I just built a quartzite patio in Reno, NV. I used the new product, polymeric sand and it worked great! I got the sand in 60 lb bags for $20 a bag from Home Depot. My patio is 9X27.5 and I used 5 bags. It looks like regular sand and sweeps into the joints. You then mist it 3-4 times waiting about 10 minutes between each misting. The water activates a weak polymer glue and locks the sand granules in place. We don't have much problems with frost heaves here, but if a stone moves you can pull up the sand in chunks and step on it or use a shovel to get it back to a granular stage, sweep it back in place and re-mist. Although the polymeric sand sets up pretty hard I don't think it would stand up to a leg from a patio chair, etc., so we plan on getting sled style chairs for the patio. It does do well with walking on it and the sand stays put! So far we are very happy with it. I'll let you know how it goes thru the winter. We get very little rain here but we do get snow.

What Lascatx says is ture, but there are no standards for the definitions and manufacturers tend to use the words "porceline" and "ceramic" to mean the same thing in tiles. There's a good reason for that. Porcelain IS a ceramic tile. It's just a denser clay baked at a much higher temp, producing a much harder, practically absorbent free, and MUCH more durable product. I would NOT take a salesperson's word that a product is porcelain. If it doesn't say it on the sample board, assume it's not porcelain. Also, if all they show you is a piece of tile, and when it comes in it doesn't say porcelain on the packaging, refuse the delivery and demand your money back if you're set on porcelain, because someone's BSing you.

I have no idea how you intend on using "landscape timber" to raise the height of a brick/paver patio. Not only is that mysterious but it sounds bound to fail. What I normally think of as "landscape timbers -- they are rounded on two opposing sides and are fairly inexpensive -- are not durable at all when in contact with the ground. I can't think of any reason or any way to use wood to fix a paver patio that couldn't be done much better by using standard paver installation techniques.

The best way to clean concrete is a pressure washer. You can rent one for a day for around $50 from rental centers as well as home improvement stores. You don't need the most powerful model, just one that will remove accumulated dirt and algae. As to your deck, when you get ready to tackle it, here is a SITE with lots of info. Across the top are categories on product reviews, as well as info on stripping, cleaning, and staining.