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How to prepare a foundation for a stone or paver walkway or patio

Building a nice place to walk or sit outside is a great DIY project. You get a lot of satisfaction because you see it and use it every day. For that reason, it really pays to do a good job building on your project. You don’t want to later wish you had done a better job.

The first steps are important. Some people just want to do it and will overlook important considerations and preparations. So here are some situations that you should watch out for.

Determine where you want your walk or patio. Look for tree roots that will be difficult to remove, but worse, they can immediately come back and interrupt your finished project. See if there is standing water or a low point that runs off and will leave dry dirt on your stone. If so, you have to raise your project to accommodate that situation.

Once you have a good site, you should remove the top layers of soil until you reach a depth that you have determined is sufficient. How deep is that? You can use a thinner foundation for a walkway or patio than for a driveway or parking area and the calculations are easy.

First, what is the thickness of your stone? You will need 1.5 to 2 inches of material to set the stone. You can use sand, but I prefer limestone powder, sometimes called limestone screening. You also need 3 to 4 inches of crushed stone as a base. So add them up and subtract half an inch to settle.

For example, let’s say your stone is 2.5 inches thick, your dust is 2 inches deep, your crushed gravel is 3 inches deep, that’s 7.5 inches, and subtract your settlement figure from half an inch, now you know you have to dig a minimum. 7 inches deep. It can be deeper if you remove a stone or root and just fill it in with more crushed stone, but shallower is not good.

Once you have the depth you need, get a tamper and tamp down the soil to make it very firm. Add your crushed stone, level with a rake and tamp down. Add the limestone screens but do not tamper them yet. Use a ruler to level your area and tilt it slightly to let the rain drain off. About 1/16 of an inch per foot will suffice and it won’t be noticeable when you walk on it or sit on it with your drink.

Now you can put your stones. Once you have them in place and all the adjustments have been made, tamp them into the limestone powder base. First, lay down a board or piece of plywood so that the stone will not break or shatter.

If you put the stones together, you will need to use fine sand to fill in the cracks and join them. If you have wider gaps, 1/8 inch or more, you can use more limestone powder. The use of limestone is preferred so that you have a more stable finished project that will last longer.

You will hear people say to use sand so it has good drainage. However, you really don’t want water to get under your walkway or patio. It freezes in winter and fastens the stone. The water washes the sand over time. Weeds will grow in the cracks. If you have a sidewalk or poured concrete patio, you should not drill into houses for drainage. My opinion is to make your project so that the water runs off and very little goes under it. Make your base stiffer and you will have a project that will last longer.

Good luck on your project and have fun!

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