It’s been a long time since I have updated anything on this blog. I guess I got too busy, and possibly I was a tad bored with blogging. But, this latest project of doing our parking area in VAST Composite Pavers has me excited enough to take some time on this rainy Saturday afternoon to upload some photos from the project.
One day while reading an online article about Green Building I came across an advertisement for VAST Pavers. When I saw that the pavers were made out of recycled tires and plastic bottles I got excited. Not only do I love the look of pavers, but here was a Green paver, which is in contrast to the more traditionally concrete pavers. Connie and I knew we wanted to do something attractive with our parking area and here was the solution of doing it in a green way. I got so excited I asked VAST to be their dealer here in Sitka and the agreed. In fact Southeast Cedar Homes is now the 1st dealer in Alaska and this is the first time VAST Pavers have been used in Alaska. I’m going to be working hard to make sure that it is not the last time these very cool pavers are used here in Alaska!
The D-1 gravel has been removed and 1" minus drain rock has been added.
Forms are being built and rebar is being added.
We ordered brown dye for the concrete so I was a bit surprised to see that is was red. Here is how we get the wrong color. When I ordered the dye Stacy at Sitka Ready Mix told me to look online and get the number for the color off the color charts. So, I did and told her that the number was 160. So when the wrong color showed up I went back online to see who’s mistake it was. Can you believe that the website showed two #160’s? Yip, you guessed it there is a mistake on the website and if I had to bet I’d guess the real number should have been 1600. Oh, well once the concrete was mixed and we were ready to pour I figured the red would be just fine. And, I think it is.
I have to give praise where praise is due. Sitka Ready Mix's driver Daryl is the best!
I have poured a lot of cement over the years and I have to say that I use to hate it. I think that was because the cement truck driver’s always were putting pressure on everyone to hurry up and get the job done. In fact I’d have to say that most of the past drivers I have worked with were usually total jerks. But, not Daryl. He is by far the best cement truck driver that I have ever been around, and I’d have to say the hardest working one too. Daryl takes all the pressure off the guys that are pouring and he makes the job go smoothly. I’d also bet that he is more efficient than any of the Hurry Up Drivers. In fact I know he is.
Speaking of giving praise where praise is due I also have to say what good employees I have. Here you see Jud and Kurt stacking all the pavers in the garage in readiness for installation.Jud is the guy with the stack of pavers and the big smile on his face. Jud is not only one heck of a nice guy, but he can out work 2, maybe 3 guys any day of the week. He is one of those very rare guys who thrives on hard work, and seems to love it.
Now that is one heck of a stack of pavers!
The first pavers are starting to go down on the interlocking grid work. Note that the grids are on top of a permeable ground cloth. This will keep the fine sand from eventually leaching into the drain rock. Which could keep the drain rock for doing the job of draining the parking area.
This is the progress of laying pavers after the first 6 hours of laying them.
Jud glues down the pavers on the edge of the cut. And, in the background you can see one of the other Sitka contractors stopping in to see what the heck we are doing.
The compass rose is starting to take shape.
I’ll be posting more photos as the job progresses.
1 comment:
Thanks so much for sharing this, it turned out great. I wanted to get my own concrete pavers for both my front and back yard because I haven;t done anything to both in a while. It'll be a long process but it'll pay off in the end.
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