More Shades of Black (and a Lesson in Fractions)

The saga of black continues...

We have now painted about half of the windows in the house black. Thankfully we both love the General Paint Black Bear shade we chose.

However we weren't so lucky when it came to the shade of black for the concrete sealer for the new patio in the backyard.

Like we did last year on the patio in the front yard, we wanted to use a lightly tinted concrete sealer to accentuate the stone stamp pattern. Unfortunately the product we used last year was no longer available.

So Dave purchased a 5 gallon pail of clear concrete sealer from Northland and, at the recommendation of store, took it to Benjamin Moore to be tinted. He told the attendant that he wanted the sealer to be "barely black" so she agreed to only add a "half of a half" of the tint they would normally add - or a 1/4 for anyone good at math...

Dave took it home and promtly began to seal the concrete only to find that the "barely black" tint was very, very black.

Very Black

At least he was smart enough to test the colour where we will eventually be building a shed to house our bikes.

The next day Dave returned to Northland to buy a second 5 gallon pail of clear concrete sealer to which he added 6 cups of the black sealer from the previous day. Once again we did a test patch in a conconspicuous spot and thankfully this time the sealer was "barely black". Just black enough to highlight the texture in the concrete.

Barely Black

For those who are still folllowing the math, we diluted the tint to less than 1/10 of the 1/4 strength tint she originally sold us. That is 2/100 of the normal amount of tint they use. Something tells me she tought she was tinting paint and not concrete sealer...

Very Black on Left, Barely Black of Right

So anyways... we now have a beautifully sealed patio, 3 gallons of 2/100 strength black concrete sealer and 4.5 gallons of 1/4 strength black concrete sealer.

Anyone need some black concrete sealer?

Amy

I ♥ comments...

7 Years: 5 Decks

The other day I had the realization that Dave has built FIVE decks in the seven years we have owned the house...

 

When we purchased the house, it came with a ugly, rotten wood deck. The summer after we purchased the house, we replaced the rotten deck with a small stone patio. It was an epic failure, thankfully done with mostly free materials.

Deck #1

As part of the kitchen renovation, we built a new wood deck with pressure treated lumber.

Deck #2

Deck #2

Last year we replaced the small concrete steps to our front door with a new stamped concrete patio.

Before

Deck #3

Then this year we replaced a large section of dead grass with a matching concrete patio in the backyard.

Deck #4

Dave was not in love with the pressure treated wood on the second backyard deck and it had taken a considerable amount of abuse during the renovation. So when he was able to get a good deal on cedar deck boards, he decided that he had to rebuild the deck out of cedar.

Deck #5

I must admit I love the colour and smell of the new cedar deck...

But Dave has been told that this is absolutely the LAST desk he will build for this house.

Amy

I ♥ comments...

Backyard Blitz

As I hinted in my sneak peak, we have been very busy in the backyard this summer. Unfortunately life got in the way and it has taken me until fall to get around to posting our accomplishments...

It is amazing what you can accomplish with a deadline - in this case we wanted the yard ready for Dave's birthday party. There was no way I was inviting people over for a barbecue in a yard that looked like this:

Of course we started with the new stamped concrete patio to get rid of (some of) the dead grass.

Next up was the deck. Dave was not in love with the pressure treated wood and it had taken a considerable amount of abuse during the renovation. When he was able to get a good deal on cedar deck boards, he decided that he had to resurface the deck with cedar.

At the same time, he finally broke down and built proper steps.

To address the big gaping hole under the deck, he skirted the deck with tongue-and-groove cedar boards. No more dogs crawling under the deck and getting muddy! We did leave one board out right against the house so that Mylo the cat can get under the deck in case she is left out of the house in the rain and so she can ensure the area is mouse free.

With the deck done, we turned our attention to my favourite part - planting! Since deck area is almost completely shaded by the house I stuck with a combination of hostas, astilbes, azaleas, ferns, elephant ears and lily-of-the-valley. Against the fresh cedar mulch, I find that the combination is very reminiscent of the West Coast.

Keeping with the West Coast theme, we used the remnant black rundle stone from the raised flower beds to build a small inukshuk.

Our yard is now a small rain forest retreat in the middle of the pairie city - I am even successfully getting moss to grow on the trees!

Next we needed somewhere for everyone to sit. New furniture was just not in the budget for this year so we had to get resourceful.

The dinning set we rescued from Dave's dad's house and restored using a little teak oil and a lot of elbow grease. Although we do have plans to build a custom table with a granite remnant from the kitchen and replace the chairs next year.

The chairs originally belonged to my aunt but have been in my mom's house for years. We had borrowed one when we moved home since we had no other furniture in our living room. After scouring stores and kijiji for months trying to find an inexpensive seating option for the patio, I realized I had a free option right in front of me! I stole the second chair from my mom and found some striped outdoor fabric on sale for $10 a meter at Fabricland to recover the cushions. I was toying with the idea of painting them but when I put them outside I realised I liked how the bare wood complimented the cedar deck. I did break down and bought a garden stool from Sunnyside for $39 and two outdoor rugs from Walmart for $29. $130 for a fully furnished yard is pretty good in my books!

There are still a few minor details to be completed before we are done landscaping: the deck needs to be sealed, the front garden is only half planted, the arbours over the gates need to be built, the side yard and garden path still need mulch, the garden gate needs to be painted and installed, the concrete needs to be patched on the front steps and we want to build a second shed to store our bikes. But a lot of these projects will have to wait until next summer.

I also have a stack of beautiful fabrics waiting to become throw pillows, seat cushions and dog beds.

Vintage Blossom, Ikat Dot, Emilio and Mazescene, via Tonic Living

For the little remaining warm weather this year, we will be focusing on painting the windows and finishing the siding and trim.

...And enjoying our beautiful new back yard - Scout and Jersey definitely do!

Amy

More Concrete Fun

Between the dogs, damage from constant construction projects and being in almost complete shade, half of our grass is permanently dead.

After years of struggling to bring it back to life, we decided to throw in the towel, tear it out and replace it with a concrete patio to match the one we did in the front yard (here, here and here) along with a new sidewalk from the front patio to the back patio.

So when we ended up with a couple spare days off after our West Coast vacation, we set to work.

We started by renting a tiller from the Home Depot to tear up the dead sod and loosen the dirt. Then we dug down 6" where the concrete was to go - 2" of gravel and 4" of concrete.

Before a good portion of our yard was permanently covered in concrete, we decided to dig in a french drain system for our eavestroughs and water lines for a irrigation system - more on that another day.

Since the soil in our yard is so hard packed, we were not worried about settlement so we only put down 2" of crushed gravel in order to provide drainage under the concrete. Then we compacted the gravel with a plate tamper.

Dave was quite excited to get to use the concrete saw to trim back some old concrete around the chimney. Boys and their toys...

Once the yard was prepped, our super talented friend Dave came by this past Saturday to form up the sidewalk and patio.

Early Sunday morning, with an army of wheel barrows waiting, the concrete truck arrived. It took about two hours to pour, screed and float the four cubic meters of concrete.

My contribution? I was in charge of doughnuts and coffee. No construction site is complete with out doughnuts and coffee. However most construction sites don't have doughnuts from Jelly Modern Doughnuts. Best doughnuts ever...

Anyways... after the concrete was in place, Dave worked his magic staining and stamping.

With a thunderstorm threatening, we quickly covered the concrete with plastic and tarps and left the concrete to cure for a couple days. Tomorrow we should be able to remove the plastic, forms and residual stain to reveal the finished patio.

Stay tuned for photos of the final product!

Amy

Sealed

We took advantage of the warm weather the other weekend to seal the new concrete.

We are both ecstatic with how well the project turned out - especially how the amount of variation in the stain makes it look like natural rock. We can't wait till the spring when we will be able to do the final touch-ups on the edges of the concrete, install the brick on the front face of the patio like our inspiration photo and build some raised rundle stone flower beds.

Thanks a million Dave!

Amy


PS If any one is looking to have concrete work done - send me a message and I will pass on Dave's contact information. He comes STRONGLY recommended!

Best Laid Plans

Despite appearances and our best intentions, Dave and I are actually not very good at the planning part of renovating. Most of the time we actually just wing it and figure things out as we go along. For example our recent adventures with the front steps...

We knew we had to eventually replace our front steps to work with the new wider front door... but it was pretty far down the to-do list. Like somewhere on next year's to-do list...

That was until the neighbour lent Dave a jack hammer a couple weeks ago... then we figured it was kind of important to have front steps with winter coming and all... kind of hard to shovel snow off of concrete rubble.

Then while together hiking in Larch Valley the other weekend, our friend Dave, who happens to be a very talented concrete foreman, offered to help us rebuild the front steps. Complete with stamped and stained concrete.

That got us excited. We began searching the Internet for inspiration and stumbled upon this:

All of the sudden our simple plans for new wider steps grew into a new steps and a new porch and a new sidewalk. But thankfully Dave was up to the challenge.

Unfortunately the only time he was available to help us was that coming weekend. So we agreed we would do the form work and rebar on Saturday and then pour the concrete on Sunday. Great! We had a plan but that only gave us five days to get everything organized and complete the demolition.

Dave set to work removing the last of the old concrete (which ended up involving renting a concrete saw) and pulling out the old flower beds, while I was charged with the task of ordering concrete. Easy right - just ask the contractor building the house down the street. Ha! He just laughed and informed me that no one delivers concrete on Sunday and if I did convince some one to deliver they would charge a ridiculous premium. We didn't have much choice so I started to make phone calls...

Four days later, after pretty much exhausting every number in the phone book, I managed to find ONE company in all of Calgary willing to deliver concrete on a Sunday morning - GAL Concrete Couriers. Thankfully their rates were reasonable and they were fantastic to deal with too boot!

Saturday we worked well past dark to have everything ready in time and at the crack of dawn on Sunday morning, the concrete truck pulled into the yard.

By early afternoon on Sunday we had beautiful new stamped and stained concrete.

Sigh... It is no wonder we are always exhausted.

Amy