after 8 wks of pondering

Remember way back at the beginning of December when Land Design Associates was working on the front walkway? While here, they also dealt with this ugly crack in the concrete that I showed you before…

crack in front of steps

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Yep, that one. There was much conjecture about what we would do about it. After considering the options, David settled (surprisingly) on the idea of insetting beach pebbles like the ones we have around our house…

our beach pebble border

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

They look pretty nice when you clean the dust off…

beach pebbles up close

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So we crossed our fingers and let the boys go at it. There was an impressive display of dust…

concrete getting scored

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

An incredible amount of sledge hammering…

concrete getting pounded

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The prying up of amazingly stout concrete…

prying up the concrete

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And eventually there was a welcome mat-sized spot to fill with new concrete…

getting filled with new concrete

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Topped off by concrete with a dark stain to match the beach pebbles…

topping off with stained concrete

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Followed by the beach pebbles themselves, getting their tops as level as possible…

leveling stones

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then, voila! Beach pebble welcome mat where there once was a crack!

stone welcome mat finished

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So it doesn’t look too bad, right? I mean, sure, it’s a little gloppy in spots (especially along the front curve. But in theory we can rough that out.)

a closer look

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

However…

ugh, a new crack!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I just couldn’t deal.

All that sawing and pounding action took its toll, I guess. Granted, the new crack is much smaller than the old crack. But water will work its way in over time and freezing and thawing will surely make that crack bigger. Yay.

I’m not going to think about that.

LA LA LA LA LA LA LA LA LA LA…

hmm, not too bad i guess

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tags: , ,

Leave a Reply