Sidewalk Paver Project

The last project of the season is finally in the books! None of our latest projects have been very sexy, or all that big, but are things we have wanted to cross off our list.

Adding sidewalk pavers to the side of our house is the last project before the heat really sets in and nothing much gets done around here.

Yay!

Our project list started off with the exterior painting job. Of course, selecting a painter, the paint, getting HOA approval all took a lot of time.

Then we had a small garage installation happening that had to be coordinated after the painting was complete.

Getting the sidewalk paver project approved from the HOA actually took the longest for some crazy reason. Especially considering it all happened behind the gate to our backyard and didn’t affect the look of our house or its structure.

Umm. Okay. Well, better to get the approval instead of tearing it up later.

Why We Did It

Demolishing the old cement patio, front porch and sidewalk was the very first project we did when we moved into our house in 2014. The crumbling cement looked awful and was becoming dangerous.

The brick pavers we installed have held up great and we like them. But. You got it.

They were expensive and we were on a tight budget when we moved here.

So we stopped the pavers right before our front gate. The side yard had big hopbush trees and decomposed granite.

It is the side of the yard with the gate and our AC units. Not at all attractive.

And since we tend to fill our garbage can with cat poo, we like to keep our cans outside and not in the garage. So they were in that area too.

Earlier this year we had the hopbush trees removed which made so much more room and got rid of a lot of debris and dove nest mess.

But walking in the area and accessing the trash cans has always been a hassle.

What It Took

We found a landscaper who could do the project and came recommended from a friend who had a similar job done.

As I said, the HOA approval took longer than I anticipated and I couldn’t schedule him until we were approved. It finally worked out for this past week.

The landscapers came at 7 a.m. sharp and delivered sand, pavers, cement, equipment and two workers.

The job was completely manual work so luckily it was on the morning shady side of the house. By about 1 p.m. it got pretty hot so I was happy the workers were almost finished by then.

First the workers moved the existing granite out of the way and then shoveled the dirt to make a flat walkway.

Next they tamped down the earth and then laid the pavers.

Cement is used along the sides of the walkway to keep the pavers in place. There are no cement seams between the pavers.

Last they spread the sand over the pavers and let it settle all around the pavers.

The job took about 5 hours of continuous work with one man doing most the hard work and a woman assistant.

Result

We now have a nice sidewalk that goes from our driveway all the way to our turf in the backyard.

The landscaper made a little pad on the side for us to easily move our large bins in and out on trash day.

So just a tiny project, but it was a long time coming and so glad it’s done!

4th of July

Do you have plans for the 4th? Let us know what you’re doing! We celebrate on July 3rd in our town which I think is actually pretty smart for a number of reasons.

In any case, Pottery Barn has their patriotic décor on sale for 20% off right now. And oh, my is it ever cute.

I didn’t personally buy any but I took some pictures on a recent jaunt through the store.

Wrap Up

Well, that’s that for the first day of July. Can you even believe it? I always felt growing up in Colorado, that after the 4th came, summer spiraled out so quickly. Summer was always too short.

Now in Arizona, there is no shortage of summer.

I hope your summer is coming along nicely and I send you and yours blessings!