We have had this path since we moved in and it is a bunch of stepping stones just set down. They are too high (rather, too proud of the ground) and too far apart. Also, the wrong color.
So I shall get a bunch of the same kind but right color and am comfortable shaping them to fit together. But is there a better choice than just dirt to use as a "grout"?? I don't want it permanent. In fact dirt would work fine. But wondering what might be better??
The snow shoveller in my soul looks at that and shudders.
Knowing where these are located, you'd shutter even more is snow ever happened to fall on these stones!
I would move them closer together - less than 1" - and use sand, or use small washed pea gravel if you want the aesthetic.
Road base topped with sand, leveled and packed, then use polymeric sand to fill in the gaps.
Definitely moving them them closer together. That is the biggest motivator of this project.
And TIL polymeric sand is not just sand. It sounds amazing and exactly what I need.
for the base, I know there is a best way (with the compacted road base at the bottom) but the hard-packed dirt that is there is the correct height and the stones haven't moved since we moved in.
would sand on top of the dirt, then the stones and then polymeric sand in between work ok? We are in a dry climate. Little rain, no snow.
and what kind of sand would you recommend??
Yeah, if you've got solidly packed dirt you should be okay. The leveling sand is washed concrete sand - that refers to the mix of fines and the screen size used. You might be able to buy it at Home Depot (etc) but your local gravel pit or landscaping supply will probably have bulk quantities. You won't need all that much for that walkway.
If it were wetter or froze there consistently I would use some kind of paver base that allows for drainage, but I think you're fine just leveling the packed stuff you have there.
If you're going to use that type of stone, I don't think the sand will help much. That's more for in between pavers or bricks where a few grains thick is all you need. It's designed to "key" into the tight spaces between bricks. I might consider a good topsoil and seed with something like scottish moss, a short grass, or whatever "walk on me" plant they sell in your area.
Note for clarity of discussion that the concrete sand is for the leveling base, the polymeric is the "grout" between stones. Agreed that it's not the right choice as-is, but jfryjfry is planning on moving them closer together. With the spacing as-is, I'd have grass or pea gravel in between the stones.
You need 2-3x's as many "steppers" as you have there if you are going to use polymeric between the stones. If you plan to keep them as they are pictures, you need some type of small river rock to go between them. Over time they will disappear into the base material(compacted dirt, pulverized limestone) when walked on as soon as it gets wet. I'm with Keith, I would put some sort of "steppables" in between which can be sourced at a local nursery. If you want a cool DIY project, make moss and fill the gaps with it. It's pretty easy but you will need to go buy a flea market blender to mix it up. Don't ask how I know............
Moss
Instructions
I just bought a truckload of flagstone from offerup for $200. I'll be cutting/breaking them up to size.
they will be a lot tighter. I'd like gaps of about 1/2"
i think this will be a larger project than I told my wife it would be. Gulp.
Fill it with concrete and smooth it out flush with the stones?
jfryjfry said:i think this will be a larger project than I told my wife it would be. Gulp.
You are in for some good heavy fun :) Should be a really nice improvement over the current state, though.
In reply to Keith Tanner :
My yard is small. There are two chunks of grass that are 15' square each. I really, really want to take one square out and throw rock down like this for a small firepit. How long did that take you to do?
Day or two to lay the stone, I'll have to go back to the photo timestamps to be sure. The base prep was mixed up with some other work that involved building up the hillside. From memory doing another more traditional build (ie, level ground), doing the initial excavation took the longest. I'll go through my pictures of that job to get an idea of total elapsed time. It was similar in size.
I think this was the process:
- dig the base down to make room for gravel if necessary
- place and level gravel on a large scale (take drainage into account)
- stomp it with a stomper (I think)
- put down the washed concrete sand
- level carefully and stomp
-lay down stone. With natural stone, you'll have some uneven thicknesses which requires a bit of extra work as well as an extra challenge to make it fit together. With manufactured stone you can just plop it right on there and you don't have to play jigsaw. This is the hard part of the job but also the most satisfying. I used manufacturered stone the first time and that's natural rock above.
- cover with polymeric sand, sweep off and water to set it.
Wow this is tedious.... the stone I got is mostly about 2" thick. Which is massive. And I can't find my 7" cutting blade. So I'm making do with a 4" and a chisel to break them.
my air hammer is proving, once again, to be awesome. Although it does tend to blow out the backside a bit.
most of my pieces are way too big so I have to cut them down. But worse than that is getting them out of the truck sans help. The largest ones I'll need help with.
this is about 4 hours in:
That's looking really good! You have way more patience than I do though.
jfryjfry said:
....i think this will be a larger project than I told my wife it would be. Gulp.
My first house had a patio made like this that had heaved and was dangerous to walk on. I figured a weekend to pull it up, level it and be barbecuing. A month of weekends later my wife showed me her friends stamped concrete. Never looked back.
Yours is looking great though!
That level of trimming is a real commitment. But 2" thick, they're gonna stay put.
Yeah, they'd better. Some are thinner and I'm gravitating towards them.
I think I'm going to make a bunch of shapes for the rest and just start putting together as best as I can.
another 3 hours:
Looks fantastic! You have more patience than I do.
Walk naturally down the path a few times and note where your feet land, and move as many stones as necessary to make them align better. Then add some to fill gaps. And then bank the grass up to the path rather than try to lower the path itself. Having said that I got rid of mine altogether because it was always a weedy mess.
Another 6 hours and here I am! I thought I'd be done. And now doing the rest of the path seems impossible!
ugh. I think I'm going to be a lot looser on the stones' lash from here on out.
After I fit the stones in the box I pulled them out and spent a lot of time setting them in sand. They are all kinds of various thicknesses... and no, that's not my little helper although he is an absolutely fantastic encourager!
Looking really good!!
It looks fantastic.
Car guy points for referring to the gap between stones as "lash".
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