After living in my house for a almost a year, a few things started to bother me—especially the carport, where we spent most of our time watching baseball. Since the house was built in 1954, the concrete was cracked and uneven. And, it didn’t help that we lived downhill, causing rainwater to pool next to the concrete creating a muddy mess.
If I could only get my hands on some flagstone….
Luckily, while visiting our friends in Ila, GA, near Athens, my wish came true. Chris said, “Hey, we know where to get all the scrap granite pieces you’d ever want. Wanna see it?” My eyes lit up…hell ya, let’s go!
We came home with a few hundred pounds of native Georgia granite flagstone. Apparently, Georgia granite is used to make most of the gravestones in the country and is home to many quarries. The tombstone makers use what they need then dump it.
I began digging out the red Georgia clay about a foot deep and along the edge of the concrete creating a base for the stone and an adequate area for a French drain to house all the rainwater.
I picked up a truckload of clean crushed granite from the local landscape supply, filled the hole with #57 stone, tamped and leveled it, laid a layer of commercial fabric barrier (which I only use for rocks) then laid 2″ of granite sand to lay the stone.
Soon after fitting and leveling the flagstone pieces, I realized this was just the beginning. There were still several issues to address, but for now, it extended the carport and kept my loveseat from getting water damaged.
Little did I know, this was just the first of many stone projects. A patio with a retaining wall around it, along with replacing the broken concrete in the outdoor family room with flagstone, would make a huge difference.
