Comments

May 21, 2008 at 1:27 am

(1) Esther says:

We have flagstone on our front yard. These flagstones were laid on sand. We are loosing a lot of sand with the rain. Can we re-do and put concrete? Any suggestions. We have spent a lot of money already.
Thank you,
Esther

May 22, 2008 at 11:52 am

(2) landscaping says:

Hi Esther,

It’s a lot of work to build flagstone patios in the way that I’m about to describe, but it is the correct way (if you decide, that is, that you don’t want to fool around with sand anymore):

1. Remove the flagstone and excavate
2. Excavation depth? Let’s say your flagstone is ¾”. Excavate down 5 ½”.
3. How did I arrive at that figure? The steps below will explain.
4. Pour a 4” concrete slab. Reinforce it with rebar.
5. After curing the concrete for 24 hours, apply a ¾” layer of mortar.
6. Lay the ¾” flagstone onto that mortar. If you want to get fancy about the type of mortar mix to use, a Web search will turn up plenty of information.
7. After a few days, grout in between the flagstones of your patio with mortar. But avoid any unnecessary stomping around on the new flagstone patio for a week or so.