That's a good point Yard. Neither my wife nor I are very happy with how the end of it turned out, so I very well might be re-doing it at some point when I'm not so tired. The cutting of stones was a bit of a learning curve. I ended up redoing quite a few of them my second time round. I was just manually measuring with a straight edge ruler and getting a little creative with my curves to help lock it in. There were sadly a ton of curves to cut. We rented the saw the first day late for 24 hours. So I worked from 4pm or so until 8pm on them. By the end it was going much better. Sure enough the next morning I woke up at 7 am to finish up and it was sprinkling. Started cutting in the rain until about 11am when it started pouring. We realized how slow it was going and that I would have to rent the saw again, so my wife convinced me to stop working in the rain and return it. Sure enough as soon as it was back, the rain stopped. I doubt I would have finished either way though, never expected it to take that long to cut so much. I ended up working a full day from 7am to 8pm to finish the pavestone and capstone.

"If someone has recommended doing half the driveway only and not urged us to do the whole thing, is that another red flag?" In my mind, it's a red flag. Look at the flat cross-section profile of the front portion of the drive. Imagine the heaviest rainstorm you can--one that goes on for hours with a heavy downpour. As flow piles up, it's impossible that water will not infiltrate the building ... unless the entire cross-section slopes away from the building. But it doesn't. Pls8xx makes the point that contractors often propose that which is the easiest/most profitable. Unless their work is very well known to the client, that places their recommendations into question. I'm not saying that the recommendations are automatically not good ... just that they must be looked at with a suspicious eye. The recommendations of a landscape architect WHO IS ALSO A CONTRACTOR must be looked at in the same regard. And JUST because a person is an LA does not mean they are well qualified in all aspects of that work. (I was trained to design a highway, but I couldn't design one to save my life!) ... or that they don't have a profit motive ... or even a lazy streak. Astphard, as I mentioned your property is similar to one I once owned. So similar in fact that it's eery ... not just the narrow drive at the left, but even the paint and trim colors! We had a garage that was too small to be a real garage in the same position. We had a slope (a MUCH more substantial one!) coming straight at the back of the house. There was an existing concrete patio at the back of the house and fortunately, it was swaled and sloped to carry water toward the drive. I swaled the drive to allow the flow to continue. That everyone who has come out to look at the situation has advised installing a drain and piping makes me the lone dissenter. In spite of that fact, I cannot stress enough how much more trouble-free drainage at the surface of the ground is compared to that which is buried. Though I haven't seen a close-enough view of the back of the house yet to render an opinion, my gut reaction remains the same as it was earlier: this can probably be handled with surface grading and drainage for a much more trouble-free, long term solution. Especially, if you're going to be re-grading anyway. Marcinde, you'll see that nowhere am I advising the OP NOT to get a local solution. I'm only advising him on what he should be looking out for while doing it. As well, I agree with pls8xx ... if the proper information could be gathered, there's no reason a drainage/grading solution couldn't be done from afar. But no one here has offered to do one. What's happening here is helping someone to look out for their self.

Grade away from a building for a paver patio will be somewhat less of an issue because of drainage afforded by the space between pavers and the base upon which they rest. Your 1/10" per foot grade is probably safe though I used 1/8" per foot because my level gave that indication. Remove all of the top soil and sufficient sub soil to allow for the base. Base requirement is dependent upon your frost zone and the weight to be set atop. I have a minimum of 5" base plus an inch of sand but below a hot tub I have 10" of base. Paver base need not be different only because it's further from your house. Now, here is my advise for new construction - WAIT, maybe 3 years. Why, because the foundation backfill needs time to settle completely. Most likely your existing slab is going to shift (unless footings were poured below) during this time so whatever pavers placed alongside will misalign in a season. Yes, a photo would be helpful, many are posted. And, do you mean 2,000 sq. ft of pavers, not 200? Personally if you're going that large, why save the existing 100 ft of concrete? I'm linking our patio. When I built it in 1998 (1995 home construction) I set stakes and provided a crowned grade from the house and to both edges. Because I needed a retaining wall, I installed French drains below the gravel,to carry away any water and they have worked great. Hope this helps. Good luck. Here is a link that might be useful: Patio

You are more then welcome!!! Always glad to help!!!! when rooting, the bottom heat is what is. It's omportant. If you are using those clear pits to root in, I would be careful about exposing them to direct light. The suns Rays will magnify through the plastic and could cause sunburn on the cutting that is below the rim area. So, if was mine.. I would place them on hot concrete... Let them enjoy the natural heat and keep them from direct sun. You did a lot of work with those plastic bottles. can I just make a suggestion? Why not use plastic cups to root in? Cut little holes.. Place the nine cups with the new cuttings on a heat mat or place them on hot concrete. Then once they have rooted in the little cups, you can easily transfer them to larger nursery containers. You could then use the clear ones that you made or just use black nursery containers. Using a smaller rooting container, you cam see the root emerge so much sooner and you will eliminate the worries of major sunburn from the larger plastic if in full sun. one you put the cutting in the new container.. I like to take styrofoam chunks and place in four pieces to keep the cutting from moving.. I'll show you a pic..this will keep the cutting sturdy and won't damage the finer roots ... just a thought!! The styrofoam can be found in small Squares at Michael's arts and crafts They come in 8x10x1 inch I like he softer foam :-) anytime you need help. We are always ready!! That's how we all learned!! we are " rooting" for you!! ;-) laura oh.. The plastic pieces sticking up will not be a problem.. No worries !! laura