Laying a small area in pavers or flagstone question

[*zap*]

How deep would I want the pad to be? Would I need to go 4"?

When you rake the river rock back you will have 2-3" so then just stake in the 2x4's and when the concrete is done and you rake the rock back up to the edges it will all be fine..should be no digging at all.

 

[wnelson14]

This is the area. It slopes down pretty much right in front of the chairs. The ground is very rocky as well. I can barely dig a hole. One reason I don't want to dig it out.
View attachment 447647

Just put up a couple forms leave the rock add some rebar and pour concrete, add some big stepping stones to the concrete pad for a walkway.

 

[5MilesBack]

A fancy, curvy paver patio will cost $50/ sq ft. A really nice flagstone patio will cost less than half that.

Wow. How much of that is labor? Makes stamped concrete look like a deal.

 

[longspeak74]

Don't use sand under the pavers, use limestone screenings. The only sand should be polymeric sand that goes in the joints.
You know what they say about concrete...

 

[nobody]

I work for a large masonry company in Northern/Central Utah and we do tons of pavers on everything from multi-million dollar custom homes to temples to small residential patios. Personally, for my house, I would excavate any loose materials and foliage away from the area, bring in a couple of inches of road base and compact it. Lay out some bedding sand, install your edge restraint, then start laying the pavers. If you're doing flagstone, ignore the edge restraint. Otherwise, polymeric joint sand is your friend.

If you really want it to be bomb proof, use a 12:1 sand-cement bedding sand mixture. Wet it down, lay your pavers, lay the polymeric, and boom. It'll never go anywhere.

It's not migration from traffic you need to worry about, it's migration from water flow and freeze/thaw cycles. In Southern Utah (guessing St. George?), you probably won't deal as much with the freeze/thaw that Park City has, but you WILL deal with water eroding the sand away. When the monsoons hit, the water will draw the sand out from underneath your paving system.

If you want to pick my brain more, feel free to shoot me a PM. I can give you some more direction.

 

[MallardSX2]

You you some plastic down while your at it.....

 

[MarlinMark]

Always remember that you only have one chance to do it right the first time.


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