Can I build my own patio even though I am NOT handy?

[Anonymous]

I did. It's 12x15.

Squared out the area and I hired help to dig it out. Put down gravel and sandstone, then rented a machine shat stamps down the layers and then put down 2.5" Pennsylvania bluestone that I purchased from a place in fall church. My yard is level, but I made sure I properly graded the slope (there's a standard slope, something like 1" for every 10 feet) so runoff goes away from the house and onto the downslope for the driveway.

Fwiw - I did this as a single woman in my late 30s. I just googled everything. I was in no rush, so I took my time. Decks were way out of my budget. This was really just manual labor and planning. I was in great shape and viewed the work as cross training.

Toughest parts: digging it out and trying to purchase evenly cut stones to make the leveling easier.

[Anonymous]

Building a patio (and a path to the patio) with pavers is pretty easy, and you can see lots of videos online on how to level sand under the space, lay the pavers over the sand, and sweep more sand between the pavers to lock them into place. I would not want to DIY natural stone because it is hard to cut and often uneven. Also, I would plan a square patio so you can minimize cutting. Also, pick you location carefully so you don't have a lot of roots that will push up the pavers or water flow that will wash away the base sand.

Be prepared because (1) it will still be several thousand $ in materials) and (2) very heavy.

FYI - if you want to do something really easy, google crushed stone patios. You will get annoyed at getting pebbles in your shoes, but it will give you some nice outdoor space.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I did. It's 12x15.

Squared out the area and I hired help to dig it out. Put down gravel and sandstone, then rented a machine shat stamps down the layers and then put down 2.5" Pennsylvania bluestone that I purchased from a place in fall church. My yard is level, but I made sure I properly graded the slope (there's a standard slope, something like 1" for every 10 feet) so runoff goes away from the house and onto the downslope for the driveway.

Fwiw - I did this as a single woman in my late 30s. I just googled everything. I was in no rush, so I took my time. Decks were way out of my budget. This was really just manual labor and planning. I was in great shape and viewed the work as cross training.

Toughest parts: digging it out and trying to purchase evenly cut stones to make the leveling easier.

Good for you! I'm married and in my 60's but still like manual labor jobs around the house and property. You must have gotten a great sense of accomplishment out of your patio.

OP: Sisel Stone is the place in Falls Church this poster refers to. A real find with nice stone. I see no reason why you can't do this. You may have to pull permits and do a ratio of built to free yard. Don't fear the job inspectors either. They always help if your nice to them. The Pro-Tip of landscape fabric is spot on. You buy it at big box stores or landscape gardens. Really helps keeps weeds down.

Hey, after all, someones got to keep up and do right on our infrastructure!

[Anonymous]

When putting the sand down to fill in between the pavers, there's a special kind that doesn't wash away as easily.

Look at the blog Young House Love. They did a paver patio a couple years ago and describe their process and budget really well.

[Anonymous]

I've DIYd a lot of stuff, but patios are not something I'd want to do (if you do it right). Reason being it's a TON of hard manual labor. Dig up a section of dirt and fill a wheelbarrow and see how you feel afterwards.

To do a paver patio properly you need to add several inches of base gravel, and to get to that point you have to remove a lot of dirt. It's VERY hard work, and I'd consider building a deck over doing a patio any day. Patios are back breaking work. Then there's wheelbarrowing all the base into place, etc.

Sure if you half ass it you can throw some stones down on top of the dirt and hope they dont sink/shift, but then you end up w/ a half ass patio that needs to be completely redone in the future.

[Anonymous]

OP here. I've been doing more research and it seems like the biggest hurdle for me would be the excavation. The patio would be 250 square feet and depending on the things I'm looking up, I will need to dig 4-8 inches down. I am not burly to say the least . Is the digging something I could hire someone to help me with? I have never hired anyone to help with such a small-scale job before but I don't want to be flat on my back from digging out the patio.

Thanks for the tips thus far! And that blog that was posted that talked about the polymeric sand was great.

[Anonymous]

My neighbor is moderately handy and a big guy. He DIY 'd a paver patio and it took a very long time and was a grat deal of work.

[Anonymous]

Day laborers is an option. Sometimes there is an office associated with DL and they guys who run it may recommend a foreman for the job whom they know to oversee the job.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here. I've been doing more research and it seems like the biggest hurdle for me would be the excavation. The patio would be 250 square feet and depending on the things I'm looking up, I will need to dig 4-8 inches down. I am not burly to say the least . Is the digging something I could hire someone to help me with? I have never hired anyone to help with such a small-scale job before but I don't want to be flat on my back from digging out the patio.

Thanks for the tips thus far! And that blog that was posted that talked about the polymeric sand was great.

You can rent equipment to help you. That's a really small patio. We hand dug ours out and it was not fun - I'm very small. We did a little every few days and it took time but we did it. You could probably get a day laborer or someone else to help with parts of it.

[Anonymous]

Yes you can do it. So 6" of gravel(cr6), 2-4 inches of sand(depends on how thick your stone is, I go with about 3") and stone(the thicker the better, it stays in places and will not break on you). Tips...finish level of patio min 2" below the floor of your house, gutters can not exit on to the patio(have to put them under the patio -4 pvc(solid no holes) under patio and 3' clear of the patio).