We are looking to have our flagstone patio completely reset/re-leveled
sunarakaa
3 years ago
last modified: 3 years ago
We live in Seattle. We are looking to have our flagstone patio completely reset/re-leveled and extended. The patio was built on compacted sand/gravel 5 years ago. Because of the rain water running through the cracks, the flagstones are now uneven.
We are making a retaining wall from both sides of the fire pit. We have a concrete patio under the deck. Now the dilemma is–
Should we go for a mortar finish? I was reading that they get cracked over the time and it's hard to fix them.
Instead of adding new flagstone (because the color will be different for some time), should we use the Pavers as a border? Will it make our patio look smaller?
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Mortaring Joints - Covered Flagstone Patio
Comments (10)Hey Glenn, I recently finished a patio behind our house. I didn't use flagstone, I used a product called a Walkmaker by Quikrete, basically a mold you fill with concrete to get a random stone pattern, but the end result is wide joints similar to what you'll have between your flagstones. I found a product called Envirostone made by Envirobond. (www.envirobond.com) It's similar to the "stabilizing" sands you've seen, but is specifically made for flagstone joints. It is a mixture of a fine sand, aggregate, and their "stabilizer". It's been raining here everyday since I put the Envirostone down and swept it in to the joints, so I still don't know exactly how hard it sets up, but it is very tightly packed in from the rain and isn't running off at all. I imagine once it dries it will not blow away. I did fill my joints about 50% with pea gravel before adding the Envirostone to keep costs down. The Envirostone was $12.50 a bag locally, and I needed 4 bags of it for my 225 sq. ft patio. I also used 5 bags of pea gravel. They have 2 colors of Envirostone, I used the "natural", sort of tan/beige when dry. Here are a couple of pics of the finished patio. Good luck! http://img201.echo.cx/my.php?image=patiodone10lm.jpg http://img141.echo.cx/my.php?image=patiodone31xz.jpg...See Morehaving a flagstone patio installed
Comments (6)Kristie, We just enlarged our patio and had flagstone installed for the patio & a 5' walkway around the side of the house. Here are a few photos. The first shows the flagstone without the grout. The June 3 photo was made looking down from the back porch; the stones look a bit gray as it was prior to it being washed after the grout was put in. Another is the finished project (we still have some things to finish in the landscaping, photographed yesterday (June 26), but it doesn't really show all of the patio. We have a pretty good slope on our lot with a lot of open space between the patio & woods, and we had to keep some slope for drainage. It still is very "level" in terms of the stone. Our table & chairs, flower pots, etc sit very level on it. You have to expect a few rough spots because it's natural stone. The only thing I can suggest is just make sure your installer understands what you want in terms of the finished job & you reject any stones with a rougher texture than you'd like....See MoreWe're finally finished - a tour of our new kitchen!
Comments (31)What a wonderful playful looking space! Great green accents. I like how the added lights in the curved ceiling section really plays up the architectural lines. Really makes it a standout feature. Love all the drawers, the backsplash (of course!) and the improved layout. Thanks for sharing your LED color temperature solution. That drives me crazy too when they're not the same. It has been difficult to find the more neutral color temps (forget the exact kelvin temp at the moment), so your solution sounds great! I saw this really cool Lutron dimmer that reminds me of your space and would look really cool if it could work with your Insteon (I'm not familiar with this) dimming system, or if not, maybe something separate. In a single or a double switch plate, there is a thin vertical slot that has Green LEDs (also comes in Blue or White) that you can touch anywhere for the dimmer (all the way up is full On and any position lower is dimmed by seven levels I believe). And there is a small Amber light at the lowest point that softly glows when it is all off so you can find it in the dark. The wall plates are available in the 10 standard colors and 11 brushed metal colors so you could get a brushed aluminum or stainless steel looking one to match what looks like what you have (see the picture below). I'm going to use these in my bar in the Blue to coordinate with the granite countertops there, so just thought these would look cool in the Green for your great space. This is one of the most distinctive dimmers I have seen. The picture below is of the single in the Green with an aluminum plate (also comes in a double plate as well) and a link with the specifics. Just a thought for you if you haven't finished all of your switches. :-) (edited for a typo I didn't catch the first time) Here is a link that might be useful: Lutron Vierti dimmer switch This post was edited by cindallas on Mon, Sep 8, 14 at 16:56...See MoreCan I have a flagstone retaining wall with paver patio?
Comments (13)Michelle Roth , I'm going to retract my comment that the materials may not look good together. I'm posting pictures of a house that was for sale nearby that used pavers and river rock. (so not exactly flagstone but a similar). When I saw this listed on the MLS, I was wowed and thought this looked great. I wasn't thinking "Oh the materials are different." lol. (fwiw, there are pics that show off the yard better. I'm uploading the ones with the biggest swath of materials, so you can see). I think your contractors are probably right, that's the uneven flagstones could cause problems set in sand. If you're going dry-set, pavers can fit much closer together, so fewer weeds! Plus dry-set is permeable, so better for the environment. (rain can return to the water table). I think it's also easier to lay vs. concrete. I'm going to be re-doing my backyard patio later this year. My landscape architect said that cost-wise, the cheapest is stamped cement, then pavers, then stone. In addition to the cost of the stone, I think the labor is a lot more, trying to get everything to line up. Thanks for starting this thread. It's helping me decide. I think I'll do pavers set in sand! ;)...See More
btydrvn
3 years agobtydrvn
3 years agobtydrvn
3 years agoUnfortunately green is not for outdoor use....but for the purpose of representing the look ...here is a pic of our acid stained floors
btydrvn
3 years agoUnfortunately green is not for outdoor use....but for the purpose of representing the look ...here is a pic of our acid stained floors
btydrvn
3 years agobtydrvn
3 years ago
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