Shower 7 Point Oh

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The outdoor shower went through a major metamorphosis this weekend. It began the weekend as a cozy 6' on a side for a total of about 36 sq ft. It's been that size since the first 4x4 was cut the wrong length. That was my birthday weekend some years ago when Mary came down and Greg lent us his miter saw.

Since then it's gone through many iterations. Pallets formed the original floor but rotted away much more quickly than I thought they would. About three years ago Aaron and I went twenty miles up 1-35 to a landscape supply place and purchased 900 pounds of flagstones and another 350 pounds of pea gravel.

A team of great folks put in the sandstone flagstones and made the floor wonderful. It made a huge difference and was such a giant upgrade that I think it's safe to say we had attained Shower 4 Point Oh with all that work.

Last year I replaced the tarp walls with bamboo. As it turns out that stuff has been great. I suspect after next year's season it'll have to be replaced. But I like it better than wood walls. And wood walls would mean another giant chunk of work and I'm so not ready for Shower 8 Point Oh yet.

Over the last couple of years we've also decorated the enclosure with lots of plants. I put the ficus trees out there a couple of years ago. It was a nice addition. But by last year the oldest of the trees had filled out so much I bet it took up 9 of the 36 square feet. So it didn't get to live in the shower last summer.

The lack of home for the big ficus was a major impetus for the upgrade. The other is feet. Specifically wet feet trying to get into clean jeans. In the 6' sided square configuration no area was left untouched by water. There was no easy way to get long pants on without at least risking getting the bottoms wet. That did not please me. Hence...


We've added about 25 to 30 additional square feet. If I had the iPhone app which somehow can measure short distances I'd tell you for sure. But 25 to 30 is close enough. The shower has now gone from a 6' square to a 6'x10' rectangle. There's a large dressing area to the side of the main showering area. And, Viola!

The big ficus is back home in the shower and acts as a partition to keep stray water drops from invading the "dry" space.

Many thanks to Kelsey and Brandi who lent Bruce and me their truck. I still owe them for gas. Bruce and I went twenty miles up the highway to the place Aaron and I had gone years before. We picked out a bunch of sandstone and got 7 (seven) 70# bags of pea gravel and 3 of river rocks. In total it was a little under 1000 pounds. Driving home was interesting.

Michael's tom-terrific wheel barrow was the star of the rock cartage from the street to the back yard. Bruce did a Herculean job of moving all that stuff. And if Claire hadn't taken over my gloves for the last round I think I would have collapsed.


Paul and Patty got the bowl rolling. If they hadn't walked up at 1:30 Sunday afternoon I might never have gotten up from the picnic table.

We denuded the shower. Took out all the plants and hanging things. Then all the flagstones. That would be the 900 pounds of flagstones from version 4 Point Oh mentioned above. That's about 10 big flagstones. 10 stones-No wonder they seemed heavy.

Then the raking began. The idea was to rake the pea gravel over into the dry area of the shower. As it turns out there was a lot of gravel. I think it's been pressed into the soil over the years. But we raked and scraped old grass roots and generally redistributed what was on the floor. Patty's eagle eyes saved most of the good river rocks from being packed in with the pea gravel.

Pauly and I bolstered up the moisture barrier against the side of the house with rocks and gravel and plastic. Then we dug a cool little channel to draw water away from the wall. Paul did much important scientific testing of the flow. It's perfect.

We spread out a couple of bags of the pea gravel and then started placing the flagstones. I think Bruce entered to lend his strong back about this time. Once again we moved the aformentined 900# of sandstone. This time though we had the additional 498 pounds Bruce and I bought the day before.

Ian and Lindy were superlative flagstone placers. They jimmied the stones down into the pea gravel and they're all incredibly perfectly set in. You'll see the pattern created in the picture below. More so even than just level, all the big peices got evened up so ajacent flagstones are at the same height. You can actually stand with a foot on two stones and not even know. Really well done.


After being an integral part of the flagstone placing crew Patty and Paul called it quits. They did a great job and left us all in good shape.

After the flagstones were seated Lindy took especial care with the interstices. I love that word. She filled them in with the bigger river rocks. Then coming behind with more stones and the pea gravel were Bruce and Ian. Then the smooshing and sweeping began.

Our chief Calking Officer took over that assignment once the floor was pretty well set. Many thanks to Claire who figured out how to use the caulk gun and armed with a wet rag, caulked all the - wait for it...here it comes again-siding interstices. No big deal but Kit, my brother and our Shower 7 Point Oh Special Consultant for design and execution, said that if I was going to expose the outer wall of the house I needed to caulk in between the abutting asbestos shingles. Thank you Claireeeee.

Enter Chris who carried most of the original 900 pounds of sandstone druing the run up to Shower 4 Point Oh. He was kind enough to throw out all the nasty old rugs. YUCK what a service.

That leaves the portal installation and overall stabilization accomplished by Bruce me for another post. More pictures to follow as well.

All helpers and other neighbors are, as always, welcome to enjoy the shower any time. But please, no walking down the street in a towel.

Thanks x 10 to all who helped; this time, last time, any time.