More Repairs to Our Flagstone Walkway

Have you ever embarked on a home project that will NOT end? A year later and still dealing with repairs to our front walkway.

What seemed to be a straight forward repair job turned into a looong drawn out saga. The problem? Bringing in the wrong people to do the job. Has this happened to you too? Let’s go back to last year and I’ll recount my experience.

My regular landscaper/stone mason wasn’t available to do a flagstone walkway repair job, so he recommended someone he knew who had done quite a bit of work for him in the past. I was ok with that except that the “recommended person” didn’t do the job himself, he subbed it out….and so the saga began.

In Restoring an Old Crumbling Flagstone Walkway I talked about the process of reusing the stone we already own to repair the walkway instead of buying new stone. That was a great money saving idea and I stand behind that decision. The flagstone was still in great shape but the mortar was badly corroded and in need of repair. All the stones were removed, a new cement base replaced the old one and the stones were reused.

But issues started to creep up last year and additional repairs were needed – check out Update on the Flagstone Walkway Restoration Project.

Last year, we also replaced all the old landscaping in our front yard – Front of Home “Landscape Reveal”

Full Video on Youtube

Would you rather watch a video of how we restored the walkway, click HERE. I also how how the flagstone repair has held up 5 years later.

After the new landscaping was in place, I noticed something. Take a look at the walkway from this angle. Notice the gaps between the stones and cement base? What’s that all about!!?? This wasn’t noticeable when the old bushes were covering the area, once they were cleared, it became very apparent that the cement base wasn’t as secure as it should be.

This seems like a great home to rodents, snakes and other animals…not to mention issues that water getting into the cracks and crevices would cause as well.

Did I also mention that pieces of the mortar were starting to separate?! After only one year? 🙄

I made the mistake of allowing a sub – sub contractor to do the initial job, but my contractor is taking responsibility and fixing the mistakes.

Back at it again – cutting the stone to repair the cracking pieces of mortar and resetting with a stronger adhesive.

The walkway is long and pieces are removed and repaired.

This is the area where the cement base was not secure, you can see the crumbling base beneath the stones, looks like a sloppy job to me.

The guys worked in the rain to get the job done.

The pieces of the puzzle are put back together.

The cracks are repaired and filled.

I’m hoping this will hold for years to come🤞.

Some of the flagstone is a dark rust color which I like.

That’s a wrap…..for now 🙂

Have you had any similar experiences with contractors? Drop me a line.

Denise

XO

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