Update on laying the Flagstone around our pond.

[Cinnamon]

We made great progress yesterday. We hired a couple of guys to come in and help. We ran out of Flagstone :frisbee: We didn't have quite enough to do the area we wanted to. So tomorrow Heiko goes by the stone place one more time to get more! :lol: It looks so good! After we get them all laid out then I mortar them together. I am going to tint the mortar the same color as the flagstone. We put down all together 4,680 lbs of flagstone!! Whew! I was wore out.

Here are the pics so far!

http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/pamth@sbcglobal.net/album?.dir=/d021

Pam

[Jackie Ramo]

Sure looks like a lot of work. After lugging the grandson around all weekend I was thinking my back was pretty tired, but I'll not complain, I'm sure your's is even more tired.

How will you motar them in?

[ozzyrockman]

Looking very nice Cinn, sounds like Heiko is going to be making a Monday morning tele call. Can I make a suggestion on the mortar? Go with a bit lighter tint to enhance all that flagstone so it doesn't run together and so you can show how much work went into that project alone. :grin: Allen PS how are those fingers?

[Cinnamon]

Jackie the way you mortar the flagstone is as follows. You put the dry mortar mix in all the cracks. You have to make sure there is no cracks wider than 1.5". You fill in with small pieces. After you fill all the cracks, sweep any excess in the cracks. You give it a pretty good mist. Not running water. Then you go back and fill in more mortar and mist again. Twice is usually all you have to do it. Then you stay off of it for a few hours, preferably 12 hrs. It doens't take that long for the mortar to dry. Then it will be one solid piece :)

Allen my fingers are tough by now :lol: It is my back that is giving me problems! Thank goodness I didn't have to lift it all! I would have never made it. And as far as the tint you are right on making it a touch lighter. When you do it does accent each flagstone.

Pam

[Jackie Ramo]

Sorry but what is motar mix. I've found that our cousins south of that border have different names for things than we do.

[Rembrandt]

Morning all.
Jackie, Mortar mix is like conrete without the rocks. It is the stuff between bricks. Allen, I like the idea of off coloring the mortar for accenting the flagstone. Funny side note: It is a shame the pics don't have audio. You can hear the rythmic clicking of the flagstones as they make contact with each other only to be broken by the periodic soft "thud" followed by *&$@$#! !rofl
Some of those were definately "2-people" rocks.
Fingerprints?? What were those????
Rembrandt

[Cinnamon]

Jackie mortar mix is a fine smooth type concrete that is used to lay bricks etc. It is mixed entirely different than concrete. It is applied different also. When I built the Rock waterfall I used mortar mix to adhere all the river rock to the structure. You use the same thing on flagstone. It makes a one piece solid surface. :)

[Busy B]

Wow! That looks awesome :eek:

You just put landscape fabric down? no sand?

Blessings for nice level ground :grin:

[Jackie Ramo]

Thanks Rem, never thought of using brick motar but it makes sense. What do you use to tint it with... just a fund of questions that me :grin:

[Cinnamon]

Jackie there is a special concrete tint that you use. You put it on dry. You shake it over the surface then take off what you don't want. It is really a pretty easy process. Ask all the questions you want :) I can answer some of these :lol: I am definitely not a newbie on this subject !rofl

[Rembrandt]

...you can also mix it wet like icing. Some of the stones have some voids that will require special handling. Our old office had a guy next door that sold brick jobs and he litteraly had tons of samples left over from various jobs. Owners would have to choose a brick and then choose what color mortar they wanted. I wish we were still there. I did however get a major stockpile of bricks from him for free :-P before he moved. We use them for everything we can think of.
Rembrandt

[Jackie Ramo]

I think I'd have to mix it, this is right next to the pond and no speed bump so shaking soe dry tint around isn't the best thing. Mind I may just leave it natural grey, goes with the stones I have... :roll:

[Cinnamon]

I measured the pond area yesterday. With the flagstone it is 30 ' x 35'. :lol: Since we need more flagstone Heiko has decided to buy one more complete pallet, another 3,380 lbs of flagstone! Before long he will have to entire back yard flagstone !rofl So I guess we will have another work day for those 2 guys!

[Merlin]

Looking good Cinnamon :) ok yet another question, I asume that you have a sand mix under that cover, how do you ensure it is perfectly level before you lay your flagstones ??. I have laid two patios in my garden ( no cover, but will remember that as one has loads of weeds coming through) :mad:. I found that I had to level each stone before I laid it, impossible to do if you have a huge tarp covering over it . ??.

[Cinnamon]

Merlin that is a weed barrier that I laid under the stone. That will help keep the weeds out. Each stone does have to be level, no rocking as they will crack the joints or split in half. I judge the grade before we ever started laying the flagstone. As we were laying it I also had a 4' level to make sure the slope was not getting off any at all. Everything is sloped away from the pond so there will be no runoff in the pond. I should have said that is weed barriet not a tarp. My appologies Merlin for not being more clear :)

[Merlin]

No probs Cinnamon, I should have known it was not a tarp !bonk as Elvis would say " a fool such as I " :) . I am just trying to work out how you did it .

Did you level the sand /substance in small areas first then roll the barier over the top, then lay the stones for that area, then start on the next area following the same procedure, gradualy working your way along ???.

[Cinnamon]

Merlin a lot we eyeballed. We did use the level on some areas. It is not a perfect science haha. At least not the way I do it :lol: Some of the flagstone after we put it down had to leveled but not many pieces. Wet ground and a rubber hammer goes a long way :)

[Rembrandt]

...my two cents worth...
When we were pulling the flagstone off the stack, we separated them out as best as possible to their thicknesses to keep the areas as similar in thickness as possible. I do think that sounded redundant??
We worked on a hill and shaved the hill down as needed to keep the ground firm and gradually approached our target area. We sanded as needed but used it minimally. Not much room left for settling or shifting on this. As Cinn stated, the rubber mallet will be used for fine tuning the "problem children".
It is like a giant jigsaw puzzle being assembled to the rhythmic sounds of "clink", "clack", "clink", "clack", and the occasional soft "thud" followed by a string of {explitives deleted}! !rofl
We had fun but I wouldn't want to have to do this every day. Some day, I just know we will be finished. I finally came across my dream lead on the nautical rope I have been searching for.

While working a claim at a drydock/fabrication facility, I discovered what they do with the old ropes when retrofitting new barges, tugboats, tankers, etc. Federal and Maritime guidelines apparently places a limit on usage for certain vessiles regarding their tow lines and then they have to be replaced for safety reasons regardless of condition. Liability issues ya know.
Being the nice person that I am, :twisted: (shut up Cinn !bonk ) I offered to help them dispose of some of that 3" white rope.

...Oh yeah, I almost forgot, they throw them away as they can't use them any more in the industry. Considered 'expired'.
Rembrandt

[Jackie Ramo]

Rem, I'd not let her cement the stones in too hard, next year she will be after a bigger pond as the babies will have grown and another babie will have caught her eye or worse yet, they will have their own babies!!! :lol:

[Rembrandt]

Jackie,
I don't think I could handle another pond. I still have to recover from this one. Its not so much the pond, its all the goodies that have to go with it.
You know the story, if ya do this, then ya gotta do that. And if you then do that, you just have to add this, and so-on and so-forth. It just never ends.
My new rock motto: Why buy one when you can get two for twice the price! :grin:

That would make a catchy bumper sticker!
Rembrandt

Can you have fish speyed/neutered?
(cinn's gonna get me for that remark) !bonk

[Jackie Ramo]

Today I agree with you. I don't think I can handle another pond either. Still I will close the greenhouse pond tomorrow and will be back to one pond but we still hope to put a small water plant pond in the back with a nice stream waterfall... that will make 3 ponds...

In addition I would love to add an upper pond to the existing pond.... it never ends, trust me, don't cement in the rocks :lol:

[Rembrandt]

To steal one from ole Charlie Brown....
"Good Grief....." :(
I'm doomed.
I think I will go lurking in the deep end!
Rembrandt

[Jackie Ramo]

:lol:

[Busy B]

Depends on how much property you have Rem :grin:

It's an awesome looking patio so far tho.

[Cinnamon]

Busy property is not the problem at all! We have 3 acres :lol: !rofl It is a very big yard we keep manicured beautifully. :)

[Rembrandt]

???? Not a problem ????
Thanks Busy.
No matter how well of a job we do on the grounds, it seems we have to go back and do it again! The pond construction and then the reconstruction really ate into the yard upkeep this year, not to mention the pocket book.
Oh yeah, I still gotta get more flagstone. <sigh>
That "next pond" Jackie, will be way down the road.

....now I AM thinking though, we may experience a problem around Christmas time regarding power consumption of the pond in conjunction with the electrical load our Christmas display pulls.... hmmmmmm, I gotta think on that one. In 2003 we had about 72000 lights. !dude My Power grid (that's what I call it) is calculated to max out at 92000 lights.
Cinn picked up about 10000 extra lights cheap after the sales this past season, wonder if they'll take them back?
Yep, I gotta think about this one! :lol:
Wouldn't want "fried fish".

Rembrandt

[Jackie Ramo]

What is it about southerners and Christmas lights!!!! I swear all the big displays are not here in the ice and snow not to mention dark :lol: Actually the two of you put on a lovely display. I'm ashamed that we hardly did anything last year. Its too darn cold to go out and hang lights when you are old.

[Cinnamon]

Jackie now let's don't start talking age here gal! I probably got a few on YOU! I put lights up on my shorts and take them down usually in the same attire! :lol: Kind of hard to sing, "Dashing through the snow...." !rofl I have always loved Christmas lights. When my kids were little I went all out then too. All my kids are grown and gone but it makes so many people happy. That is why I do it. It is a TON of work but when I see the smile on a kids face and their eyes light up WHEW! Almost get teary eyed thinking abou that!

[Jackie Ramo]

See the difference is the warm weather. If I could work in my shorts in November I'd hang a few lights myself. But I hate people who don't take the darn things down.... stupid icicle lights in July...

[Dave in Innisfil]

In my research on "perfect pond edging", I was introduced to granite screenings. Evidentally, the interlocking stone people have determined that it is more effective than limestone screenings, and is more environmentally friendly. It's priced the same as limestone, doesn't leach, and is kinda pretty.

[Busy B]

Gotta be tough as nails...granite...priced the same? Go figure..

It's been 3 weeks Cin and Rem...surely there's some updated pics :grin:

[Jackie Ramo]

Busy I would think it would depend on the area you live in, granite is common here, the main stone.

[Dave in Innisfil]

After this week's nationally-advertised storm in the Barrie area (almost 20 years to date since the tornado levelled much of this town), our pond as predicted flooded our newly laid flagstone. Where I took the time to "tamper" the granite screenings between the stones stayed amazingly in tact, while the limestone screening test area suffered wash out. The p-stone test area stood the torrents of water well, but did wash out a bit. Definitely thumbs up to the granite screenings so far on durability under extreme conditions, and wayyyyyyyyyyyyyyy better looking one dried than the limestone. The flecks of quartz mixed in with the granite give each stone a sparkly outline in the moonlight. Too bad it won't work between the boards on the porch...LOL

[Jackie Ramo]

Glad you and the fish came out all right. I wish some of that rain had landed here. The ground is officially cement hard now and the grass has that August dead look.