Flagstone Patio

Ever since the summer we had our driveway, walkway, porch cap, and stairs redone in an exposed aggregate, our front right flower bed has been in a state of constant transition (and weeds!).  The concrete company inadvertently mixed up the dimensions of the walkway and left us a rather amorphous, awkward shape to work with.  (Helpful hint: DO NOT go on holidays when people are doing work on your home -- be there to watch them and offer your preferences!)

This outdoor renovation was going to take a number of steps.  We decided the first step would be re-installing the flagstone patio.

 We threw down these flagstones in an attempt to fix the botched walk-way and to lessen the space of the garden to make it more manageable.  The flagstones desperately needed to be installed properly, though, since they all started to sink and sag and become overgrown with weeds over time.

So, we needed to re-do it, properly.  Here's a Cole's Notes version of the process:

1)  Dig down approximately 4-8", depending on the use of the space.  We decided to dig down 4" because we weren't going to be parking on it or anything... just walking on it and shoveling it in the winter.  In other words, we needed it to be stable, but no helicopters needed to land there!  We also more-or-less leveled the space (with a scrap piece of 2x4) and packed down the dirt.

2)  Place a layer of landscaping fabric to prevent weeds from popping up down the road. 

3)  Pour a layer of pea stone.  This holds the landscaping fabric in place and adds to the stability and drainage of the space.  Level the pea stone with your 2x4.

4)  Add a layer of gravel (enough so that with the stones on top, it will be level with the rest of your land, or in our case, with the concrete walkway)

 (Here is a process shot of us leveling the pea stone and gravel.  Only the dark, grayish gravel should be seen here, but we made a mistake in the tip of the patio and laid too much pea stone!)

5)  Now comes the fun part!  Laying down the flagstones!  Play around.  See how well you can connect the natural curves and angles in the stones.  You may need to use a hammer to break down the stones and adjust the curve of the edges.  We only needed to do that in a few areas.  

6)  Once you are happy with your flagstone arrangement, adjust the heights and stability of each stone by laying more or less gravel under each stone.  We walked across them and added gravel underneath the corners that were rocking.  We also laid more gravel under those thinner stones that were sinking.  This is an important part of the stability and safety of the patio -- we didn't want our mail carrier, who walks right over these stones, to trip! 

(Here is our almost finished patio.  As the sky got darker and the rain clouds rolled in, we added those large stones in to prevent the pea stone and gravel from washing away!  We would have to finish up another day!)

7)  The very last step is to pour the gravel onto the top layer of the patio and sweep it into the crevices between each of the rocks.  This provides a nice, finished look in addition to preventing the rocks from shifting.

Important tips to keep in mind:

• Do not skip step #2 (laying landscaping fabric).  We neglected this step when we created a larger flagstone patio in our backyard.  I really wanted creepers and mosses to grow between each stone, so I wanted to access to the soil beneath.  But, what I soon discovered was that weeds are more hardy than any moss I might plant!  Now, the backyard patio is ugly and weed-ridden.
• Be sure to angle patios away from your home's foundation.  In the case of this patio, it was relatively close to our house, so we wanted to be sure rainwater wouldn't pool here or, worse, run right back to the sides of the house.

So, here's our big flagstone patio reveal!  I love it!  The stone matches the exposed pebbles in our exposed aggregate walkway quite nicely.