is under the trees and gets lots of leaves in it. The fountain leaks in back and the water keeps getting lower and lower, probably a hole in the liner somewhere.

So we are thinking of filling in the pond w/small red lava landscaping rock on bottom (lots of this in a garden we are redoing and I dislike it), then river rocks on top w/the fountain still bubbling up in the middle. Any suggestions on how to do this properly so that the water will not leak out, and we don't have to continue to refill the water level? Thanks for any ideas, I live in Wyoming so there is LOTS of snow in the winter and it is only used in the summer months.

Now we are also going to redo the front of the house w/a full length deck (eventually a roof over it). Have some cinder blocks, and thought about using wood decking over them w/the blocks as support. Do we need to place the blocks in sand to level? Or how should we proceed?

I recently did a small project that as you'll discover is pretty darn easy and can stop cracks from turning into bigger headaches.

If you have small horizontal cracks you can use concrete filler to seal them tight. Larger cracks should use polyfoam tubing as a filler then concrete filler on top-kinda like adding ketchup to a hot dog :).

Click on this link because I think you'll benefit from the tips as well as my headless home repair tutor video (hey, it's tough producing these short movies by yourself and plus, we're getting close to Halloween anyway) http://www.homerepairtutor.com/repairing-cra...

cracking the pavers. The renovation coping piece has a drop-down face that will cover the old coping, so you don't have to remove the old coping, just cut it back. The reno coping is then install over mud right on the top of the old pool border. The rest of the deck will be set on send. Just lay the pavers leveled with the reno coping. Check out some before and after pictures.

something unique, and we wanted it to match the existing barn and reclaimed brick patio. Even more – we wanted to make it from the left over recycled barn materials we already had on hand. The only other requirement was to make sure we had enough counter space on each side to be able to easily prepare food straight from the garden to the grill.

We finally decided on a simple straight line island design. 14′ long, with a 48″ grill and burner slide-in space in the middle. Each side would then be flanked by 5 foot overhanging counters. We made the width of the counter 34″ to give extra surface room to prepare and serve foods. With limited time before a looming barn party– we opted for a simple wooden top for now to match the farm table – however- as future time allows – we really want to replace with some stained concrete countertops.

THE BUILDING PROCESS

We first built a simple 2 x 4 stud frame, leaving a 48″ space in the middle and front for the grill and burners to slide in. We used treated wood for the bottom to sit on the brick pad – and then built the rest from standard 2x lumber. Next -we encased the inside of the grill area with cement board to protect the structure from the heat of the grill. Then sided the entire structure with more of the left over corrugated roofing and trimmed it out to match the barn.

All that was left was to slide in the grill – attach the top and the outdoor kitchen project was complete!

Jim and Mary - www.oldworldgardenfarms.com

how I prepped the concrete) are on my blog.

Also - this is my first post on Hometalk - so if I am doing it wrong...sorry! :)

a little work and paint we were able to transform our patio into a more inviting space! Please visit my blog for more details: http://keepcalmanddecorate.blogspot.com/2010...

A new concrete foundation was poured, leaving a two foot space that we have made look like a dried laid foundation, cementing from the inside and resetting the house upon.

The finale grade will be brought up to the top of the concrete.

My husband built me a beautiful fireplace surround, and we love it now! Here is the tutorial of how it did it:http://www.beneathmyheart.net/2012/10/how-to-build-a-fireplace-surround/