After installing the patio in the backyard, I wanted to carry that same design to the front. We have a narrow driveway and cannot park side-by-side – best solution is to extend the driveway width with pre-cast patio stones. I was adding 4 feet.
Using Illustrator, I mocked up a design. Just like the patio in the backyard, the biggest issue was excavating dirt. Luckily most of the soil I was excavating was put in by the builder – so it was soft and easy to shovel out.
Since a vehicle was going to be parked on top of the stones, I needed to go down a minimum of 8” to support the weight. Again, I used high performance bedding (HPB) for the substrate – very easy to work with.
Using the 2×4 method allowed me to get all the proper angles for water drainage. After laying the stones, I used polymer sand to fill in the gaps
After a harsh 2013/14 winter, I did notice that some of the stones heaved – which broke apart the polymer grout lines.
However, over the course of the spring months the stones settled to their original position – but I needed to re-apply the polymer sand to fill some spots.
Comments
How’s it holding up? I’m looking to do the same myself.
Great read and the images are very helpful. Thanks.
Thanks for the comment. It’s held up well over 2 winters. I’ve noticed that it does heave a little – but we’ve had really cold winters over the last 2 years. Once the spring comes, it settles back down to it’s original state. However, I have had to sweep in another coat of poly sand to fill the gaps from heaving, …and I expect to do the same this year (2015) as well. But as far as “staying put”, …YES, it’s been fabulous. The high performance bedding does a great job – an excellent substitute for limestone screening!
You said you went down 8″ for the driveway. How far down did you dig for your backyard patio?
Thanks!
The backyard patio was a little different. Due to the grade, I dug up to 16″ in some spots, and only 6″ in other – I had to dig to different depths to make the bedding level, that’s the key. But I would go minimum 4″ – any less and you risk lack of drainage, …lack of drainage will cause heaving when it freezes. Of course that’s if you live in a climate that has below zero temps throughout the year.