August-September 2013

After making my way back from my pilgrimage to Iowa, I decided it was time to convert my piles of interlocking bricks into a nice driveway. So I called in the dirt movers again to grade the driveway properly for drainage and level parking. I also had acquired some free fill from a neighbor building a house, which went into the low spot in the back of the yard where some water was still pooling when big rain or Spring thaw happened. I was on a fairly tight time-line, since I wanted to have the job done before we left for our big trip to Peru on Sept 16.

Grading the driveway, digging out the high spots.

Leveling and evening out the base for the driveway.

Landscaping fabric down and sand just placed on top.

Now it has to be spread and the fine grading and leveling done in preparation for the bricks.

The skid steerer making a trip to the low spot in the back yard.

The water hole filed in.

After the grading, landscaping fabric was laid down a truckload of sand dropped onto it and carefully spread and graded. This was the base for laying the interlocking bricks. By my calculations with the number of bricks in hand I could construct a driveway from garage front to street which was 14 ft wide. So I set about placing the bricks and driving them firmly in place with a 2 lb hammer and a wooden block to keep from cracking bricks. Started at the garage entrance and began to work my way toward the street. I used a brick pattern which although more complex, claims to be better at weight distribution and prevention of surface distortion/disturbance of the bricks. You did have to be thinking all the time to make sure you were following the pattern. When I had to make a bend in the driveway to finish perpendicular(or nearly so) to the street, there was a lot of creativity in cutting and fitting bricks to make the transition. This was a time and muscle/back intensive job, taking a couple weeks to accomplish and drawing lots of onlookers and comments.

First section of bricks outside the garage door.

Continuing on down the driveway.

Looked out my bedroom window one morning and a peacock was looking in. Here as it went on its way.

More progress with bricks.

Looking down the driveway, have made the bend in the path.

Sideways view of the work in progress.

Almost to the end.

The jagged edge at the road.

Finished edge at the road. Note the blocks in place for retaining edge.

In order to keep the bricks from “walking” outward with vehicle movement on the the surface, I decided to install a mini-retaining wall on the edges. I happened to have a pile of slightly damaged cement blocks from the primary construction of the house still setting back by my tool shed. So hauled them up with my lawn tractor and trailer and dug them down around the edges so the tops were just flush with bricks. The strategy then was to fill the cores and the tops of the blocks with vibrated concrete, giving a strong border extending 8 inches below brick tops. I also had enough bricks and blocks to install a brick walkway from edge of driveway to edge of breezeway.

Hauling cement blocks from my storage pile for the retaining wall at the edge of the driveway.

Cement mixer and trailer of gravel to make the concrete for the retaining edge.

Bricks in place and retaining edge being built. Cement vibrator lying on the bricks.

First part of the sloped edge at the roadway poured and being finished.

Sloped edge poured, vibrated and troweled.

Working up the easterly edge of driveway pouring concrete into the retaining edge.

Setting down the connecting walkway to the breezeway.

Cement working area adjacent to the connecting walkway

Brick and retaining edge on walkway completed.

Concrete work continued apace and before I knew it it was approaching travel time again, this time our adventure to Peru. Elena arrived from Newfoundland, had a day of recovery and then we did a lightning trip across the border to do some Bank business, allowing her to have an interac card to get Yankee dollars at ATMs when we were traveling. The driveway brick and retaining edge work was all complete cleanly before the run up to travel. Then the US excursion morning before flight to Peru, that evening we drove to Toronto, staying in an airport hotel, leaving the car in long-term parking and taking a shuttle to the airport. Just over 2 weeks of incredible adventure in Peru, Lima, Macchu Picchu, Cusco, Lake Titicaca, Arequipa and home.

Driveway complete except for sealing. Ready to travel!

Grass in the front yard beginning to look like real lawn.