Expert: Bruce E. Johnson - 6/11/2011

Question
Dear Mr.Johnson,

Thank you for volunteering your time. This is a wonderful service!

I have a 10' X 16' area, currently dirt, that separates the family room and a small deck off of the master bedroom. I would like to put a pre-made, fabric gazebo there (Waterford Gazebo from Orchard Hardware.) The gazebo is 10' X 13'.

After researching "building a patio" and then pricing rock, pavers, concrete and stone in my area, I have come to realize that I cannot afford to do it the "right" way. As an alternative, I wondered about setting cinder blocks on the dirt surface (the soil is very hard-packed clay, very difficult to remove) covered with weed fabric (and with holes punched by each block) and leveling them away from the house, 1 inch for every 5 feet, as recommended. Next, I wondered if I couldn't cover the blocks with either plywood sheets or 2" X 4"s, with a 1" X 12" wood perimeter to hold it all in place.

I would make the gazebo floor just slightly larger than the gazebo. That would just leave 3' of space between the pool decking and the floor. I would put pots of flowers along the front edge, leaving a 3' wide path to reach the gazebo and some kind of "step" to step up into it.

Does this make any sense to you?
Thank you very much for helping me.

Answer
Hi Gail, you would be better off getting some precast concrete deck footing pads at Home Depot or Lowes.  These are 12"x12" pads with grooves on the top which allow you to lay pressure treated joists across.  If you install a row every 30" up to ten feet and space them 48" apart going the 16 foot direction then you can lay 2x4s on their edge across the pads and then 2x6 decking on top of that.  This wouldn't be any more expensive than using cinder blocks from what I gather about your design.

If your ground is hard enough you can also just use pressure treated wood made for contact with the earth.  This type of wood can be set on the ground or set into the ground as posts to support your structure.  Not all pressure treated wood is made for direct earth contact so you will need to read the label. You never mentioned what your actual budget was but pressure treated wood is probably the cheapest way to go.

Another inexpensive alternative is to buy 24"x24" concrete patio pads.  Each pad covers 4 square feet and costs about five dollars each.  I like these for "instant" patios.  You may need some sand to level them out depending on your elevations and the nice thing about them is you can buy four or five a week and build your patio as you can afford to.  Sometimes there are sales on this type of material and you can get them for three dollars or less.

One more idea, is to build a grid using the pressure treated wood I mentioned above using ten foot 2x4s running your ten foot direction and spacing them two feet, three feet or even four feet apart on edge with a 16' piece on each end nailed together with galvanized nails or screwed together with coated deck screws to make what looks like a wood framed wall laying on its face.  Then you insert cross pieces of the same wood in a grid pattern or an offset pattern of your choosing.  Once you have the grid built you level it to the height and slope you want and drive a few pressure treated wood stakes along side the grid to hold it in place.  Now you can fill the grid with anything you want or a combination of materials.  You can buy inexpensive concrete mix and do a few squares a week by dumping the mix into a grid opening and mixing it right in the hole.  Or you can fill each hole in the grid with crushed rock, pumice stone, gravel, even dirt with sod. i am attaching a simple sketch of this grid for your perusal.  Have fun with whatever you do and good luck!

Well that's about it from me, if you care to discuss this further please feel free to write again , sincerely bruce e johnson..bejohnsonconsulting.com