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WebmasterAlex
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Ok no turning back now!!
On wednesday we had our first delivery of materials
6 yards of gravel, 3 yards of bluestone dust and the 2 granite slabs....
Here is an overview of the top part of the walk. The yellow lines are my rough markings for the new walk
This is the bottom part of the walk where the granite steps are going. Notice the sonotubes in the upper part. What I am doing here is pouring concrete pads to rest the granite steps on. It's probably a bit of overkill but I don't want those suckers to budge once I put them in place. If they shift the walk won't line up and it's a tripping hazard. The bottom step will rest on those stones, they already have a foundation. They upper ones are in filled sand so I added the sonotubes to a depth of 4'. I could have made the steps out of brick but that is a huge job, it's hard to get them right and they tend to chip and crack. Granite is better but very expensive. Since I got such a great deal on the granite I'm going that way.
On to the toys.. one of the harder parts is figuring out the grade and making sure it's a smooth rise so the walk looks right and also getting the rise for the step right. You could use a mason's string level or a water level.... but i have a toy for just this occaision.
This is a laser level, once it is level it will shoot a laser beam 100' and you can measure off of that.
Here is a picture of it in action. I have it shining on a metal yardstick so I can measure to the ground and figure out where I am at. I took this after dark so it would show up better.
You don't need one of these for a walk project!
On wednesday we had our first delivery of materials
6 yards of gravel, 3 yards of bluestone dust and the 2 granite slabs....
Here is an overview of the top part of the walk. The yellow lines are my rough markings for the new walk
This is the bottom part of the walk where the granite steps are going. Notice the sonotubes in the upper part. What I am doing here is pouring concrete pads to rest the granite steps on. It's probably a bit of overkill but I don't want those suckers to budge once I put them in place. If they shift the walk won't line up and it's a tripping hazard. The bottom step will rest on those stones, they already have a foundation. They upper ones are in filled sand so I added the sonotubes to a depth of 4'. I could have made the steps out of brick but that is a huge job, it's hard to get them right and they tend to chip and crack. Granite is better but very expensive. Since I got such a great deal on the granite I'm going that way.
On to the toys.. one of the harder parts is figuring out the grade and making sure it's a smooth rise so the walk looks right and also getting the rise for the step right. You could use a mason's string level or a water level.... but i have a toy for just this occaision.
This is a laser level, once it is level it will shoot a laser beam 100' and you can measure off of that.
Here is a picture of it in action. I have it shining on a metal yardstick so I can measure to the ground and figure out where I am at. I took this after dark so it would show up better.
You don't need one of these for a walk project!
