Backyard Patio in James Bay

In the backyard there was previously a half built patio and I use those terms lightly. The area was a sunken mess of random round stones, mud, and paver bricks. Only parts of it was paved at all with large parts just exposed mud and stones and the whole thing was uneven and sloped towards the house. According to the owner there was a drainage problem as a result of this with water pooling.

There were two main challenges with this project: drainage and access.

Typically there are two approaches to dealing with drainage: slope away from the house or use a catch basin and route the water into the perimeter drain. Because of the age of the house, there was no perimeter drain. Due to the height of the backdoor being a foot lower than the surrounding yard, it was not possible to do a simple sloped solution. A novel solution then was required. A well was built around the backdoor with the patio sloping away from the door. The well, however, was of a size that minimized the amount of rainfall it would receive as parts of it was protected by the awning. It was also small enough as to not take away from the patio space desired. It was, however, large enough to allow easy access through that door and also be safe. By doing this, an upper area was then built, also sloping away from the house, this time of such height and grade to allow water to drain away from the house but also be flush with the surrounding terrain to make access easy and safe and aesthetically pleasing. The well was constructed with Allan block retaining wall blocks and capped with hydro pressed slabs, which are of a higher quality than normal slabs meaning it will last longer. Colors were used to be aesthetically pleasing and match the existing vibe of the house and yard.

Access was a problem because the previous owner had done a poor DIY job where they placed large round river stones embedded randomly into the ground in an attempt to emulate a stone pathway. In effect it created massive tripping hazards as the stones were not flat nor were they properly embedded into the ground so much as kind of just thrown in. This made moving back and forth with a wheelbarrow very difficult. Nevertheless over time materials were moved in and construction completed more or less on time.

At the end the finished product blends in very nicely with the house and absolutely beautiful backyard that is there. The owners are looking forward to enjoying and exploring this new space with their young child.