Stone patios....

[scott s]

 I've got a nice floating deck in the backyard (low to the ground, no handrails) and I was thinking about filling in an area between it and the driveway with pavers or stone. This is a slightly odd shaped area and I hate cutting the grass there. I also enjoy a fire in the fire-pit or chiminea when it's cold outside.
 Who's got some nice landscaping I can use for ideas? Any preferences as to pavers, flagstone, slate, brick, etc?
 I've got a general idea how to lay the stone, but since the area is not level, I'd probably have to rent some equipment to lay it out and get the surface ready, so this is a job I may end up contracting out.
 Show off your outdoor living area!

[Tom Simon]

Jerry Foster at Creative Concrete (Napa, CA) showed me some great ideas in stained and stamped contrete that are unbelievable. He used this commercially available contrete/polymer mix to get fine detail, neat color effects, that are UV resistant. Maybe someone local to you does the same type of work.

[ErikTheRed]

Interesting that you bring this up, my wife and I have beem looking for a couple weeks now for some paver ideas. We want to do an angled section on both sides of our driveway, the part of the grass that always gets trampled while coming or going. We really like the thin flagstone, but at 30 cents per pound, thats gonna add up real quick considering just one decent-sized stone weighs about 50 lbs-- and we'll need a bunch of em. So now we're looking at concrete forms, something that will allow us to make our own pavers out of cheap concrete (about $2 per bag).

[padexc]

erik DON"T due it it looks like crap. ether go and get some paver stone or have sombody stamp  concrete borders stamp is about $12.00 buck a square foot but looks great, scott s what area due you live in if up north i can send you in the right direction contractor for28 years
Paul

[scott s]

 I'm in South Carolina. I'm sure I can find a good contractor here...I was hoping for some pics for inspiration and maybe some insight...you kow, which pavers will break easily, which ones are less expensive, easier or harder to use, etc. That kind of stuff.

[padexc]

scott you don't break paver stones you cut them with a saw, go to a good masonary supply or landscape supply they will usually have a pretty good choice. hate to say it butt home depot or lowes will have some to, if you put pavers down the area should be excavated down enough for a compacted base course ie road base and then a lift of sand.
try to get it as  uniform as possible with a 1% cross slope for drainage place, your paver go on top in the pattern you choose which there are many. when done place a vibratory plate compactor on it, but you will dump some fine grained dry sand on the pavers sweep it in the pavers compact it with the plate and cocktails are served.

[rolsen]

Scott,   I had a similar situatio, an obscure area,  grass didnt grow well, directly behind my garage.   I decided I would put pavers down and kindof extend my patio out.   I dug it all out + added 2 extra inches for compacted sand and it  (not to toot my own horn) turned out pretty darn good.   I will have to say it was alot of work and I ended up doing about 1 to 2 hours a day and then a full saturday to finish it.  Instead of doing pavers I went to a place locally here that manufactured bricks and got a good deal on 1500 bricks (.25 cents a piece)   I did a herringbone pattern which was stronger than a brick pattern and turned out awesome.   If I had to offer any advice I would say if you have the time do it.   Take your time and learn about laying the pavers and create a small test area to try out the pattern and go for it. Oh and definitely rent a paver saw (well worth it)   I got a bid to do it and they wanted 1500.00 to lay them and finish.   I figured I had about 40 hours in the whole thing.   Ill post some pics tomorrow.   Peace Roger.

[ErikTheRed]

erik DON"T due it it looks like crap.

My friends around the corner did their entire back patio with concrete forms and it came out pretty damn nice, especially considering the cost. In fact, the forms they used are sitting right here in my garage, I borrowed them this afternoon.

[JCquick]

I did my driveway on my new home with pavers 80ft. long and 16ft wide I think I used close to 3000 pavers I also extended my patio with the thin pavers I'll try and post some pics this weekend sometime

[elmo]

If you are from S.C., look at cobblestones or OLD bricks.

[J Dotson]

I was up a Lowes the other day and in their How-To books saw some books on the subject.I would think Home Depot has them as well.

[so67vw]

That's my bag baby....

I've done miles of pavers and flag stone....

You can do just about anything you want.....

Send me a pick of the area you want to do.... Maybe I can give you some Ideas.....

[sinikl]

any ideas about broken crazy shape bricks? we reclaimed our wisteria overrun backyard and found bricks from the past 90 years of projects (mainly broken in weird shapes).  i just want some "creep paths" for when we turn our front yard into mainly landscape beds. i figure i'll just half*ss it, but any ideas are welcome.

[scott s]

 I did find this guy: http://www.stonemanrocks.com/
 We pass his business all the time going back and forth to Pineville. Take a look at his portfolio, especially "patios" and "firepits/fireplaces". I'm thinking something along those lines.

[so67vw]

I did find this guy: http://www.stonemanrocks.com/
 We pass his business all the time going back and forth to Pineville. Take a look at his portfolio, especially "patios" and "firepits/fireplaces". I'm thinking something along those lines.

His waterfalls look like a stone guy built them, but the flat work looks wonderfull.... Don't be scared to do it yourself.... I've guided thousands of homeowners and landscapers through this kind of stuff.... It is hard work but VERY rewarding.... Fire pits are also fun to build... The last one I did has gas w/ceramic logs.... It was VERY simple to build....

[rolsen]

Here is a pic of my Patio.   I did this about 3 years ago,  took me about 3 weeks to dig out and level and lay the brick (granted I only did it about 1 hour a day).   Anyway,  Enjoy.      Peace Roger.

[ErikTheRed]

Off the main subject but landscaping-related, I had a curb guy give me an estimate for a 5" mowstrip around my backyard, about 75' worth. He quoted me $600, or $8 per foot with a minimum of 25' (or he won't even take the job). I said no and headed out to the local riverbottoms, made a few truckloads of various sized rocks (they are abundant if you know where to go), and made my own mowstrip with those. Welp, that idea has turned out to be a major maintenance headache, the grass grows up thick between the rocks and is damn near impossible to trim and make look nice. So, I'm going to collect all those rocks, find something else to do with em', and do the actual concrete mowstrip. Harbor Freight sells a curb machine for about $400, or $200 cheaper than the curb guy quoted me for the job just 3 years ago. Even after I buy the concrete I think I'll still be cheaper or very close to the same, and then I have a curb machine of my own!

[mcmark]

Check with your redi-mix suppliers. Most have a minimum yardage requirement. In MD most COD customers have to buy 7 yds as a minimum. With concrete being well over $100 per yd it might get prohibitive. Although a friend bought 1 of Harbor Freights 2 bag mixers and did a patio out of sacrete. $4.00 a bag might be a better option depending of course on the length of the curb.

[danimal]

nice thread, thanks for all the info

[rolsen]

Erik.   8.00 a foot seems awful steep.   Even with as crazy as the construction business has been here in Salt Lake you can get curbing for around 3 to 4 a foot with a 100 foot minimum.  It may be that there arent that many people doing it where you live so the price is so high.   Also, with regards to the curbing concrete mix, its not like regular concrete.   When I watched these guys doing this in my yard the mix had a consistency of wet sand so you would have to mix it with a mixer and find a mix list or recipe.  The other option would be to dig it down where you want the border and buy 1/4 inch plywood (bends easy) and cut it in 4 to 6 inch strips and stake it out so its about a 4 to 6 inch wide.   Its alot of work but a buddy of mine did that for his front walkway and then put bricks down for the center part.  It turned out real nice   Peace Roger.

[Kathy Lachance Post]

When this picture was taken the patio and deck were still works in progress.  We are really happy with the Flagstone and the final outcome.

http://i265.photobucket.com/albums/ii214/KathyPost/P1010697.jpg[/img]]

[so67vw]

When this picture was taken the patio and deck were still works in progress.  We are really happy with the Flagstone and the final outcome.

http://i265.photobucket.com/albums/ii214/KathyPost/P1010697.jpg[/img]]

Looks nice Kathy....

[so67vw]

I'm not a stone mason, but here's a few pic's I have off hand.... (still working on my new site)

http://www.sovw.com/cf/wallport/index.htm

I've got a bunch more pics that still need to be uploaded.... Then I'll thin it out a bit....

[notched]

I'm not a stone mason, but here's a few pic's I have off hand.... (still working on my new site)

http://www.sovw.com/cf/wallport/index.htm

I've got a bunch more pics that still need to be uploaded.... Then I'll thin it out a bit....

I gotta get you some updated pics!

[so67vw]

I gotta get you some updated pics!

Yah... For sure.... Prolly gonna take a bunch of pics when I'm back there....

[ErikTheRed]

Erik.   8.00 a foot seems awful steep.   Even with as crazy as the construction business has been here in Salt Lake you can get curbing for around 3 to 4 a foot with a 100 foot minimum.  It may be that there arent that many people doing it where you live so the price is so high.   Also, with regards to the curbing concrete mix, its not like regular concrete.   When I watched these guys doing this in my yard the mix had a consistency of wet sand so you would have to mix it with a mixer and find a mix list or recipe.  The other option would be to dig it down where you want the border and buy 1/4 inch plywood (bends easy) and cut it in 4 to 6 inch strips and stake it out so its about a 4 to 6 inch wide.   Its alot of work but a buddy of mine did that for his front walkway and then put bricks down for the center part.  It turned out real nice   Peace Roger.

I may very well end up using the "bender board" method, the curb I want to do is a very simple large oval, no weird shapes or odd angles. I could probably form it up and pour it with bagged concrete in one Saturday.

BTW, we can buy Readymix here in Marysville by the half yard. A 1 yard mix trailer is about $120. Sacrete (or Baselite, whichever it is) at Home Depot is less than $2 per bag.

[so67vw]

I may very well end up using the "bender board" method, the curb I want to do is a very simple large oval, no weird shapes or odd angles.

I personaly like the 4" bender steal from the steal yard (not the cheep green garbage).... Sink it to turf level so you can glide the edge of the mower over them....

Here's is a yard with bender steal edging the pathway/grass and also under the arbor....

[Kathy Lachance Post]

I'm not a stone mason, but here's a few pic's I have off hand.... (still working on my new site)

http://www.sovw.com/cf/wallport/index.htm

I've got a bunch more pics that still need to be uploaded.... Then I'll thin it out a bit....

You have done some really nice work.

[so67vw]

You have done some really nice work.

Thanks a bunch... It's very rewarding...