I'll be looking for answers to this thread!

I haven't yet, but it's in the plans so I've been studying up on the subject.

The most important part is to not skimp on the foundation. Go to a local stone yard who specializes in residential stonework and tell them what your plans are. (Don't go to a stone yard whose specialty is industrial construction.) Ask how many inches of soil should be removed, and the recommend base materials. Get details on compacting the layers and don't cheat - if the layers are loose, you will end up with low spots when everything starts settling. If you don't do every step properly, you'll be very unhappy with it in a couple of years.

Make sure not to loosen any soil that will remain. Tamp it down well and level it.

If it were my patio, I would use the edging that keeps bricks in place, or some other sort of edging, steel, railroad ties, etc. Don't use landscape black plastic edging, it shifts and heaves too easily. You'll regret that as well in a few years.

Plan on being painfully sore from removing all the soil or rent a small backhoe to remove the bulk of the soil. Also, arrange ahead of time where you will dispose of all the soil you will remove -it piles up fast.

One other thing to ask about when you are at the stone place is drainage if you are layng a patio. You want to make sure the patio slopes slightly away from the house, if it's next to the house. I'm not sure if it's recommended to put in drain piping at the end of the slope of a stone patio, or if that's typically used just for concrete patios. Paths should have a slight crown or slope one way so water drains. Make sure that you never slope any surface towards the house. Keeping that in mind, if there are any concrete surfaces close by, don't slope towards those either.

I'm sure I've missed details, so get a book, talk to the stone yard and have fun! It's a lot of work, but it's an exciting, and I'm sure, very rewarding project.

I had another thought. Size. Really consider the size. I think 4 feet wide is recommended for a path. For the patio, you have to think about what you are going to use it for. If you frequetly have company, you have to consider chairs being moved away from tables. Too many times people don't accomodate for this and the area suddenly becomes very small when you can't get around chairs and tables easily. Almost everyone I know has done this with their deck. If you just want a place for relaxing, then consider what furniture will be there, and how much space you will need for pots - if you tend to pot up a lot of annuals.

This is a lot of good information!

Scheduling is the key to saving time and money also. You will want to make sure all your materials are on hand, get the area dug out, and then rent one of those vibrating compactors from a rental store. Make sure to reserve it ahead of time. You don't want to hand tamp everything, unless it's a very, very small area. Here is a link you can check out: http://www.lowes.com/lowes/lkn?action=howTo&p=Improve/BrickPatio.html

Lee

Did you choose pavers over cement because of asthetics or durability? We have a six foot long walkway that needs to be replaced and we are weighing our options. Just wondering how you came to your decision. Thanks!

janelkae:

Asthetics mainly. The walkway is between my house and three seasons porch/garage and I wanted to dress that area up a bit. Cement just seemed so sterile and that area is already pretty "cold". I am also putting in a new cedar fence/gate plus lots of potted plants to help make it more homey. I haven't done a cost comparison, because I tend to do just what I want to do, regardless of the costs.

Hi Jenwestie. I know this is kind of a late thread to your question but have you thought about stamped concrete. We had our front stoop, walkway and lower steps done. I asked the guy to match the lannon stone look around the arched front door on my brick cottage-looking house. He did a beautiful job. I asked them to antique the finished stone to look old too, and he did. So many people stop and ask us about it. We are planning a small patio off the deck in back to match it too. To save money, I faux painted our side stoop to match the front. I will try to post some pictures of it in the future, but I am a little picture challenged on the net, so must wait for help. I know how to download from my digital camera but will have to search the posts for the instructions on downloading to this site. Anyway, we bit the bullet, had it done by pros, and loved the finished product. And you can request custom look like I did after not seeing exactly what I wanted in their brochures.

I would like to have a paver walkway put in. The problem is I don't know what color combo to use, I live in a 40 year old red brick colonial house. Can anyone suggest a color combo. I have all of the different companies to pick from(ep henry, unilock, techo-bloc etc.) I was thinking of complementing the brick instead of matching it. I would love any suggestions. see picture of my house.

We put in a combination set of flagstone steps plus walkway a few years ago using bluestone. Our house is yellow with red and reddish purple bricks. My wife chose the color and it worked out very well with the brick.