What We Build
Custom PatiosHow We Build Them
Almost every patio we are asked to replace failed for the same reason, and it is never the stone. It is what was underneath it. Here is exactly how we build one, step by step, so you know what to look for whoever you hire.
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Step 1
Design before anything is dug
We walk the property first. Where water currently runs, where the sun sits in the afternoon, how the space connects to the door you actually use. Then we produce a custom 3D design of the finished patio in your own yard.
You approve the layout, the material and the stone pattern before a shovel touches the ground. On a project this size, changing your mind on a screen costs nothing. Changing it after the stone is set costs a great deal.
Step 2
Excavate eight inches
We dig out a full eight inches below finished grade. Every bit of topsoil and organic material comes out, because organic material decomposes and anything sitting on it drops with it.
We over-excavate past the finished edge on every side. That margin is what supports the perimeter, and the perimeter is where patios fail first.
Step 3
Four inches of crushed asphalt
Four inches of crushed asphalt, compacted. Most crews use plain gravel here. We use crushed asphalt because the residual binder in it re-cements as it is compacted, and it sets up harder and holds that compaction better than loose stone does.
This is the layer nobody ever sees and the one that decides whether the patio is still flat in ten years.
We build the pitch in here as well. A patio needs to fall away from the house, roughly a quarter inch per foot. It should be imperceptible underfoot and completely obvious to water.
Step 4
Two inches of masonry sand
Two inches of masonry sand goes down, then gets screeded flat. The stone sets into this layer, and it is what lets us hold a true surface across the whole field rather than following every small variation in the base below.
Step 5
Lay the paver
We lay from a straight reference line rather than from the house, because houses are rarely square and the eye reads the pattern, not the wall.
Cuts happen at the perimeter, never in the middle of the field, and we plan the layout so no cut piece ends up smaller than half a stone. Small slivers work loose. They are the first thing to fail and the first thing anyone notices.
Step 6
Polymeric sand and wash
Polymeric sand swept into every joint, then washed and activated with water. It locks the stones to each other, resists weeds and stops ants tunnelling the joints out from below.
The wash matters as much as the sand. Polymeric residue left on the surface hazes the stone permanently, so the patio gets cleaned properly before we call it done.
Step 7
Backfill and loam
We backfill the edges, bring in loam and seed where we disturbed grass, and take the debris with us. On the last day the space should look finished, not like a job that stopped.
Materials
What we build in
Near the water we steer toward denser material and adjust the mortar where mortar is involved, because salt breaks down soft stone and lime faster than inland weather does. If the stone you like is wrong for where you want it, we will say so before you buy it.
Ask any contractor
Four questions worth asking
Whoever you hire, these four answers tell you most of what you need to know:
How deep will you excavate?
We go eight inches. Anything materially less than that on Cape Cod sand is optimistic. Ask what happens to the topsoil too, because it all has to come out.
What material goes in for the base, and how thick?
We use four inches of crushed asphalt, compacted. Plain gravel works, but crushed asphalt re-cements as it compacts and holds that compaction longer.
What edge restraint do you use, and what is it fastened into?
It should be spiked into the compacted base. Spiked into soil, it moves with the soil.
What is the pitch, and where does the water go?
There should be a specific answer, and it should not be toward your foundation.
Get in touch
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Get a Free EstimateMain: (508) 360-2151 · Office: (508) 373-3495
Masonry and hardscaping contractor serving all of Cape Cod, Massachusetts. Licensed and insured in MA.
(508) 360-2151(508) 373-3495contact@bridimasonryservices.comWhat We Build
- Custom Patios
- Walkways
- Stone Steps & Stairs
- Retaining Walls
- Cobblestone Aprons
- Paver Driveways
- Chimney Repair