- 1). Photograph the area you wish to pave. Climb a ladder to get several good "down" angles for your design work.
- 2). Print large photos on your printer and cover with clear shelf paper so you can mark on them with the grease pencil.
- 3). Draw out the shape of your proposed patio on the shelf paper. With a grease pencil you can erase and redraw till you have a clear idea of the space you want to pave.
- 4). Download pictures of the shape and color of interlocking paving stones you are interested in. Print sheets of the design.
- 5). Cut the pictures of the stones you like into the shape of the patio you've drawn and overlay it on the picture. This will give you an idea of whether the color, shape, size and texture of the stones you are going to lay will work in the space. Experiment with rows of different-colored stones in the same shapes.
- 6). Choose a bedding method for your stones--individual or screeded. In individual bedding, the bed is cut and laid stone by stone. In screed bedding, the entire area is prepared before the stones are laid. Look at the stones you want to buy. If their bases are rough or uneven or the thickness isn't regular, you will have to set the stones individually even if you screed the bed in advance.
- 7). Drive stakes around the edges. Run strings back and forth across the patio area 3 inches above the ground. Hang the string level to see which way the ground falls. If it falls toward the house, you'll have to alter the slope of the bed to run water away from the house or you will have to add rain channels to the design to carry water away during heavy rainfall.
- 8). Check the area for tree roots near the surface of the patio area. Once covered, the patio may reroute the water that feeds the root, causing the root to swell or alter course, pushing the paving stones out of position. Plan to install sheets of root barrier to protect the stones. Consult a gardening expert if necessary. You may need to embed pipes vertically into the ground near the roots to provide deep watering and to draw the roots down and away from your patio. For very large roots, you may want to build around them.
- 9). Plan your lighting to show the patio at night in its best light. Once you've determined where the lighting goes, run any buried wiring that needs to pass underneath the patio before you lay the stones. Cut a trench deep enough to meet local electrical codes.
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Covere the area with a sheet of plastic weed shield to prevent weeds from breaking through your paving. Interlocking stones do not typically use grout or mortar. The weed sheid can help prevent grass or weeds from pushing upward through small cracks in the stones. Lay your bedding material over the top of the sheeting and tamp it down before laying the paving stones. Once the stones are down, you can use dry colored sand the same color as the stones as a sort of dry grout to hide irregular spaces between the paving. - 11
Purchase your stones and bedding materials and start laying your stones. Properly installed, your paving stone patio will resist sagging, cracking, shifting and separating if you did your design work correctly.
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