Good morning. A little respite from the turmoils of the world as we bring our focus in for a moment, in to where we live, our homes and how we keep them homey and comfortable.
Many of us repair and do our own improvements, out of dire necessity (no dough to hire a pro) or for the sheer perverse joy of doing things ourselves. So we gather, hang out and gab about our stuff, and offer up help and encouragement to those likewise inclined.
We might have just the clue you need to solve an emergency in your own space, or the inspiration that leads you to trying it for yourself, be it an emergency repair, or a long-wished-for improvement.
Follow me over the fold and I'll share an ongoing project here at my home on the high desert...
So today I have some stone to show you.
Here's a nearby mesa. Notice the crisp white horizontal line of white?
That is sandstone, former sea-bed deposited over the millions of years this region was part of a vast inland sea. As flat and level as the ocean itself, this stone is quarried extensively by my neighbors out here, hacked out in big chunks and split into flakes of uniform thickness, usually one to two inches.
Called "flagstone", in this kind of application, pieces ranging from 1 sq ft to 10 or more sq ft are fitted together like a jigsaw puzzle to create a flat floor. Depending on one's aesthetic and one's patience, these pieces can be fitted quite close together.
The stones can be cut, either with a chisel, or with a diamond-studded saw blade, to fit with almost no space between the stones, or the space can be left more generous, and ground-cover plants can be encouraged to grow in and fill the gaps for a pleasing effect. Or the gaps can be filled in with "grout", just like tile work.
The stones can be laid on a concrete base, a slab, or on a gravel base, or even just on the graded and leveled ground itself with no concrete at all. The ground can even be contoured to change levels and the stones will follow.
The stones stack easily with no mortar needed, as can be seen in the ring around our fir tree.
I have to post this now, but I'll be glad to talk more about how this is all done.
Enjoy.