Hi, I just wanted to let those interested know what tips I have learned in designing/building stone block edging around my entire house with an integral flagstone patio. I didn't want colored concrete blocks or rubber edging. I decided on Minnesota Kasota (limestone) natural stone (sized) blocks & 2" flagstone sheets. I contacted a quarry and showed him my design I made on graph paper. He walked around and measured the square footage required to make an entire 8" (two 4" blocks high) curved garden wall above ground, 4-5 feet from my house (except in back of house for the wrap around above grade flagstone patio) that I will backfill with blackdirt, weed barrier, and 3 " of decorative stone or mulch on top. Getting back to the purchase of my stone, I went direct through the quarry and avoided the middle man. I was able to get wholesale price with discount and reduced shipping charge. The order was for 19 tons of tumbled stone retaining blocks (sized 4" thick x 8" wide X radom lengths)and 2" flagstone. I needed about 6000 linear feet of block. I started out by buying 1.5" pvc pipe with couplers to make nice uniform curves/semicircles around my house held by stakes, then spray painted lines around for the block following the natural grade of my yard. (This method worked much better than garden hose). I rented a trencher with a 4" block blade and followed the line around three times so I had a nice trench 12" wide X 4" deep. I shoveled out the dirt and cut landscape fabric in the base. I then put in compactable gravel that I hand tamped 1" below the sod. I then started setting blocks in the trench and found just the right lengths/ slightly angled pieces I needed in the pallets of stone blocks. I then started on the second layer overlapping the joints by 5" inches or so. After the second layer was on, I removed the top layer and placed them on the ground facing up. I then brushed /swept the surfaces then applied block glue to each one and put them back. One area by my garage needed to go up 5 feet of block, so I just kept stacking/gluing blocks except I moved in each row 3/4" above previous row. Now for the raised flagstone patio. Now that I had a nice curved block wall 8" high, I filled/raked 4" high compactable gravel inside, rented a compacter and went over it 4 times. I strung lines across the top of the 8" high block and measured down the thickness of the flagstone (2"-3/8" for sand compaction) and layed long lengths of old 1.5" waterpipes on top the gravel surface and shimmed the pipe up with wood up to where the bottom surface of the flagstone should be. I then shoveled in course washed sand on top of the gravel/pipes and using a long 2x4 resting on top of the pipes to screed the sand flat. Now I started laying flagstone. The flagstone was in big square sheets, so I tipped them onto the ground, and if they didn't break, I took a splitting axe and hit in the middle several times until it broke into smaller pieces that were still at least 2-3 feet in size. Take on piece at a time and lay it onto the sand, then take each matching piece and lay adjacent leaving a 1.5" gap for motar or sand. Continue this process like a jigsaw puzzle. When you have to cut or trim, I used my kid's sidewalk chalk to mark lines/cuts. Then use a stone chisel / hand sledge hammer to chisel along line two times to score a line. I then rap one end of the stone with the butt of the sledge and it breaks clean along the line. If needed, chisel away any ragged edges. Work from one edge outwords using large pieces, then going back and filling in any smaller pieces. As you go along, try to keep edges of flagstone nearly flush. If you disturb the sand as you going along, use a cement trowel to smooth out. When your all done fitting, you can fill joints in one of two ways; buy SANDLOC and mix with sand and water, then put into joints, or what I am doing is mix 1/3 cement with sand and put in joints, smooth and wash away rest from flagstone using sponge. These are the only two things I would do for patios to make sure ants don't start drilling or plants/weeds don't start. Good Luck, Hope this helps.

Hi Bikework. The acid is normally for cleaning mortar and not just for cleaning dirt and grime. Try pressure washing first. Stay far enough away from the stone so that you are not causing any shaling or flaking of the stone with the pressure washer. Unless you are seeking an immaculate look the pressure washing should work just fine. While we view the aging of natural stone as part of the process I do have a client that bleaches their flagstone with a diluted bleach solution. The client's diligence made me chuckle, and they have the cleanest flagstone I have ever seen. As to sealing, we do not seal our natural stone installations. I've attached a couple of pictures of Wisconsin limestone used in a wall and also a path that I previously installed. To my knowledge neither has ever been cleaned with anything other than a hose and broom. Good luck!

I built a wooden screen door about 4 years ago out of Cypress. I stained and applied clear penetrating epoxy sealer by Smiths, followed by Man-O-War spar varnish. Now the door was somewhat protected by an overhang and does not receive much direct sunlight, so the finish has held up fairly well. If your door gets heavy sunlight exposure, you may have to apply the spar varnish up to 1-2 years, with complete stripping and starting over every 3 recoats. Note that the varnish must be for exterior. Polyurethane is for interior only. Clear wood finishes just don't last a long time with UV exposure. Some finishes are better than others due to UV inhitors. For top quality finishes, call Jamestown distributors and they can recommend something for your door. They tailor to boat industry. Big box spar varnish should give you decent performance at lower costs. Another option is to use a semi-transparent stain, but this will hide some of the woodgrain, although these last longer than clear finishes. For even less maintenance, a top quality 100% Acrylic paint from SW or BM is your option. Goof Luck.

There's not necessarily a need to "break up" the concrete, but no reason not to, either. Adding pavers instead of more unadorned concrete brings an opportunity to add a decorative element to the patio. Depending on the details, some ways of doing it could look better than others, as if designed to be that way from the beginning. One possibility is to add pavers that are plain concrete color. Thus, you would have an overall same color patio but with a patterned mid-section. Another possibility would be to have a contrasting color and use that same paver to border the existing slabs. There would be additional possibilities for the infill area of using a contrast color field framed with a light grey (concrete color) border .... or the reverse of it ... or some similar variant. Play with possibilities on paper first (or using Microsoft Paint.) Once something likable is achieved, get paver samples to view on site. In MS Paint, you can draw a rectangle with the rectangle tool in a split second. You can draw another rectangle inside it. Use copy and paste to many copies of the plan. Then you can use the colors and paint bucket tool to change the rectangles into any color you want in another split second. Literally any color is available in the "Edit Colors" menu.