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Picked flagstone over pavers for my patio last month - kinda regretting it now
I was set on square pavers for ages cause they're easier to lay, but my buddy convinced me flagstone looks more natural. Spent 3 weekends leveling those irregular slabs and the gaps are a nightmare to fill with gravel. Looks cool I guess, but ants keep pushing through the joints. Has anyone else tried crusher dust instead of sand to lock them in?
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evan_green5218d ago
Why would you switch to crusher dust when the REAL problem is you didn't prep the base right? I've put in flagstone for maybe a dozen patios and the secret is a solid 4 inches of compacted gravel underneath with a thick layer of polymeric sand on top. Crusher dust just turns to mud when it gets wet and then washes out faster than regular sand. You gotta tamp those stones down GOOD and sweep the sand into every crack until it's packed tight, then hit it with a hose to activate the glue in the polymer sand. The ants only push through if you leave gaps wider than your thumb, so maybe your buddy's idea of "natural" left too much space between stones.
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miller.rowan18d ago
That's the thing with so many projects these days... everyone rushes through the foundation stuff because it's boring, then wonders why the pretty top part falls apart. Same thing happens with homeowners who come into my shop thinking they can skip a tune-up and just change the oil, six months later they've got a blown head gasket and a much bigger bill. You gotta respect the base layer in anything you build, whether it's a patio or an engine, or the whole thing's just built on borrowed time.
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