For those of you who have never had the joy, digging out a section of yard to build a patio is WORK! (Even more work that reading a boring rant about patios!)
This past weekend, with some help from my friends Joe and Johnny, I excavated a very small portion of the 30' by 10' section of yard that will someday become my new patio. So far, I've succeeded only in destroying that section of the lawn and making several big piles of dirt along the back fence. The hole has to be dug about 8" deep all across the area and be fairly level before the patio can be built into it.
Clearing off the sod was the easy part. Most of the grass is struggling to stay alive anyway, so it came up quickly. Underneath, however, we found the shallow roots of the maple (best guess) tree 20' away. Digging through these (and hoping it does not kill off what is left of the tree) to get at the dirt below will take forever.
Now, I am working on digging a trench around the perimeter of the hole. If I can get that to the right depth, I hope to work my way toward the middle from there and get it all level and to the proper depth. I don't want to make the same mistake as the previous occupants of the house and end up with a buckled patio in less than two years!
