Not much work in the yard this weekend, I was instead focusing on the patio. I have a cement slab about 27' wide with a full roof that was built as part of the house. There were three poles holding up the roof at the edge of the patio. Unfortunately this put a huge amount of weight on each pole. The corner section at the end of the steps broke off straight and the side of it has been slowly sinking into the ground since before I bought the house. A few years back the other corner broke off diagonally, and that whole section was sinking. Needless to say, the roof had quite an arc to it.
So last Thursday I got started on repairs. First I started with the small diagonal break. I jacked up the roof and removed the pole, then dug out and removed the broken section of cement. Since I don't have the knowledge to pour new cement, I needed to re-use the original chunk. What I ended up doing is digging a deep footer hole directly under where the roof post is at, and then filled it with marble chips and mud. I finished off by putting down a layer of more marble chips and water to build up the area, then put the cement back in place and jumped on it to help settle and pack everything. After putting the roof pole back in place and letting it sit overnight, the slab is still a little under an inch higher than it should be, but I'm hoping that with time and rain it will settle back down to be level with the rest of the patio.
This weekend I started working on the rest. First step was to tackle the section by the step. I discovered that this side had sunk by a full three inches, which certainly explained why the gutters were always full of water! I didn't have the energy to get this section raised by myself, so I jacked up the roof and set the pole back down on some boards to take up the space. Now I have a level roof line to work with.
The last step was giving the roof more support. The patio faces south-west, so the sun makes it unpleasant to sit on the patio in the afternoons, however the spacing between the poles was 13'3"... making it difficult to find roll-up shades that would fit without getting custom-fit. A quick check with a calculator however showed that with four poles across, I could make a center section of 10'1" and the end sections would be 8'1"... perfect for standard-sized shades with just a small gap! Putting in the new poles wasn't too difficult... drill a hole in the cement for a anchor bolt, set in a mounting plate that keeps the end of the wood 4x4 off the ground, then get a measurement for the new pole (of course the patio isn't level so every pole is a different length). Once the two new poles were in place, I knocked out the original center pole.
In the 10' section between the new center poles, I want to build a planter box. Redwood is really expensive though, so I may do a combination of redwood and pine, but that's for another day... We got a nice rain later yesterday afternoon, and the gutters actually drained out like they should. Now I'm trying to sucker my sister into helping level out that other piece of concrete. I'm waiting on an estimate to get new shingles and gutters put on the house, so it will be nice to have all this fixed up before they start doing their work. Then I suppose I should actually work on clearing off the patio so we can enjoy it
So last Thursday I got started on repairs. First I started with the small diagonal break. I jacked up the roof and removed the pole, then dug out and removed the broken section of cement. Since I don't have the knowledge to pour new cement, I needed to re-use the original chunk. What I ended up doing is digging a deep footer hole directly under where the roof post is at, and then filled it with marble chips and mud. I finished off by putting down a layer of more marble chips and water to build up the area, then put the cement back in place and jumped on it to help settle and pack everything. After putting the roof pole back in place and letting it sit overnight, the slab is still a little under an inch higher than it should be, but I'm hoping that with time and rain it will settle back down to be level with the rest of the patio.
This weekend I started working on the rest. First step was to tackle the section by the step. I discovered that this side had sunk by a full three inches, which certainly explained why the gutters were always full of water! I didn't have the energy to get this section raised by myself, so I jacked up the roof and set the pole back down on some boards to take up the space. Now I have a level roof line to work with.
The last step was giving the roof more support. The patio faces south-west, so the sun makes it unpleasant to sit on the patio in the afternoons, however the spacing between the poles was 13'3"... making it difficult to find roll-up shades that would fit without getting custom-fit. A quick check with a calculator however showed that with four poles across, I could make a center section of 10'1" and the end sections would be 8'1"... perfect for standard-sized shades with just a small gap! Putting in the new poles wasn't too difficult... drill a hole in the cement for a anchor bolt, set in a mounting plate that keeps the end of the wood 4x4 off the ground, then get a measurement for the new pole (of course the patio isn't level so every pole is a different length). Once the two new poles were in place, I knocked out the original center pole.
In the 10' section between the new center poles, I want to build a planter box. Redwood is really expensive though, so I may do a combination of redwood and pine, but that's for another day... We got a nice rain later yesterday afternoon, and the gutters actually drained out like they should. Now I'm trying to sucker my sister into helping level out that other piece of concrete. I'm waiting on an estimate to get new shingles and gutters put on the house, so it will be nice to have all this fixed up before they start doing their work. Then I suppose I should actually work on clearing off the patio so we can enjoy it