Decks, Patios, Porches and Docks - Brick Patio Grand Plan

Hi all. I'm new to the site. What a great place.
Anyway, I have plans to create a wonderful back-yard oasis away from the suburban city annularity.

Details:
Location: Erie PA.
Climate: Snow and Cold for 6-7 mos./ yr.
Property: City home with an 80x30 ft (perpendicular) back yard.

At the 9 o'clock edge (facing out the back window) there is a big, thick Maple that sheds its leaves at the second snow. They don't get raked (completely) until the following spring. This leaves the half circle under the tree (on my property) a grassless, dust bowl. Grass never grows here without someone to watch it’s every need. Also, not a ray of sun passes through the canopy--not one.

The Plan:
1. I plan to create a brick 16' x 20' tapering oval under the tree--which provides incredible shade in the summer. This will sit smack dab in the dust bowl.
2. A lazy 14'x 3' brick walkway leading from the back mudroom to the oval.
3. And another lazy 12'x3' brick walkway that leads to a 14' circle brick privacy sub-patio with lattice panels / flower vines / trickling water art.
4. I plan to use a 4” gravel base with 2” sand overlay—we get pretty good prices for bulk, as Erie has a port right on the lake with off-the-boat prices

(The no-corner design is crucial. It must be the antithesis of the angular, city house construction. All edges will be buffered from the lawn by a 2ft min. shade-flower, flowerbed.)

I’m not a land baron or company CEO. For this to happen, fiscally, I’ve made a friend of a local contractor. I currently have in my possession 2,700 (solid, 7-3/4" x 3-3/4") bricks from a demolished building sitting under 8in of snow in my backyard. All were hand picked for corner and structural integrity, (this took about 5-weeks that totaled 9 trips with my Pickup. All look good. I know that I will have some future spot maintenance consisting of some crackage & breakage; but the price couldn’t be beat—THEY WERE FREE!

My budget is going great—however, I am now faced with finding a method of keeping my ‘no-corner’ design. Anyone have any ideas other the plastic forms or brick soldiers? I was thinking of a concrete footer with 2-rows of finished cinders for a sitting wall in some places, but I couldn’t surround the entire perimeter. This also leaves the walkways.

This is my first patio---any pointers on the round form? Or any other aspect of the Plan?

Thanks.

yalcam,

Obviously you have done quite a good amount of designing this project and based upon all that you mentioned, it seems that I am speechless to suggest much.

I would do a serach on the internet for various design ideas that might fulfill what you are after. Without seeing what you are designing, as I like to see it on paper first when a a client already has a design concept, it is difficult to suggest anything. Your idea with concrete footer with 2-rows of finished cinders for a sitting wall in some places sounds good. It's different when it is a blank sheet and I can let my imagination go crazy, based on clients need and wish list.

Good Luck!

Doug. Thanks for the input. I'm no artist, but I'm sure that i can clean up one of the oodles of drawings that i have done in the past 9 months. My hands are tied on the ground breaking til spring.

I'll see if I can post it in the next day or so.

y

Yalcam, you won't be able to post the picture in this forum -- the HTML and vB codes haven't been turned back on yet. However, you CAN post it in the Architecture and Codes forum -- they are ON there. Doug will see it there.