How to Install a Base for Natural Stone Patios

In order to create a firm foundation for your stone patio, you generally have to start by digging. Sorry. Its almost inevitable. However, if you plan on creating a raised patio, you may only have to dig the base for the wall you'll use to raise it.

Before building your natural stone patio determine the best place for your patio.  Many patios are ajacent to the house. This allows for easy transfer of food and supplies from the house to the patio during dinner parties.  If you do choose to place the patio adjactent to your house, leave a few feet between the bulk of the patio and the side of the house. You can soften the edges of the patio and feather in the height difference between the house and patio using various plantings. Without plantings, this area could appear stark.

When determining your patio's position, consider various views: go inside your house.  Look out your windows. How will your patio look from inside?  How will your patio appear from various places in your yard, from yard entrances?  Your inside and outside vistas should be rewarding to view. 

What views will your flagstone patio offer?  Are there gardens or features that you would like to enjoy while sitting on you patio?  Will you add water features or planters that can be enjoyed from the patio?  Place your patio accordingly.  Spray the outline of your patio on the ground.  Draw another line 4" outside your patio outline. 

If you are going to create a patio more than one hundred square feet, you won't want to do this on your own. All soil gets heavy after a while. Clay, is horrendous.  Sometimes, it is easiest to till the soil before you remove it.  Remember, if you have to move the soil a significant distance, or need to dispose of it, you will need to load it into a wheelbarrow.  Don't overfill that barrow or you will tip it and have to reload it.

So, Time to Start Digging.  Dig along the outside line using a flat shovel, working from the area furthest from the soil's final destination.  You don't want to traverse areas you already dug out.  The wheels of you wheelbarrow will bog down in any loose soil and getting it out of the hole you've dug out will not be easy. 

Keep in mind, you have to put that soil somewhere. If you have any low spots on your property, consider using the top soil to fill these. Usually, the topsoil is only three or four inches deep. Anything below that level is usually useful only for creating raised areas, mix this soil with compost for planting, or filling areas in which you will never plant.

At my own home, I mixed the soil from the hole with compost to create a mounded garden bed.  This is preferable to removing the soil from the sight, if at all possible.

Finding a company that is willing to haul away fill soil, any soil not immediately useful for planting, can be a challenge because they need a place to dispose of the soil.  Disposal sites are limited.  If you must remove the soil from the site, look on craigslist.  I have found many people looking for free fill soil.  You just have to get it to their site.

Digging your patio or walkway base to the right depth and width is essential.  Determine the range of thickness of your flagstone.  Most natural flagstone comes in thickness between one (1) inch and three (3) inches. Generally, it will be sold in range between 1-1 1/2" or 2-3", with a wider actual range to be expected. It is always easier to handle thinner pieces because they are lighter weight. However, keep in mind, thicker pieces are less likely to break if dropped. In addition, the joints will set more firmly with thicker stone. Thin flagstone is best used in mortared applications. Most 2-3" thick flagstone covers between 60-90 square feet depending on the thickness

Add the greatest thickness of the flagstone (i.e. for 1-2" stone, you will use 2") to the depth of the road gravel or crushed concrete base, generally 4-6" deep and the depth of the bed of "chips n dust" or stone dust in which you will lay the stone (1-2").  Plan on digging approximately 8-10" deep.  Better to do the extra work now than to watch your hard earned patio collapse a few years down the road because the base was not deep enough.

I generally dig an area 4" wider on all sides than the finished patio will be.  This allows the crushed stone base to support the edges of the patio sufficiently.  Remember to slope the subsoil away from any buildings.  You don't want water collecting against the foundation of your house.  Make sure to eliminate any low spots that could fill up with water during winter and cause frost heave.  Use a landscape rake to level/smooth the foundation soil. 

Yes, this much digging can be difficult.  Especially if you are digging by hand or have to move the soil a significant distance in a wheel barrow.  The soil removed from a 100 square foot patio will be 2.5 yards or 3.5 tons, minimum.  You will be bringing in just as much material.  Don't let this discourage you.  Take your time.  Bring in help if needed.  The end result can be well worth the effort.

Once the soil has been removed to its new location, start bringing in the gravel or crushed concrete.  I prefer to use crushed concrete.  It is recycled material and compacts better than road gravel which has rounded stone.  Place 2-3" inches of crushed concrete evenly across the patio area.  Hose down the crushed concrete with a nozzle set on "shower".  Too much or too little water and the base will not compact properly.  You can tell when the base material is properly watered by taking a handful and creating a ball.  No water should drain out and the ball should hold together fairly well.

Next, compact the first layer of crushed concrete.  It is best to use a plate compactor.  Tamping by hand can be exhausting and leave your arms and shoulders hurting for days after.  In addition, most people can not muster enough strength to compact the stone sufficiently.  You may still need to use a tamper in areas the plate compactor cannot go: corners and tight curves.  You can rent a compactor for four hours at most tool rental places including Home Depot.  Run the plate compactor over the entire area, starting along the outside and working your way in.  Repeat this 2-3 times. 

Lay down the second layer of crushed concrete and repeat the compaction process as mentioned above.  Make sure to eliminate any dips in the stone base.  To fill dips, use a shovel to add crushed concrete.  Raking with the tooth side of a garden landscape rake will sift the stone and separate the larger and smaller particles.  Avoid this.  Once all the dips are filled, run the compactor over the patio base two more times.

Install aluminum edging along the outside of the patio area, remembering to move the edging in 3-4 inches to allow for proper support of the flagstone.

Finally, spread two inches of chips n dust or stone dust.  Compact this layer as well.  As you lay down individual pieces of flagstone, you will need to remove or add to this top layer according to the thickness of the pieces. 

Coming soon: How to Install Flagstone.

Good luck.

Pictures will be added soon.

If you have any questions, or would like assistance in designing or installing your patio and live in the Grand Rapids, MI area, feel free to email me at omegabrickandlandscaping@hotmail.com or call Brent at (616) 328-3258.
 

Building a Raised Paver Patio

Creating a landscape design with a raised paver patio, built against a wooden deck, requires careful consideration to ensure long-term success, stability of the project. The first detail to tackle is the question of how raise the paver patio.

 

 In this project, we chose to use large (800-1500 pounds each) Michigan boulders.

Landscape fabric was attached to the deck using 2x1's and draped against additional 2x12 treated boards to retain the crushed stone we used as a base for the patio.  Landscape fabric was also used to retain the stone behind the boulders. 

When choosing a landscape fabric for use in hardscape projects, be sure to find a product that has a 25-30 year guarantee.  You don't want the landscape fabric breaking down and ruining your patio or wall prematurely.  Landscape ideas need to be executed with care and quality products.

Brussel Block Outdoor Kitchen and Entry

As I mentioned earlier, I was able to wrap up two hardscape projects this past December thanks to the incredible weather here in Michigan.  The first project was for the Costantinos in Caledonia.  The second was a collaboration effort with Shawn Kenyon, owner of Precision Remodeling of Rockford, Michigan. 
I was called in to install the hardscape for the new outdoor kitchen and front entry for the Hughes in Cascade. 

This outdoor kitchen includes a grill, sitting walls, counters, a built in firewood box, and a single 24" pillar.  This spring, I installed a Forno Bravo Casa2g-90 pizza oven, encasing it and the stand in a  brick and stucco facade, with a number unique tiles inset on the stucco chimney and stand.  This oven is now ready to bake delicious pizzas, breads, and any number of other dishes.  Temperatures inside reach 1,000 degrees and can hold its temperatures for long periods of time thanks to the three inches of insulation wrapped around the exterior of the oven.

Home Made Bread baked in the new pizza oven

I used an 8-10 inch chips n dust base for this Brussel Block Dimensional wall system, as well as landscape fabric for extra stability, because the subsoil was softer than most of my previous installations.  Compaction using a plate compactor ensures this wall won't shift during Michigan's generally harsh winters' freeze and thaw cycles. 

I used Rosetta Stone for the counter tops in this outdoor kitchen.  These were cut to size using a concrete saw.  Capstones for the sitting walls are Brussel Block Dimensional coping.  A paver saw was used to trim wall blocks as needed, followed by hand-trimming using hammer and chisels to blend the cut blocks with the uncut tumbled wall blocks.

Narrow gardens will be installed around the base of the walls to help soften the edges.  The lawn will also be reseeded early in the spring for optimal establishment.

The front entry was built using Brussel Block Dimensional wall stones and Brussel Block pavers.  The old wooden steps and deck have been replaced with wide curved steps, a deeper paver patio and sitting wall.  I love these steps; seven feet wide, six inches high.  These are easy to clear and easy to climb.  No slipping or loosing your footing.  The wall running on the outside curve of the wall makes a beautiful handhold.

This short wall to the left of the entry was also relaid and a new complementary capstone installed.

Polymeric Sand: Controlling Weeds Between Pavers

Over the last fifteen years or so, I have installed numerous brick and stone patios, walkways and driveways. Here in Michigan, most paving is dry-laid, that is, there is no concrete or mortar involved in the installation process. Because concrete and mortar tend to break up over time due to the freeze thaw cycles in this cold climate, it makes sense to use a flexible base and joint filler. Until a few years ago, I used either baby sand, which tends to washed out too easily, or rough-graded sand to fill between concrete or clay pavers. I used chips n dust or stone dust or slag sand to fill between natural flagstone. Rough sand and the fillers I used between flagstones worked fairly well for keeping the joints filled and the pavers from shifting. (Of course aluminum or plastic edging is necessary to keep the edges of each project from shifting outward, but that is another subject). The real downside of these joint-filling materials is that they don't keep weeds down. And yes, there is some washout over time.

Then, a few years ago, I started using a fairly new product: polymeric sand. This type of sand can be purchased pre-mixed for small projects, or added to dry sand and thoroughly mixed for larger projects. Polymeric sand creates flexible, porous joints. The polymer binders in the mixture keep the sand particle continuously adhered one another. Though this product is significantly more expensive than straight sand or stone products like those purchased at sand/gravel pits, there are two major benefits. First, polymeric sand remains where it is placed. There is no washout of this product. Second, polymeric sand creates a barrier to burrowing insects that tend to loosen and expel sand from between joints, and weeds that would otherwise germinate and grow between joints. It is most efficient to use polymeric sand between joints when initially installing a brick or stone paving project. However, it is also possible to replace other joint-filling products with polymeric sand if your product is already in place. "Simply" sweep, blow, scrap, or power wash the sand or stone from between the joints of your pavers. Remove the old sand/ stone. If you have used water to clean out the joints, make sure the pavers have dried completely before putting down polymeric sand. Most of these products tend to stain surrounding pavers if they come in contact water. For this reason, it is necessary to sweep or blow off excess sand before moving on to the next step. Once the final paver compaction is completed, finely mist the entire paved area. This will moisten the top layer of the polymeric sand, thus adhering those grains to each other. Subsequent rain or irrigation will filter down into the joints further joining the particles to each other, ensuring proper adhesion. The joints will look like they have been mortared if they are fairly wide. To the touch, they will even feel mortared. However, scraping or otherwise manually agitating the polymeric sand would loosen it without damage. Once wetted again, the sand will settle back into place and adhere as before. No more weeds or washout.

Warning!  Not all polymeric sands are made equal.  Though I have not used all types, I have kept up on professional forum and have found complaints of hazing from Alliance polymeric sand, excessive splashing from Envirobond polymeric sand which is a very fine powder, and blowouts from Techniseal/Unilock polymeric sand.  I will be doing some investigating and comparisons and talking to other professionals and further fill you in on these issues.  Ultimately, you need to closely follow manufacturers recommendations.  Best practices seem to be to ensure proper compaction of pavers when they are dry; sweep sand into joints; sweep off and blow all excess sand from paver surface; mist the pavers lightly to settle the sand; wait an hour; mist again; wait another hour and mist a final time.

Need some help with project or other paving/hardscape project design, installation or maintenance?
Give Brent a Call @ 616 328-3258.