Have you ever considered performing home maintenance yourself? Maybe there’s a project that on your mind that you might consider experimenting doing it yourself…Given the vast resources at your fingertips, it’s never been easier to understand what’s involved and how difficult a particular home improvement project may be. I’ve heard several reasons why home owner avoid completing projects themselves…from I don’t know how, it’s too difficult, I’d rather pay someone to do it right, I don’t trust myself, etc. etc…I’ve heard them all and that’s just from the people in my personal and professional network.

Well, I’d like to help convince many of you who are on the fence to give it a try. There are a few things that I’d like to toss out there for you to consider such as…

  1. You don’t have to do it by yourself – Ask a friend and/or research YouTube or other online forums.
  2. Complete the steps of the project you feel comfortable with and cost out the remaining activities to a licensed professional.
  3. Cost out the activities to a licensed professional and watch each step of the process and ask questions as the project progresses.

There are several ways to acquire enough confidence to tackle some of the most intricate home improvement/repair projects.

For starters I want to walk you thru the process of one of my projects and the steps I took and ideas I considered before and during the completion of a backyard patio I think came out pretty nicely…

 

The first step is to decide on your project and mine happened to be a backyard patio. I wanted an area that I could store my gas grill, fire pit, and just entertain when I wanted to invite folks over to the house.

Questions:

  1. Do I install a wood deck, paver patio, or concrete patio? I decided on the paver patio because I wanted something that would be inviting, creative, cost efficient, maintenance friendly (I lived in Michigan at the time) and not require a large blood donation (cuts on my hands and body 😊)
  2. How big should it be? Again, I referenced some of the considerations above…it needs to be cost efficient, big enough to entertain, and not too big where it would take me a year to complete lol.
  3. How much should I budget? How do I calculate the costs? This is a GREAT question and probably one of the MOST important! Always give yourself a nice budget because when you start a D.I.Y. home improvement project, you will undoubtedly have ideas for things you wan to add that you didn’t consider in the beginning when starting the project. BE FLEXIBLE with your budget if you can, but if you can’t always allow for a little buffer in case something pops up that you didn’t consider…
  4. When should I start? Well this will be highly dependent on your financial situation and the location you reside…I lived in Michigan at the time and I had a small window to complete this project but if you reside in a warmer climate you might have a longer time window.

 

After considering the aforementioned questions, I was ready to break ground…

Step 1: I used twine to mark off the area with stakes in the ground…

Step 2: As you can see, I had my trusted supervisor with me to make sure I prepped the site correctly…lol. I used a step edger to square out the lawn.

       

Once I had the lawn squared out, I just removed the top layer and staged it out of the way. FYI…make sure you have identified an area to put the extra topsoil/grass in your yard or the local landfill.

Step 3: The next step is to dig out the area. How deep you dig will depend on location, size, purpose, etc.

   

Step 4: After the area has been prepped, dug out, and grass staged out of the way, you’re ready to fill in area with the underlayer and top it off with sand. I used crushed concrete but there are several options you can use, just do your research.

Step 5: Once the area has been filled and topped off with a level of sand, you’re ready to start laying the pavers. I actually decided to add a retaining wall for cosmetic purposes as well as it functions as a seating area as well. I decided to add some bushes around the patio to make it more welcoming.

     

Step 6: I decided to add a border of decorative landscape rocks as a final touch.

Step 7: Finished Product

So I hope this gives you some inspiration and insight into some of the steps involved in building your own patio.

 

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