Dear Friends, I'm building a 8 feet radius round flagstone patio on my sloppy backyard (As pictured, DIY). I dig off a foot and half on the left, the front and right side of the patio will still be above the ground. Originally my design is to build a base with 5 inches of crush stone base, surrounded by retaining wall block (left, front side). Mix about 2 inch of mortar and stick Flagstone (already bought 2 tons stone about 1.5-2" thickness) on top of the base and wall. I am hopping the mortal will hold the stone well so it won't shift off the slop. As I read more on the internet and I have the concern the patio will end up crack for the way I lay it (people mentioned different expansion ratio of the mortar and stone etc). Here I would like to hear some advises for how should I continue. 1. Am I OK to continue my original plan. Will cracking really a concern in Atlanta GA area, the overall weather hear is mild with a few freezing days. I'll try to compact the base as much as i can. Maybe increase the mortal layer to 3 inches would help? Should I build a rough concrete patio enforced with metal bar, say 3 inches thickness. On top, lay the flagstone with mortar. Will this keep the patio in shape better than plan 1 above. Should I be better off dry laid flag stone. It actually take less effort to do. Add Stone dust on top of pave base and do dry laid. I am worry the rain water will end up wash off the base and fillings in the crack. It will be hard to keep the stones intact over the long run. Really appreciate your comment to guide me further.

Congratulations on being your own general contractors. My husband and I built our last house. Lot of pressure, but worth it. We had a deck with a similar set up. Deck above deck. We chose to not put stairs on the upper deck for security. We could keep the sliders open day and night without anyone entering. We just went out the basement door to access the hot tub. I can't see why you can't put up a privacy wall for the hot tub.

where do you live? will the pool be closed 9 months of the year, for example? while we adore our RI pool, i wish the previous owners had built it further from the house. we have 3 months of pool and 9 months of pool cover. so if you can site yours a bit further from the house, with a patio in between, you'll enjoy your yard more. also, be 100% on top of what your local code requires as far as gates, alarms, etc. most of the 'pretty pools' shown at houzz would get a big frown from the inspector. you'll save a lot of time and a lot of money on discarded designs if you go in knowing whats what. you can not depend on contractors to know the code on pools.

I agree with PCC. You need an ARCHITECT and a LANDSCAPE DESIGNER/ARCHITECT in order to work out all the details of an architectural and landscape renovation. Meanwhile, here are some rough ideas to contemplate. (Keep in mind I have no accurate measurements, so this is theory.) One point I'm making is that, as the primary addition, a deck would be more useful than a patio.