That’s what we said when we called Matt, the contractor who poured our concrete slab nearly three years ago. We hired Matt and his crew again for a quick project…
A pavilion!
Sam and I live in a beautiful place, yet we never spend any time outdoors unless we’re working. We typically enjoy the view from the comfort of our couch or kitchen table. We’ve been dreaming of an outdoor space where we can relax and be sheltered from the elements. We also cook a lot outside. Even throughout the winter, we use the grill a few times a week. That usually involves donning snow boots and a headlamp. Shoveling a path to the grill is often a prerequisite, as well as digging out the valve to the propane tank. These photos were taken back in town, but they are a good representation of what can happen overnight.
A roof would be a dream in the winter and a great source of shade in the summer. Currently, we don’t have a shady spot to sit in, or any seats outside for that matter. It will be nice to have a patio with shade, a dining area, and a comfortable place to sit. With those objectives in mind, we designed a small pavilion right outside the shop.
The pavilion is 14 ft x 14 ft. It has a single-pitched roof with 3 ft overhangs on all sides. The structure is open, but we’re going to put up a wall/fence on two of the sides to act as a wind barrier. It can get pretty windy here, which lowers the performance of the grill, as well as my comfort.
Sam and I wear closed-toed shoes all day in the shop and dream of feeling the breeze on our bare feet. Instead of more gravel, we thought it would be a treat if the pavilion had a concrete floor. We even designed the concrete pad to extend out from the roof to accommodate additional seating and a fire pit.
We chose the location for the firepit and buried a copper propane line from the grill regulator to the center of the firepit. Most likely, we’ll make our own firepit and end up spending more money and time than buying one, but at least the location is set. With both the grill and firepit directly hooked up to our 1000 gallon propane tank, we’ll never need to fill a small tank again! We also ran water and power to the pavilion.
Once we finalized the size and location of the slab, Matt and his crew came over to set up the forms and rebar reinforcements. They were done in just a few hours!
They arrived early the next morning before the sun came up. It felt like the middle of the night. Only a single concrete truck was needed this time. Since the amount of concrete was minimal, we had a dark grey dye mixed into mud. This eliminated the color/sealant step that we did for the shop.
Another difference was the finishing texture. It wasn’t polished since it’s outdoors and we don’t want to slip. Matt also cut the slab while it was wet to give it that clean patio look with radiused edges. Most indoor slabs (ours included) are sawn after they dry and have sharp edges. He also rounded the outer edges.
The crew poured some entry stairs for two of the shop doors.
They removed the forms while the stairs were fairly wet and shaped the edges. The stairs are a real treat. Our temporary pallet stairs were on their last leg.
All of this only took only a half day! Sam and I spent the remainder of the day setting up a cow fence.
The cows have been spending a lot of time up here this summer, and we didn’t want to take any chances. Sure enough, a group showed up that evening. We went outside to chase them away about a dozen times after that.
I tried to get the cats to defend their new catio, but they preferred to sit in the shade under the loader. I’m sure they’ll take over once we have a roof and some cushioned furniture.
The mud has since cured, with no cow (or cat) footprints. It will be awhile until we have a structure, but I was excited to test out the new setup. We moved the grill and smoker to the patio. The food is coming out better than ever, and we don’t have to worry about setting dead grass on fire when the pork is smoking all day.
We tried cooking more beef to deter the cows, but they’re not very bright. What is looking bright though is the future of our outdoor entertainment!
Speaking of all the mud, we attended the local Mudfest event this year. It was more of a dust fest, complete with drag racing on dirt lanes. Yes, that is a snowmobile.
But, the few mud pits were pretty epic. I think we spent more time watching excavators rescue trucks than actual racing. Check out this video of the mud bog winner!
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