Need help with patio

hi-
I just did a bunch of research on this as I prepared to do a bluestone patio of about the same size in my backyard. I ended up doing the project myself- it was much more work than I expected, but I have to say, it looks great and I feel pretty good about having done it. That being said, if I were to ever do it again, I probably would not do it myself. Instead, I would call this guy..

http://www.stoneandgarden.net/home/home.html

Good luck

Posted by: pk at May 31, 2006 9:14 PM

Renogirl- My first hurdle was finding the right materials. I wanted the patio to be bedded in Stonedust on top of gravel rather than sand on top of gravel. Although a few very knowledgeable people told me sand was easier to work with and easier to find, I was sort of set on Stonedust. Thing is, I found very few places that had stonedust- as in NOBODY in Brooklyn, and only 1 place in SI that did not deliver. I eventually got all materials at Bergen Brick and STone in Wyckoff NJ who delivered for a couple hundred bucks. Anyway, here's rough costs first...

200 Square Feet of Pattern Cut Bluestone at around 7 bucks/SF = $1400 (+ 200 delivery)= $1600.

3 yards of Gravel, 1 yard of Stonedust a $35 = $140

Additional Stonedust = $70

Tools (purchased and rented)- $250

Case of beer, Turkey to deep fry, and Pork roast to BBQ as payment to apartment dwelling friends in search of home improvement projects and enlisted as helpers = $100

So roughly, the total cost of materials was $2000

Process was like this-
DAY 1-dug a 6 inch pit in the shape of the area that I wanted to make into a patio- lot of sweaty work here- lots of clay makes the soil in Ditmas Park real heavy- but also easy to work with. Did the best I could to make the floor of the pit level to slightly graded away from house. Get a good shovel, wear some gloves, drink water, etc...

DAY 2-This is the day I had my apartment dwelling friends out for the day of labor/bbq. Lots of shovelling of gravel and moving of stones- I needed the hands. For laying the base layers, I rented a gas plate compactor, hand compactor, chop saw with diamond blade (never had to use it, but needed it just in case). Layed down the gravel, raked it level, and ran over it with the compactor. Layed down the stone dust, raked it level and compacted. Then I put the bluestone in place to try and figure out a pattern. Of course, each poece of stone is of a different thickness so it loks very uneven at this point. By then we were fried and it was time to fry the turkey. End of Day 2.

DAY 3/4- This is when it got to be a real test of patience.After figuring out the pattern, it is necessary to level each stone individually. So I had to pick up each stone, lay down some more stonedust until the stone was level and set to the proper grade. This whole process took two days and is at least a two person job- LOTS of lifting stones and putting them back in place.

Eventually, I finished and I have to say, it looks really good. Yeah, there are a few bits that are imperfect, but it sheds rain as it's supposed to and it looks like I might have paid someone to do it.

Anyway, I figure based on rough estimates that it would've cost me about 5K to have someone else do it and it cost me 2K and 4 days. Like I said before, I probably wouldn't do it again. But then again, I already did it and it sure feels good to have done it every time I look at it. But it sure was a lot of work.

Any other questions, let me know.
-PK

Posted by: pk at June 2, 2006 9:30 PM