Extend your living space to the great outdoors
by David Womack
The Gayly Gardner
We’ve made it to near the end of summer with good intentions to get involved in the yard. Well, maybe next year. Fall is approaching and now is a great time to plan and create an earth room, or outdoor living space.
A friend and I have been doing clean-up projects around their property. In doing so, we came across leftover materials from the house being built. As we walked, talked and shared ideas a fire pit became our topic, then a plan and now it's in their backyard.
First, we wanted to make the most of the space available. Just like inside the home, outdoor living spaces reflect who we are, our tastes and our needs.
Here’s how we made our idea of an earth room come to life:
The location was also chosen with fire safety concerns in mind. Limbs on the trees were pruned back and the area was cleared of old debris and leaves. Now that our area is prepared the construction can begin.
For this space, a tractor rim was used to form the ring of the pit. You can use any pre-fab cylindrical form then excavate dirt to the required depth. Now the subfloor materials: concrete, chat rock, crushed rock. Pavers were then placed to allow for airflow and drainage in the fire ring.
The tractor rim/cylindrical object is set and leveled; the leftover bricks are being used to build the fire ring wall. Constructing a double wall system will allow for the bricks to lock tight together. Contractors adhesive was used to hold the bricks in place. This adhesive can be purchased at your local hardware store.
We are now at the capping stage of our build. This is where you will need to cut (I used a circular saw and a masonry cutting disc from the hardware store) the pavers at an angle to fit and complete the cap.
Okay, it’s time to puzzle in the patio. This is where your inner creativity takes over. We gathered materials like bricks, pavers and leftover granite countertop pieces.
The earth room area was re-leveled and the longest pieces were positioned to create a sun pattern, then filling in between with the other pieces of materials. We used the chat rock to fill in the gaps holding them in place.
The earth room is almost completed. At this stage of the project you will need to raise the ground level to the edge of the pavers, offering a smooth and even appearance. You can add a hammock to intensify the relaxing mood of the area.
Here we have it, an awesome patio built from excess materials. Hopefully this will spark an idea you might have. The only item to add is some s’mores.
Copyright 2017 The Gayly – August 23, 2017 @ 11:15 a.m. CDT.