How to Build a Brick Patio in Your Backyard and Survive the Project

My husband and I are the perfect example of the new homeowners who on the first months living in the new house get the do-it-yourself fever. We painted walls, installed lighting fixtures, changed vinyl floors...all the symptoms of the weekend warrior syndrome. Until we decided to build a brick patio on the backyard. We just bought an above the ground pool, and it was dangerously unleveled, the water looked as the Niagara Falls ready to splash against the house. So we choose a corner of the backyard and measured it to support the pool, and we added some feet so we could have a nice patio around it as well.

Once we delimited the perimeter, we dug four holes on the corners for four stakes. We used the leveler and tied a rope around the stakes. That would be how deep we have to dig. And we started to dig. At the beginning, it went well, besides the incredible heat that hit San Antonio the first week of July. The first problem appeared when we hit rock. First, little rocks; soon, huge rocks, and finally, we couldn't dig anymore. So the area won't be as deep as it is supposed to be, oh well, we can live with that. We moved on.

Next step is buy sand, and cover the ground with it. Easy enough. The problem was that the gate in our fence is a single one. No room for trucks. So we rented a U-Haul for the day, we loaded with sand (40 dollars the full load), and we parked it in the driveway. With shovels and lots of patience, we shoveled the sand to a wheelbarrow, and took it to the back yard, where we dumped it on the area. It took us three trips to the sand place and three big and heavy loads of sand, and infinite trips from the front to the back yard, under an implacable sun. That was a Saturday, and Sunday we barely moved from the bed.