I recently got a home equity loan, and hired a contractor to remove my 20 yr. old deck; the new surface he has layed is a flagstone patio and pathways to the sides of the house. He also put some flag at the front door entry.
He bordered this with metal edging to hold in the decomposed and crushed granite that he put between the flag. I thought he would have dug into the ground for the base, putting in 2-3" of sand, so that the surface would be level with the grass. He said we don't do that, living in this No. TX country with heavy clay soil. He just spread a thin layer of crushed granite on top of the existing soil, (without grading any slope), then the flags, then filled in between with more granite. Then he said he put on a bonding agent ( a kind of "glue" I guess) which was supposed to bind the granite together.
The surface has had about 12 days to compact and for the gel to solidify. He said it would take 2-3 weeks to "cure" (??).
Several things have not happened:
* The top layer of "rocks/ sand" hasn't solidified, resulting in a lot of debris being tracked into the house, as well as the reddish color stain from the granite. It looks and feels like walking on a dirt and gravel path in the boondocks! Even if I sweep every day, it still tracks inside.
* In several places, it's not compacting. Every time I walk on the surface, I leave little heel prints (or the dog leaves paw prints) on the "dirt". It sinks as much as 1 1/2".
* The surfaces aren't level, creating pools of red mud when wet, and making it wobbly to put furniture on, and which I might trip on (??) in the future.
* Since they used metal edging, I now have a more involved mowing job each week, because of the need to use a weed eater/ edger. I may not be able to do the job most of the time, but being retired, I'll have problems finding funds to pay others.
Most of these problems are exacerbated by the fact that I have a slight handicap, and spend time occasionally in a wheelchair.
Help!
How does this situation get fixed? Should I ask him to redo the entire thing, using concrete or something? Should I ask him to tear it down and put in another deck? Should he apply a few more layers of "glue"? Should I be the one to pay for anything redone? Should I just sell the house?
Thanks for any suggestions.
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Did you ever get resolution to this matter? My husband and I are looking to do the same thing but on our own.
Thank you for your inquiry. I've learned the hard way that I don't EVER want to put crushed or decomposed granite anywhere near an entrance to a house; actually, I wouldn't use it anywhere except as decoration in a wall mosaic or something that feet would never trod upon.
My patio job had to be torn down and completely redone, using a new contractor, costing me twice as much. The original guy, BallPark Construction (and BallPark Homes) in the Dallas, TX area... took the money and ran, leaving me with a mess.
Nothing about it was up to American w/Disabilities code, leaving 3" drops at the doorways and impossible humps to maneuver over edges with a wheelchair; walkways that were too narrow for wheelchair to maneuver; the granite never solidified and tracked sharp little stones and mud all through the house; there was a lot of space bewteen flags and the granite never settled, meaning that it was slip-sliding all the time; the front door area had their poorly attempted "fix" of Quikrete poured and allowed to settle on top of the flags, making them milk-washed.
I could go on, but I think you get the picture. The granite looks pretty originally, but it should be used as a mix into concrete mix, if at all, and smoothed.
The whole thing has put me into debt; because of safety, I had to have it redone. The original guy, (Ball Park), refused to refund money. I could take him to small claims court, am still thinking about that one.
Bottom line, DON'T DO IT. Go with the traditional concrete base and flags on top with mortar in between them. Fewer headaches, and happier outcome.
Good luck.
My patio job had to be torn down and completely redone, using a new contractor, costing me twice as much. The original guy, BallPark Construction (and BallPark Homes) in the Dallas, TX area... took the money and ran, leaving me with a mess.
Nothing about it was up to American w/Disabilities code, leaving 3" drops at the doorways and impossible humps to maneuver over edges with a wheelchair; walkways that were too narrow for wheelchair to maneuver; the granite never solidified and tracked sharp little stones and mud all through the house; there was a lot of space bewteen flags and the granite never settled, meaning that it was slip-sliding all the time; the front door area had their poorly attempted "fix" of Quikrete poured and allowed to settle on top of the flags, making them milk-washed.
I could go on, but I think you get the picture. The granite looks pretty originally, but it should be used as a mix into concrete mix, if at all, and smoothed.
The whole thing has put me into debt; because of safety, I had to have it redone. The original guy, (Ball Park), refused to refund money. I could take him to small claims court, am still thinking about that one.
Bottom line, DON'T DO IT. Go with the traditional concrete base and flags on top with mortar in between them. Fewer headaches, and happier outcome.
Good luck.
