Dang! If he won't help you, surely there is something you do for him that you could stop until he gets busy building a patio. (-:

BTDT...Think..."War of the Roses". Remember Danny Devito's line...

"How do you hold on to someone who won't stay, and how do you get rid of someone who won't go?"

Not a pretty picture. LOL

Take the Garden Hardscaqpes class at UT. $39. May find kindred spirit who will help.
I've taken some personal development classes at UT and found them to be extremely helpful.
See link below:

Here is a link that might be useful: UT Hardscapes class

Oops. Didn't notice the West Tennessee in your original post. Bit of a commute, although the Memphis campus may have a similar program.
Also check Lowes and Home Depot for How-to classes.

That seems like a really useful class.

However, I really wanted to know if anyone here had experience with installing a paver patio in zone 7, and whether there was a problem with the pavers heaving.

Thanks.

I'm getting 2 pallets of flagstone pavers 2 cubic yards of sand delivered the day after our tax return hits the bank account.

You want to excavate, lay down steel edging line with landscape fabric fill with sand compact, and set the pavers, more sand and water well.

My strongest advice is to go into Dyson's Seed & Sod on Summer Ave (between White Station and Sycamore View) Great folks and very willing to tell you how to do a professional job.

Their prices are the best around, really good honest helpful people and they have a cute dog.

I think I know exactly where they're located. Thanks for the tip.

I was reading on other threads and there seems to be a conflict between sand vs stone dust.

http://forums2.gardenweb.com/forums/load/stone/msg0719244210271.html
http://forums2.gardenweb.com/forums/load/design/msg060736445583.html

I am concerned about the ants. A year ago I placed some test pavers down and when I removed them, there were many ants and several ant tunnels.

If you don't mind, please post or email me a pix of your completed project.

Thanks.

Our patio is 23' x 28' and I did it myself. I would suggest staying away from pavers (bricks;) you will kill yourself trying to get it leveled! I went with the 18" patio stones instead and that was a bear. I used dirt to do the backfill and packed it down with the truck, car, riding mower and 8 lb tamp. Next I came in with small gravel (crush-n-run under 1") and packed it. Finally I leveled it all down with several inches of sand and put in the stones. Shoot me an email and I'll give you the rest of the details and a pic or two.

Tia this isn't something that I would suggest you try and do by yourself unless your patio is very small. If the base materials aren't level and done correctly then your patio will look like a drunk put it down. There are several other things to take into consideration too like power lines, sewer/septic lines, gas lines... You also need to think about where your downpipe drains from your gutters; you wouldn't want one corner of the patio to drop because of incorrect drainage around it.

Jeff

My SIL did her own patio a couple of years ago. Her husband is an airline pilot, and she does home improvement projects when he's not around to tell her "no". LOL. She did her patio a bit at a time. If you're familiar with Flylady, you'll know what I mean when I say she did it in babysteps.

From what I observed of her project ... don't skimp on the base. Her first section was light on the base, and that section sunk somewhat.

You may want to see if you can find some college kid to help you with the heavy manual labor. There are lots of college kids who are long on muscle and short on cash. (And sometimes you get the added benefit of some nice eye candy. :-) )

Amy

Thanks everyone, yes I did decide to use 18" pavers. I'm planning to do an area about 10' x 17' - 20'.

I have no overhead power lines and the septic system is on the opposite side of the house. The intended area is free of any obstructions.

The college tip sounds like a great idea : )

Flowermum ..

Any chance you'll give us some before and after photos when you're done???

Sure, I'd be happy to post photos when the project is complete. However, it may be a couple of months. I'm in the ambitious-exploratory phase right now.

The base sounds like it's soooo much work. I think I'm going to price handy-man labor and go from there.