Brick patio advice needed...

[RobS]

Hey Doc, I'll just reiterate what someone else already said: Make sure you do something to anchor the outside edges. My wife and I put in a brick walkway about 10 years ago and it doesn't look very good now. I think our errors were 1) Not compacting well enough and 2) We used PT 1X4 on edge for the edging. Over time, it tends to rise. There is a neat plastic edging product that has a flange that sits under the outer course of bricks. The edging is not as high as the bricks so you don't even see it. If we do it over again, this is what we'll use.

One more thing... of all the home improvement projects we've tackled, that was the most labor intensive (read, sorest muscles). Maybe because we didn't have a tractor back then /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

 

[ddl]

tiled means palstic pipe with holes around the pipe is layed in the ground to provide water drainage. The pipes are place around the edges of the project and a couple accross the project.

Dan L

 

[jinman]

I see!/w3tcompact/icons/shocked.gif Kind of like a french drain. Thanks./w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

JimI

 

[ddl]

When I read about the French Drain thread, I thought it sounded like tiling. At least that was what it was called in Ag classes in high School. In Iowa and MO. House basements are usually tiled to keep water out.
Dan L

 

[dsquared]

Doc, if you haven't undertaken the project yet, one thing I didn't see mentioned in the replies. Hardware stores sell thin plastic forms that snap together and "hold" the bricks in place. They give you perfect spacing and help to keep the bricks from shifting. I put in a brick patio several years ago. I put down a layer of tarpaper over well tamped clay soil followed by 4" of well tamped sand. It used pressure treated 4x4's as a border. I never had problems with grass or weeds growing up between the brick. I ran the airconditioner condensate line over the patio and moss grew up between the brick and looked great. Last thing... really tamp the sand down or the brick will settle. Don't make the patio perfectly level or you'll have standing water and ice in winter. Dave

 

[DocHeb]

Be careful about using wall bricks for in-ground use. Some bricks absorb water and will "spall" off their face when frozen. The best material if you're going through the trouble will be concrete paver bricks made for that purpose. These concrete pavers will have built-in spacers to make the proper joint to allow very fine sand to fill the cracks. Save the house brick for vertical uses. If you need to cut some bricks, lay all the non-cut bricks first, then rent a wet diamond saw for cutting the final stones to finish the job. You can use a scorer that snaps the bricks - this leaves a rough edge. The dry diamond saws create horrendous clouds of dust that are probably terrible for your lungs.

 

[s1120]

This is the patio we put in at our house at cape cod. We just used sand under it[that’s all we have SAND,] I was glad to see that it made it through the winter.

 

[s1120]

Lets try this

 

[StoneHeartFarm]

Looks nice! How long has it been in?

SHF

 

[s1120]

We put it in last spring. Used it all summer with no problem. We do not live there, it is just a summer home, and so we did not know how it would look come spring, after its first winter. No problem. Looked good as new. I thought for shore that there would be some heaving. I guess all that sand is good for something, water just drains out. No water= no frost heaves.