Driveway Update: Cobblestone Apron (Progress)

Last Friday, Dave & I took the day off and got to work laying our cobblestone driveway.  The fact that we are delusional enough to do this project ourselves just shows you how crazy we actually are (and let me tell you, we're nuts).  This D.I.Y. ain't for the faint of heart.  It's really hard work.  We've prepped for this project over the last eight weeks-- excavating, laying down gravel, and building our retaining walls.  We've also spent a great deal of time sorting these reclaimed cobblestones by size.  Why sort them by size?  Well, every single jumbo block is a different size (they were salvaged from an old Philadelphia street).  The irregular sizes will give the finished look even more vintage charm, and we like that.  But, if you want the rows to line up and create a smooth installation, you need to sort them.  We had groups of block measuring 6" wide, 6.5" wide, 7" wide, 7.5" wide, and so on...  The length doesn't matter.  Just as long as we could control the width of each row, we were happy. 

 

So far, we've finished about eleven feet of our cobblestone apron.  Three days of work, and eleven feet of cobblestone.  It's slow going, but the finished product is BEAUTIFUL and we're so proud of ourselves.  Here's what we've done over the last week...

 

 

Friday, August 24th -

 

 

 sorted cobblestones, ready to go.

Spirits are high and we're ready to begin work.  I've promised to be a good assistant and let Dave run the show (can't have two bosses on this project... and I tend to be very bossy.  So, on this project, Dave is the manager and I am the helper).  We're hoping for a productive day.  :)

the first row is complete.

We decided to run one decorative row of vertical blocks, then the rest of the driveway would be done in a running bond pattern.

 

progress

 

more progress

 

Dave, following the string lines and making everything level.

end of the day-- six feet of the driveway, done.

 

 

 

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Sunday, August 26th -

 

No photos of this work day.  We worked a half day and installed three more rows. 

 

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Wednesday, August 29th -

 

Dave installed about fifteen feet of our raised edge. 

This simple trimming has turned into our favorite detail.

 

 

 

I busted out a new pair of Tuff Chix...

 

And, we continued to lay ten more rows of cobblestone...

 

 

 

at the end of the day, we were left with this!

We've completed 11 feet of the cobblestone apron.  Only about 19 more feet to go.

close up of the cobblestone block and the retaining wall (made of Pennsylvania fieldstone), just after we hosed everything down.

 

 

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We'll be making more progress over the next week.  I think we have about 2-3 days of hard work ahead of us, and then the apron will be complete.  God, I look forward to that.

 

 

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