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Creating a Circular Patio An eyesore of a backyard becomes a patio showplace for this Massachusetts firehouse. From "Rock Solid" episode DROC-206

(Continued from page 4)

Dean and Derek bring in one final and crucial item.

Finishing Touches: Flagging Grill and Walkway

With the patio complete, Dean and Derek decide to jazz up the manmade pavers with a few natural stone features: a flagging grill pad and walkway. They choose local Walpole flagging which is grey in color and accents the patio while contrasting the firehouse.

Tools and materials:

spade shovel
trowel
hand tamper
six foot level
rubber mallet
wheelbarrow
crusher run (gravel base)
stone flagging
loam

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Steps:

• Lay out the flagstones first to test their location. Once you decided where they work best dig out a three to four inch footing for each stone. Fill the base with two inches of crusher run and hand tamp (figure U).

• Set the flagging stones in the tamped gravel and use your rubber mallet to secure them. You may have to work them a little bit. The bottoms of the stones aren't perfectly smooth like the pavers.

• Use the handle of your rubber mallet and pack around the edges (figure V), then test the stone to make sure it doesn't wobble. You should also run the six foot level across the top of the stone to make sure that the stone is sitting either level or pitching away slightly from standing structures.

  Figure U

  Figure V

  
  

  The finishing touch is to bring in loam to cover the snap edging of the patio and surround the stepping stone walkway. Seed the area with grass, and enjoy your new patio.

  The patio is complete. All that's needed are guests and something to throw on the barbecue.

  Your esteemed hosts, Dean and Derek, prepared to fire up the grill.

  
  

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RESOURCES :

How to Build Walks, Walls & Patio Floors
Publisher: Sunset Publishing Corporation (5th edition; 2002)
ISBN: 0376017082
Order this title from Amazon.com.

Stonework & Masonry Projects: New Projects in Stone, Brick & Concrete
Publisher: Creative Publishing international (2000)
ISBN: 0865735824
Order this title from Amazon.com.

Step-by-Step Outdoor Stonework: Over Twenty Easy-to-Build Projects for Your Patio and Garden
Author: Mike Lawrence
Publisher: Storey Publishing
ISBN: 0882668919
Order this title from Amazon.com.

Unilock®
Product: Olde Greenwich Cobble
Color: rustic red; granite
www.unilock.com

RELATED PROJECTS: Cobble Pavers: Design and Excavation Cobble Pavers: Preparing Sub-base, Laying Borders Cobble Pavers: Field Cobble Installation Cobble Pavers: Grouting Paver Patio: Evaluating the Situation Patio Installation Finishing the Patio

ALSO IN THIS EPISODE:
	Creating a Circular Patio