The Patio 4: Laying a foundation

It's starting to come together.

Packing the gravel.

We designed the steps to build into the stone wall, this will create a great impact.  Notice the grading on the steps slopes at an angle - once the framing goes in at  90 degrees it will make sure the front of the steps get filled with concrete.  

The plan. 

Chatting with Max, he's the Platte Woods Street Commissioner and overall neighborhood handyman.

I'm focusing on not destroying my driveway or flipping the skid loader- Mark is much better at running this thing.

Shooting grade, as they say, to ensure proper drainage.  This is a key step in the process as you can see the house is directly behind the future patio and we need to keep water flowing away from the basement.

Mark teaching me the steps in determining grade. 

My younger brother Daniel also helped this weekend too, sorry no photos.  Thanks bro!

We added drainage tile to run along the stonewall.  The wall was built with no drain ports so water comes from the bottom of the wall keeping the edge of the concrete damp.  This 'tile' is actually a perforated tube wrapped in a fabric, the fabric filters mud from seeping in and clogging the pipe.  Oh the photo looks foggy because it was cool inside and once the camera hit the intense heat outside it completely fogged over - a heat advisory was in effect