Laying a Pavestone Patio – Part 1: Getting Started

We have grand plans for the backyard. Currently it looks nice, but it’s not very functional. It has an oddly curved cement patio which only really allows you to sit on one small portion of the backyard – the rest is all dirt.

The eventual plan is to completely re-do the fence, build a planterbox & benches along the perimeter, dig out the dirt and lay down pavestones to complete the patio, then build a pond for our turtle Worst. Master plans are below:

First up is laying the pavestones. Laying pavestones is a 3 step process.

Step 1: You have to dig out about 4-6 inches of the existing dirt to allow room for the foundation sand & bricks. For this we rented a rotor-tiller from Home Depot to loosen up the dirt, then had to shovel & wheel barrel it out of the backyard.

This step is the biggest pain in the ass of the whole process. Of course the day we did it it was about 90 degrees out – it was so hot my mouth was getting sweaty from my face mask, so i ended up taking it off. Smart move that resulted in me filling my lungs with dirt & catching a cold for a week.

Step 2: Define the shape of the patio & lay down paver sand. To lock in the bricks/sand, we’re using edge-all guards. They’re pricey, about $8 each, but they work really well & bend easily around corners. If you wanted to be cheaper, you could build a perimeter with wood, but it would be a bit more work. The edge-all guards are the black liners in the photo below:

When laying the sand, you usually need to lay a few inches of gravel as a base, then about an inch of sand to allow you work the brick into a level surface. Since our backyard dirt has clay in it, it’s really strong and stable, so we eventually figured out we didn’t need so much of the gravel & were able to save some money.

Step 2b: Enlist the Yips! Flathead’s folks triple as babysitters, gardeners, and master patio levelers. To help get the sand level completely level with the cement, they dug trenches & laid 2×4’s down that they could level perfectly with how deep the sand should be.

Step 3: Once you have your sand laid out, compacted, and leveled, you’re onto the easiest step – laying the pavestones. This is pretty quick and easy – lay them out and use a rubber mallet to work them into the sand, making sure they stay level with the rest of the bricks.

We’re about halfway done – more pics to follow soon, plus the painstaking process of cutting the edger bricks around the rounded patio…

UPDATE: More pics of the finished patio here

UPDATE 2: We’re finally done!