We poured the concrete for the sidewalk, that was a lot more work than expected, and this ‘little’ slab took around ten 80 pound bags of concrete to complete.  It was a difficult area to pour with blue stone underneath which could not be removed and steps and concrete planter walls on the edges.

The mix was the concrete with some colorant, unfortunately the color was way off of what I expected, we should have done a test mix and dumped it out when we saw the color but we just decided to go with it and hope that once it cured it would look better and weather some. Well it did and was not too bad.    The colors do not match, but they do blend alright and add some color to a normally drab area.  The concrete was a bit too wet of a mix and it took forever for the surface water to evaporate off of it.

There is a steel wire mesh embedded in the concrete to provide strength.  Because some areas were thin due to the underlying blue stone (irremovable) I hope the mesh will keep the slab strong enough under any stresses.  Time will tell.

I was going to do a nice edging on it and brush it, but was so sore and tired after moving all those bags of concrete I just decided to go with a nice even brushed look over the surface.

It is not a beautiful piece of work, but it is certainly effective and since it abuts the well cover, provides enough room for a very important piece of yard equipment.  The charcoal BBQ grill!

We are planning to expand a patio out to the side of the house from the current pavers to make a little are to BBQ and sit down and relax on.  This will also effectively cover and disguise the well cap which is in place, rather than having to fill and remove the well.

Here are a few photos of the work.

Empty hole awaiting concrete

Wet concrete

Concrete initial cure complete and dry.

Related Posts

1. Weather Slowing Down New Front Sidewalk
2. Reactor Biplane, Copper Vapor Laser and ‘The Sidewalk Project’
3. End of March 2009