Some progress pictures of my patio/retaining wall project.

It's been another busy summer here, and I've made some headway on my retaining wall project I started last summer. For those that didn't catch the post last year, here it is. For those that don't want to click, here's a copy of what I did LAST summer with this:

 

That's where I stopped last summer, and I'm pretty much stopped at this point for the year as well. I manged to finish the retaining wall (minus a few cap blocks), and pour a little over 9 yards of colored (Mocha) concrete for the walkway and lower patio. Here's some pictures:

Knocking out the remaining old retaining wall. Thank god for a front end loader.


Retaining wall blocks starting to go in.



Taking delivery of the rest of my blocks. 5 pallets in this order plus the 3 I went through last fall. Each block weighs a little over 80lbs, and a pallet has 48 a piece. Lots of lifting





Getting the base course in for the rest of the curved side.



Another shot showing the inset stairs starting to go in.




What the top of the walkway by the garage looked like before




Once the bricks were out, we started building forms:










Retaining walls in, stone in, and front form for the lower patio complete.

 

Looking good, Matt! A lot of hard work in that project!

 

We chose to tint our concrete a light brown/tan color. I'm somewhat happy with the final color although it changed slightly after initial curing.

Upper walkway:



Looking down the new walkway.



Lower patio (ignore the junk...still need to do final cleanup).




Another angle:




Looking out from under the deck




View from up above on the deck:




And finally, some before and afters:

Stairway Before:



Stairway after:



Lower patio (before):



Lower patio (after):



Walkway (before):



Walkway (after):

 

Awesome work man. You are a way better man than I. You saw it and did it. Congrats Matt. When your wife is done with you up there, I want to know what she charges to rent you out.

 

You've been busy, but man what a differance it made to the whole area. I really like the changes, awesome.

 

X 2 on John's comments.... You're really making that place look nice!

 

That looks great!

 

Looks great,
Ton of work you did there, but it looks very good.

 

Very, very Nice !!! I know how much work you have put into that project because about 20 years ago, I put in a timber, 6 x 6 x 8' timbers, wal that took 120 of those timbers and 25 yards of fill to build a two tiered wall.
Then about 5 years ago I removed a concrete patio, 10 x 18 from the rear of my house and built a 12 x 26 raised 2 level deck !!! the deck building wasn't that hard, it was drilling the 14 - 10" diameter x 4' deep foundation holes so our Wisconsin winter wouldn't shift the deck !!!

Like I said, you are putting in a lot of work and you will feel proud and good when it is all done and you are sipping that cold one on your new patio !!!

 

Great job! It looks much nicer.

I work in the garden and ignore the house. We keep thinking we're going to tear it all down and start over. One of these days... or not.

 

Finch, thanks!

Ben, thanks, bud. Don't tell her, but I work for archery equipment:D

John, thanks. It's not all done, but we're making progress.

Greg, thanks. Honestly I think the pictures remind me that we're getting somewhere because looking at everything that still needs done makes it feel like I've got a long ways to go.

Silverflicker and Ryan, thanks!

Sswpriz, sounds like a lot of work, but sounds like you did it right the first time unlike the guy who's work I'm fixing.

 

Thanks, Christine. I would like to start a garden next year, but honestly, it can be lot of work (and I'm only considering something a fraction of your garden's size). I don't know how you do it.

 

Looks Great!

Is that your barn in the back? (or is that a house?)...either way...nice backdrop/view from your place!

 

Thanks! That's my barn. I finally ran number 4 copper out to it before we poured, and have a 100A sub panel to put out there. I want to get power out there by the winter so I can move on to working in there. You know...exterior man cave

 

Is that the 3005 John Deere?

 

990...It's my dad's, though.

 

Looks awesome man!!

 

Thanks!

 

Wow. Looks great!