Redoing Our Front Walk

Our front walk has settled a bit over the years and, since we built it perfectly level, when the snow melts each winter it floods our front walk. All that water then freezes and we are left with an ice skating rink of a front walk for several months.

Ian has been installing patios, walkways, retaining walls and the like for a few years now and decided to take it upon himself to redo our walk and add a bit of a pitch to it so it will (hopefully!) drain into our driveway and then down to the drain in the road.  

 First we moved the two giant concrete slabs we use for steps and then swept the whole walk off making sure to peel back any grass and dirt that had encroached over the side pieces over the past 20 or so years we've lived here. 


 Next he began pulling up the patio pavers (with Evan and my husband's help too). We stored them on pallets so we could move them around and reuse them after grading the walk. 

 

Next we added some stone, compacted it, measured it and put the two big concrete steps back in place. 

Over the next week Ian worked on filling in with finer stone, leveling it the way he wanted, using the compactor to get a nice flat surface and began to re-lay the front walk.


 

It is just a gentle pitch to the drive now. 

We put the plastic edging back, filled in with polymeric sand in between the pavers, and cleaned up the rest of the yard/stone. 

 Ian laid down some loam and seeded it with grass seed.


Unfortunately summer is not a great time to grow grass though; we've either had extreme heatwaves or days upon days of downpours that washed so much of our grass seed away. We'll keep pulling up the weeds and working away at the seeding until it takes but based on all the rain we've had and zero puddles on our front walk I am very hopeful we won't have to deal with an ice rink on our front walk this winter.  


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Comments

  1. Updating your walkway really makes a home welcoming. Great job and lots of work too. #MMBC

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  2. You did a beautiful job! So good that you documented it all like this.

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  3. That looks like a whole lot of hard work but I’m sure it will be appreciated in winter when you no longer have to worry about flooding or freezing.

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    1. I am sure; I can't wait to see how it holds up/works out this winter.

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  4. I am so impressed! Hopefully it is as functional as it is beautiful!

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    1. I am always impressed when our boys show off their skills.... like how did they learn to do that?!

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  5. I am so impressed that you guys did that all yourselves. Visiting from SSPS.

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    1. Thank you; we are big DIYers here and I'm glad at least one of the boys seems to have picked up all my hubby's skills.

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  6. Ian is such a dear! Looks beautiful. Definitely a labor of love.
    This is something we will be undertaking soon. Not at the front of house, rather around our pool. We have a leak according to the water department and will need to dig to find the leak. After the dig will need to replace the pavers. Looking forward to such beauty as your walk!
    You are invited to share at Gma'sPhoto generic link up!
    Take care and best wishes.

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    1. Thank you! According to him this was such a quick and easy job... I'm so curious to see photos of other jobs he's done as I know he's build some pretty elaborate walkways and patios that have taken him a month or so to do. Our job took him 2 weekends!

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  7. Wow, great job Ian! It looks like a lot of work but sounds like you can already tell it's going to be an improvement for the winter.

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  8. Wow. That’s a big job but it looks great!! This weather is the pits for growing new grass. Hopefully fall will be better!

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    1. Yeah, that's what we're hoping. We were once told that fall is the best time to plan grass so we'll try again then.

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  9. This is great Joanne! What a good project and wise to have the walkway not be completely even. Have a good Monday!

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  10. It looks wonderful Joanne-great job to all of you!

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    1. I was just the photographer and in charge of watering the grass seed... but they really did a great job on the walkway.

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  11. I love it! It looks so inviting!

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  12. It's so nice having sons (and your husband) that are handy! You'll be so glad you did this for years to come.

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    1. It really is! I love having guys with skills around.

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  13. How handy to have family who know how to do a job like this. Our front porch steps used to freeze in NJ because of the gutters overhead. We didn't use the front door all that much but it was kind of like Home Alone : ) Looks like great work and the rain not puddling is a good sign!

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    1. We've had this freezing problem with our walk since we built the house and like you we just never used the front door all winter long but the boys park out there and walk on it every day so I think that's a big reason why Ian decided to tackle this job-- and I am not complaining one bit! Now at least I don't have to worry about some poor delivery person falling and breaking their neck!

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  14. This turned out great, nice pitch as well! #MMBC

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  15. It looks like it was a lot of work but good job to Ian with the little help from Evan and your husband. The end result is fantastic. I am sure the grass will grow back in time, ours hasn't done well with the heatwaves that we have had so new grass would stand no chance.

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    1. Yeah, we figure it will fill in eventually and we always have access to free loam and a loader so we can try again if needed.

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  16. That looks like so much work but worth it! We have a patio made out of those stones. I feel like we get a lot of weeds and need more sand installed (or sonething?)! I'm new to it. It looks great at your house. I know what you mean about this summer weather!

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    1. Thank you! You probably need to add another layer of the polymetric sand-- once you spread it and water it it hardens like concrete to create a barrier. We found that our patio (that we installed 20+ years ago when Ian was an infant) gets more weeds now too and we added another bucket of sand last year; it didn't stop them completely but it definitely helped a lot.

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  17. I love your walk!! I would never think about having a grade. Our builder did, though, so we don’t have to worry about it.
    https://marshainthemiddle.com/

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  18. What a great project! You are blessed to have such industrious sons (and husband too!)

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  19. Wow.
    www.rsrue.blogspot.com

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  20. Our walkway is fine, but our driveway has such a little hill, that it is a nightmare to shovel or even try to walk on in ice. I really want to figure something out (maybe talk to a professional)... yours turned out so nice!!! It is great when you know someone that can do it for you!

    Carrie
    curlycraftymom.com

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  21. I think it looks really great! Sounds like really hard work. You reminded me that I need to add some sand under my pavers in the backyard. (:

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  22. DIY skills to the rescue!! I love it!!

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  23. Truly fabulous. And you were smart to take photos ...it turned out great.
    Xoxo
    Jodie

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  24. It looks very good, and hopefully the grass will grow. I can already imagine how happy you'll be come Winter, that you fixed the front walk!

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