And then there were stairs

September 29, 2011

And then there were stairs

When we last chatted we had finished laying the base of the wall in the backyard, and we were sizing up the stairs.

This is what Chris looks like while deep in thought

We took a nice long break from schelpping stones, but when we get back at it, we did all the stones at once.

We had to head back to the store and grab more bricks for the wall and then we needed to pick up new stones for the stairs.

We got the second row on and then Chris stopped to do some more thinking. He realized we needed to ensure all much drainage as possible, so he headed back to the store to solve our problem. He found gutter guards that would fit perfectly between the ground and the 2nd row, which would keep debris out of the open spaces in the bricks and ensure that the water and drain out.

Genius solution

Once we laid those all out, we finished off the wall.

Then we unloaded the new stair stones from our sweet Lowes rental truck.

Building the stairs was a whole new set of problems, because we had to cement them in. This was out first experience with cement on this project. I laid the blocks out to establish the pattern first, then Chris mixed the cement.

We laid the first row and had some help from my bestie, Bunnie. She christen the cement with her hand prints.

Don't think I left her off the hook without doing any heavy lifting. In case you can't tell, she is in a dress. Yep, we make everyone work, no matter what.

I had to go over the cement with a sponge and wipe away the excess to make them look pretty (which is almost more important then them being securely set in the cement).