Digging is starting to lose its charm for me. I expected a lot of it when we decided to DIY our patio, but I had a false sense of confidence after pulling up all that liriope last week pretty easily.
Next on the list was removing the old brick path. Seeing a few loose bricks along the edge made me tell Sherry “this shouldn’t be that bad.” Bad idea. That’s the exact moment I jinxed myself.
At first the bricks came up easily; the first half were simply laid on sand. I’d slip the shovel under an edge, pry, and whole rows would lift out. That success lulled me into thinking the whole job would be straightforward.
Then I literally hit a wall of concrete. The rest of the bricks were set in mortar. Initially a few hard swings with the sledgehammer broke them free, and I was back to prying out individual bricks. After a lot of prying, sledgehammering and hauling the bricks to the carport where I stacked them for a future project, I was exhausted. But there was still about ten feet of concrete to remove.
I almost gave up and rented a demolition hammer like the one that helped us remove the floor of our old bathroom rental, but decided to try my sledgehammer a few more times first. Miraculously, the concrete shattered.
That small victory gave me energy and I kept at it. As I worked, the concrete got progressively thicker—what began as an inch or so turned into sections about six inches thick. It looked like whoever poured it had used concrete to level a much steeper slope below.
To psych myself up and keep amused, I found myself muttering chants like “By the hammer of Thor!” while I swung. It’s silly, but whatever kept me going worked. By the end of the day the concrete was broken up, although I left the rubble behind some trees to haul off later when I had more energy.
I wasn’t done with the sledgehammer yet. The bottom step of an old brick staircase sat about two inches too high and would have interfered with the perimeter of the new paver patio. I spent another, less exhausted day smashing that step until the bricks were reduced to rubble.
With the liriope cleared and the bricks and concrete broken up, we could finally begin preparing the patio foundation. I followed a series of Lowe’s videos on patio installation, supplemented with advice from local professionals who lay pavers professionally. The next steps required about $40 in supplies—wood stakes, a line level, mason string and a hand tamper—along with items we already had like gloves, a yardstick, scissors, a marker and a shovel.
The first preparation task was staking out the patio perimeter so I’d know how deep to dig. We’d already outlined the desired edge with a garden hose, so I drove wood stakes at key corners and turns, making sure to set them deep since I knew I’d be digging around them.
Next I tied mason string between the stakes and used a line level to make the strings perfectly level. The goal was to establish where the top of the pavers should sit while ensuring the patio slopes away from the house to prevent water pooling. Based on the distance between stakes, I lowered strings to achieve a gradual slope—about one inch down for every four feet across the patio.
Stringing took longer than the video made it look. The patio was gently curved and the yard already sloped toward the house, so I was essentially regrading the surface to slope the other way. I also had to align the patio with existing features like the carport, deck stairs and fence. Eventually I had all my perimeter strings set and sloping correctly.
I added a few cross strings across the patio, inspired by a DIY patio photo set I’d seen, so I could check the center for any bulges or dips during digging. Those cross lines proved very helpful as reference points while I lowered the grade.
The digging itself was a grind: measure, dig, haul dirt, check the level, deal with roots, and repeat. It took about one and a half days—roughly six hours total—to dig the area down to 6 3/8 inches below the nylon strings. That depth leaves room for 3 inches of gravel, 1 inch of sand, and about 2 3/8 inches of paver so the finished surface will sit flush with the surrounding grade.
After digging I rechecked the slope with a level and then compacted the soil with a hand tamper. Renting a plate compactor would have been easier, but it would have required removing my guide strings. I decided to do the tamping manually and after several hours of hard work the dirt was compacted well enough for the next steps.
I’ll admit I sounded a bit whiny while working—this was tougher and took longer than I expected—but it’s done and I’m glad to have reached this stage. We now have a leveled, compacted base ready for deliveries of gravel and sand, and then the pavers themselves. As a small piece of project humor, the warning label on our new wheelbarrow tire made me laugh—just a reminder to keep the work practical and not try to take any shortcuts.
If anyone is up for helping haul and level the gravel and sand that arrived this morning, I won’t say no. In the meantime I’m gearing up to get back to it—more progress to share soon.