Tuesday, May 24, 2011

paver test...

Still mulling over the paver dilemma.  Decided the first thing to do is try casting a couple to see how it goes.  I thought one bag of concrete mix would fill two 17" sq forms 2" deep - came up short.  Will cut the forms down to 16" and try that next.  The wooden forms are sealed with spray shellac and lubricated with a touch of WD40.  The cost of casting them myself is about 1/2 the price of buying pre-made pavers at McCoys, but the same price as Home Depot in Odessa - but getting them from Odessa to here would be cost prohibitive.  I reckon it will all work out...it just has to.  Still plenty of options to consider.


Had a cold dinner tonight...flour tortilla wraps with raw chard (thanks to a second shipment from Dr. Deb) colby and monterey Jack cheese, and chilpotle sauce.  89,101,54,0,B

14 comments:

tffnguy said...

The burrito looks good, but all of the work pouring your own stones doesn't.

Toby said...

Hi John, I saw this awesome Re Farm Video on youtube tonight using electronics with urban farming to keep plants watered.

You should give it 5 minutes when you're not busy.

http://youtu.be/hKFAOeThC50

jim said...

agreed @Toby...interesting video for sure.

Doug said...

Looking at your old pics I was wondering what the PVC is for on the back wall between the OSB and the metal? Does it run under the floor and out the front porch? Everything looks great John..stay cool!

Anonymous said...

I am checking on pavers the next time I go to Mexico.

Bob from Athens said...

How about pouring four foot squares and then deep scoring them like the seams in sidewalks, sure would go a a lot faster and look almost the same if you score them deep enough, plus less seams means less weeds.

Mark said...

I poured a few of these a couple of years ago. I wrote an instructable that might be of use to you.
http://goo.gl/yf3ja

Steve said...

Check this out. Concrete cloth!

http://www.concretecanvas.co.uk/index.html

pcbobby said...

btw, use mortar mix not concrete, they'll last a long time

JLP said...

JW: I know you get a lot of advice but will throw my 2 cents in anyway.

Forms like you are using can be adapted for stamping patterns and make some really nice designs, especially if you use some colored concrete. It will work out.

Anonymous said...

yay Frann.

glenn oldham said...

That sure looks like lots of sweat equity. A 80 lb sack of maximizer concrete mix at HDepot will set you back 6.25 and give you 1 cu.ft. so 2 sacks should give you about 6 16x16x2 pavers for about 2.10 each. I've seen 16x16x2 concrete pavers (not 3000lb concrete but more like a lt.wt. CMU material) at wally world for only .98 each in grey and red. Sounds like a reasonable alternative for inexpensive modular paving.

Grandmama Sarah said...

Just wondering why you wanted pavers. Depending on the type you buy at the big box stores, some of those are compressed concrete--really strong and good for driving on. Concrete squares or rectangles are okay for foot traffic, but tend to shift around a lot and break easily.

I'm also not a fan of weeds in the cracks. My husband, who used to sell and demonstrate installation for d-i-y-ers said you'd need a good prepared base using landscape cloth, among other things.

We wondered if you'd considered a rammed earth floor built in place instead of in pavers. Wouldn't be good here near Galveston Bay, but up your part of the "woods" it might work out fine. The Google search on rammed earth floors brought up a ton of stuff.

From your Math teacher groupie in Pasadena, Texas.

Jay said...

Mr. Wells:

Here is an interesting technique for making your own floor tiles. Maybe you'll find inspiration from it.

http://www.hollowtop.com/cls_html/Stone_House.2.htm