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flagstone yard
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Posted by kiwibird WA (My Page) on Fri, Feb 25, 05 at 8:37
| I have a small back yard adjacent to my condo that has a patch of grass about 120 sq ft in size. The grass is out of place, does not thrive (too much traffic, not enough light, compact soil). I want to rip it all out and lay some flagstone, but I am trying to assess how feasable this project will be.
The yard is fairly level, but I am not concerned with the flagstone being perfectly level. Obviously I don't want it going all over the place, but since I'm not going for a totally clean "patio" look (already have a concrete patio), it does not have to be perfect. I plan to plant something in the cracks.
So what I want to know is if it will be reasonable to dig out a few inches and lay the stones on the compacted dirt or if I absolutely need the sand/gravel base. I was hoping after laying the stones I could bring in soil and sweep it into the cracks to secure them (watering in and adding more several times, of course). This is going to be a lot of hard work for me since the only route for bringing stone and materials is from my car, through a hall way inside the building, through my living room, and into the yard! Yes, I plan this project to go excruciatingly slowly.
Any tips, anectodes, or maybe just even telling me I am not going to be able to accomplish this are much appreciated. |
Follow-Up Postings:
RE: flagstone yard
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| you could find someone for about $20/sq ft materials included to do the job correctly. |
RE: flagstone yard
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| Thanks! That was incredibly not helpful! |
RE: flagstone yard
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| I bet you can at a slow rate, by yourself. 120 sq aint that bad. I think the biggest question is, how deep is your frost line in the winter? If your ground freezes and you put flag on the ground without sand/gravel underneath, it might shift. But if you arent looking for a clean look, I say go for it. If you can get a rock company to deliver a pallet of flag for you, and then invite some much needed friends over, you can make it a 1/2 day party. Just prep up the yard, and then lay the rocks. Sweep in some dirt or there is this locking sand stuff they sell at rock companies. |
RE: flagstone yard
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| I made a rock walk with fieldstone with the help of my two young sons-not too young-11 and 14-and I did not use sand under my rocks. I dug down into the ground approximately 1 to 1 1/2 inches and planted the rocks filling in with more dirt. We have very clay soil, so I just used a broom to clean over the rocks and used a hose and spray nozzle to soak down the soil. I soaked it very heavily so that the soil is almost like concrete when it dried. I filled in with baby's tears around and in-between the stones and it looks awesome! It is by no means perfection, but it looks great and works fine. It has been done for 2 years and never have any of the rocks shifted. Perfectionists may think that I used shortcuts, but it works for me and that is how I did it. I will try to post some pics when I can get the pics on disc and you can judge for yourself. I do think the idea of having a party of sorts with helpers will be a big benefit to you and your back! Good luck! |
RE: flagstone yard
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| Your flagstone project sounds great. We put a fieldstone walkway in years ago pretty much the same way Hothousehen described above. The only difference is our soil is extremely sandy here. Frost has not heaved the stone up much at all, and if one would pop up a bit higher than the other it isn't terribly hard to just reset it again down lower. Getting the stone to the area sounds like it will be the hardest part. We've handled literally tons and tons of rocks here over the years but never had to bring them thru the house, at least not yet--I'll never say never....around here, anything can happen and usually does. I am fortunate that I have a DH and two sons, now 18 & 14 who love to play with rocks, too. However, when they are at work and school, I work alone every day. I use a two-wheeled appliance cart to stack the rocks on and wheel them around, just putting as many on as I can handle and it cuts down on the trips and the backaches. (somewhat) I don't know if there are staircases involved in your condo, because the cart would be a bit more cumbersome to maneuver up and down, but it does work on steps too. The area we're working on right now has stone staircases to go down and the cheap little cart handles it very well. Wish I didn't live so far away, we could zip on over and give you a hand! Karen |
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