out front, and we’ll have ourselves a patio and wobble-free cocktails.

Another look at our front yard at “Look What Happened in My Front Yard Over the Weekend.” More ideas for patios and stairs on my Pinterest page. Another story about householding at “Feng Shui Tips for the Bedroom and the Writing Room — Your Mother’s Not Allowed.”