3 Hour Flagstone Patio

When I first started doodling an outline for my yard makeover, I drew a huge portion of the backyard as flagstone.  But I just couldn't afford it.  I've been really happy with the gravel patio we put in instead.  Plus it transitions really well from walkway to patio because there is no transition.  :)

Fast forward 3 years and I finally decided to buy a pallet of flagstone.  My first "patio" went pretty smoothly, so I decided to try some more.  There is an area in the backyard where I have a table and chairs and it can be kind of annoying when the chairs dig into the gravel.  So I decided to put in some flagstone.  I laid out the flagstone where I wanted it, with hubby helping with the heavy lifting, on a Wednesday and I installed it on Sunday.

This is what it looked like on Sunday at 1pm.

And it was all finished by 4pm!

I started with the piece under the red bowling pin. And worked my way 

from one adjoining piece to another. 

Even though my husband and 11 year old had to leave (2 LAX games), I had 

plenty of help.  From the pajama squad that is.

 

I took step-by-step pictures in case anyone wants a little tutorial:

 Decide which piece of flagstone to work on.  (I am working on the one in the middle.)

 Pick up the piece you're working on so you can dig out underneath it.

I put all the gravel I dug out in this bucket.

 Then I dumped the gravel into another that needed it.

 You'll be left with a hole the shape of the flagstone.

 Put it back down to see how it fits.  Is it at the right height?

 Pick the piece up again.  Remove more if necessary.  (I didn't need to)

 Add stone dust beneath the flagstone and smooth it out. 

(I love stone dust.  I packs together so tight it's like cement.)

 

Replace the flagstone and check for level.

 You have to check for level with all the surrounding pieces (at least the ones that have been set already).

 Keep checking. 

 Adjust where needed.  I add some of the bigger gravel pieces this time too.

 And replace.

 Give a little press and wiggle.

Fill under all the edges with more stone dust.  If you find you are pushing 

a lot in, pick the piece up again and find all your low spots, fill those in and check for level again.

 This was the part the pajama team was good at.

 Now fill in the areas between the flagstone. (I used a mixture of stone dust 

and gravel.  The dust will help hold the gravel in place.)

I only filled in the cracks where this piece adjoins a piece I've 

already finished.  Don't fill in near the pieces you still have to do!

 

 And there you go.  One more piece done.

 Most of them left to go.  :(

After you've set all the pieces, (Remember this took less than 3 hours.) you need to spray 

down the stone dust (or sand or dirt, whatever you're using).  This will make it settle so you can see where you need to add more.  It also makes my flagstone look purdy!!

And there you go.  It was finished before 4pm.  Hubs and my assistant weren't even back from the LAX games yet!

Let's see, so the patio was finished in 3 hours, with help from a 4 and 5 year old, who decided they wanted me to set up the kiddie pool half way through, with no one else around to help.  So what I'm trying to say is... YOU CAN DO THIS TOO!  

Thanks for stopping by!
Visit again soon,

          Smart Girl

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