Hardscaping

[Garden Group]

Has anyone tried a small hardscaping project, such as bricking stairs or laying down a small brick patio.  It looks fairly simple and not too laborious, but I don't want to get in over my head.  Right now Noah and Sherlock have a nice sandbox that is laying on dirt.  I would like to brick the area to create a cute patio setting.  I know you need to carefully think out the plan and make sure you think about drainage as well.  Has anyone tried to do a small project like this before?

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

I think it's much more complicated than it looks. I had a brick walkway put in, and it was a tremendous amount of labor, with the cost reflecting that. They dug out the entire area; you have to plan not just drainage, but also, you have to level and grade the soil underneath. You can't just put the bricks down on top of the existing soil or sand, they'll shift. It was also the messiest project I've had done...much more so than installing the fence or moving a dozen large bushes. I don't want to discourage you, but I wouldn't advise attempting it if you haven't done similar work before.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

A 20 x 20 area will be very expensive to have done professionally. But it doesn't hurt to get an idea.

[F, Calla & Luca]

I had a small, maybe 3'x 4' brick landing put in by some steps. It was done by a young fellow with my supervision. The area was dug up a few inches and then the bricks were laid in sand.A few years later they had settled unevenly and the area was in need of redoing. By now the earth was compressed and the brick landing looks pretty good after several years.But it is a lot of hard work especially if you want to do a patio sized area. I'm interested in your sandbox. Does it help to keep the dogs from digging elsewhere and does the sand require much dog clean up? I noticed when we had the romp at the beach, the dogs had very little sand on them after the drive home.

[F, Calla & Luca]

You might be able to get a ground cover that's shade tolerant to grow under there. Pachysandra is one of my favorites because it's easy , tolerant and a good camouflage. Very easy to root in water so you can always "make more". The dogs have beaten up some areas of mine because it's on one of there running circuits but I expect they'll perk up with spring/ It does like water and shouldn't get really dry.

[Nina, Phil, Harlow & Lacey]

DH and I put in a flagstone pathway a few years ago. It wasn't too difficult, but it was tedious digging out the dirt and getting things level. But we don't live in an area where we need to worry about freeze & thaw issues. It may be more cost effective to have a concrete patio poured. You could have it stamped and stained to look like brick.

[F, Calla & Luca]

Jane, I just thought of you and I think I may have a good solution. Do you have Christmas Tree Shops in your area?They are selling teak patio flooring. There are 10x1foot squares for $39.99. So that's120 sq. feet. So for about $160 you'd have enough to cover a 20x 20 foot area. They lookeasy to install and even if they didn't last forever they'd be an easy fix. In fact I may use some in an area that the dogs love to dig in.
http://www.bedbathandbeyond.com/cts/tabless.html

[Nina, Phil, Harlow & Lacey]

Whoa! That is a really good price on teak squares. You could use some steel landscape edging to help level area with sand or decomposed granite. Then you could lay the squares on top of the sand/DG. You could solve both digging and drainage plus have a bang up outdoor living space.

[F, Calla & Luca]

I went and bought some but they are still in the trunk of my car. One day, I hope soon..I post how they are.

[Carla Brant]

Jane, We put in a Flagstone patio..probably 20x30..bought the Flagstone at a garage sale for next to nothing! We dug the area out to level or as deep as the thickest stone...probably 4" max so use the thickest stone or brick as a guage. Then layed a wet gravel....It was a number I can't remember(think 28 or 58 something like that).. not a type ,so ask at the local supplier of compost/mulch/gravel place for the wet gravel needed to place patio stone down. Put 3"to 4" of gravel down,tamp it level,placed the stones,pounded them level with a rubber mallet and filled the inbetweens with the rest of the gravel,used a push broom to fill the cervices, and wet it down really well and let it settle..then wet it again and again the next day. It has been down for 5 years and we live on Lake Erie so we have winter..and not one stone has moved. It was alot of work but let me tell you how buff I was when it was all done! :0) ... it was fun and I am doing one for my daughter next month. If you get the right stuff it stays in place because it drys like cement. Good luck!

[Maryann,Roo and Tigger]

my DH and I put pavers in a small atrium, about 4 by 8. The digging is not so bad, but it is very hard to get it anything like level, probably not that much of an issue for you in the area you are looking at. The hard part for me was moving the dirt I dug out somewhere else. It was a lot more than I anticipated. Then the very worst was hauling in and emptying about a gazillion bags of gravel and then sand to lay the pavers on. It is really nice and much better than dirt now that it is done. But it takes a lot of muscle and patience and sweat. i could not have done it by myself. My atrium is accessible only from my bathroom - hopefully your area is right next to your driveway!

[F, Calla & Luca]

This one's for you, Jane. I finally took the teak flooring out of the trunk. I still have no idea where I'm going to use it but.....

the squares look very nice and seem easy to put together.