Before

After

By Robb Harris From Handy Magazine

Even if you have never cut a stone and are lousy at jigsaw puzzles, you can probably build a beautiful, natural stone entry walk like this. Sure, it’s a lot of work, but the right rental equipment and techniques can turn you into a rock star. Best of all, your fame and satisfaction will last for years.

Take Club member Scott Janckila and his wife Laura. When they bought their house, it still had the concrete paver walk and minimal shrubs the builder had installed 9 years earlier.

“The house hardly looked lived in,” Scott complained. “Our first goal was to make it look better from the street.” But that wasn’t all. Their backyard deck baked in its full southerly exposure, so they wanted to create a small, shaded retreat out front. First, Scott turned to fellow Club member and landscape designer Mark Schriever of Otten Brothers Nursery to redesign the landscape. Then he contacted the Club for guidance on the walk itself.

The design
According to Mark, “The main thrust of the design was to incorporate the seating area.” Mark used a minimum width of 4 ft. for the walkway so two people could walk side by side. His plan also called for widening it along the garage to accommodate a small bench and large plantings. Enlarged planting beds along the front of the house and a new bed along the outside of the walk made the paving resemble a courtyard.

Mark replaced the straight path and square beds with smooth curves to contrast with the home’s angular forward gables. This also created space for a large shrub, where the walk met the driveway, which when mature will shield the sitting area from the street.
The curve at the driveway end had an added purpose.

“As you come around the corner you constantly discover new views of the walk, the gardens and the house,” Mark noted. Still more curves are found at both ends of the walk.

“The flares guide you onto the walkway from either end.” Similarly, the beginning of the walk is not hidden behind plantings. “You should be able to see where the walk starts from the bottom of the driveway,” he explained. “That develops a feeling of entrance.”
The planting beds, too, were an important part of the overall design. Flanking the entire outer edge of the walk with plantings would isolate the path from the yard, so Mark brought the lawn right up to the middle of the path. That helped tie the individual elements of the new landscape together.

A natural selection
The path could have been built with poured concrete or man-made pavers, but Scott and Laura really wanted to put their mark on the house. When they consulted American How-To for advice, the staff seized the opportunity to gain experience with natural stone.

Stone walkways and patios can vary from the most formal to very informal based on the size and texture of the stones and the way they fit together. Large stones aligned with long, straight, sawn edges are both formidable and formal. Smaller stones with rougher edges create a more casual look.

The Janckilas wanted a walk that was midway between formal and casual. They chose a look that combined sledge-broken and site-sawn flagstone from 10 to 24 in. wide. Flagstone refers to any stone used for paving that’s 1/8-in. to 4 in. thick. It could be granite, quartzite, New York blue stone or limestone. Scott and Laura looked over the selection at Hedberg Aggregates and settled on dolomite, a hard limestone with a buff or pale yellow color.

Mark specified 2-in.-thick (nominal) stone. The 1-in. (nominal) flag is fine for patios, but the heavier stone stays in place better, providing superior footing in walk applications. In general, the larger, thicker and smoother the stones and the smaller the joints, the more stable and functional the walk will be for foot traffic.The thicker stone also is less prone to damage from handling or cracking in place later. However, the extra weight means harder and slower work.

The magazine recruited Joel Forsberg of Colonial Stone Designs to demonstrate the tricks of his trade. Joel learned stonework from his father, Scott “The Stone Man” Forsberg, who has been building stone walls and steps since 1984.

At Joel’s direction, homeowner Scott Janckila and the magazine staff installed a minimum 6-in.-thick base of 3/4-in. crushed clear limestone — not the more typical Class II that contains everything from fine granules to 3/4-in. stone. While the Class II compacts better than “clear” stone, it doesn’t drain as well and is harder to manipulate when leveling individual paving stones.

Joel also specified granite dust (sometimes called granite chips) to fill the 3/8- to 1/2-in. gaps between the stones. The granite dust is larger and heavier than mason’s sand, so it binds together better and is less prone to washing out. Joel also thought the dark gray color would accentuate the random shapes of the pale dolomite stones.

Site preparation
“Site preparation is the most important part of building a walk or patio,” Joel explained.
The base (or foundation) for the stone should be stable and well drained to prevent frost heaving and settling. It should also slope away from the house so it doesn’t direct surface water toward the foundation.

The base must be compacted well and fully support each stone or the stones can shift or crack. The 3/4-in. crushed limestone worked well for this. When settled with a plate compactor, its rough edges locked together, forming a solid foundation. By contrast, smooth aggregate such as pea gravel or river rock would roll against each other. Don’t try to compact the gravel with a manual tamper or a roller. It’s the vibration from the plate compactor that makes the crushed rock lock together.

Scott began the project by marking the area to be excavated. Working from the Mark’s 1/8-in. scale drawing, he used garden hoses to define the shapes of the walk and the planting beds. Scott adjusted the lines and walked the path until it felt right. Then he outlined the shapes with marking paint.

When it came time to excavate the walk, Scott used a power sod cutter. At Joel’s suggestion, he also made one pass along the outside of the lines.

“It’s important to make the excavation and the base wider than the walk by at least 6 to 12 in.,” Joel said. “The edges of the paver stones must be supported as much as the center; otherwise the edge will collapse the way a cheap mattress does when you sit on the edge of a bed.” Stones along a collapsed edge tend to tip when walked on.
The rented sod cutter proved to be ideal for both stripping the sod and excavating the base. Its reciprocating blades easily sliced through the hard-packed clay in 2-in. layers without disturbing the soil below. That made it easy to scoop up the small slabs of clay with a long-handled flat shovel. Scott also tried the Club’s manual sod kicker and it worked almost as well.

Since the dolomite was about 2 in. thick, Scott excavated 8 in. of sod and soil and installed the 6-in. crushed limestone base. Precision wasn’t critical because the thickness of the paver stones themselves varied. However, it was important to slope the base soil away from the house. Note that the slope of the soil under the gravel — not the grade of the gravel — determines how water drains. Runoff drains along the soil as much as it does over the surface of the walk. For insurance, Scott also added a gutter along the garage with a downspout emptying into an underground drain tile to divert roof runoff past the walk.

The slope of the compacted crushed rock defines the grade of the finished path. So Scott made sure the height at the stoop and at the driveway was right and that the middle would work with the finished grade.

Little from big
A boom truck delivered the pallet of dolomite. Each stone was about 4 ft. square and weighed nearly 430 pounds. Scott placed an urgent call to Joel to find out how we would handle the monster material.

Joel’s trick is to slide a stone off the pile so it leans on the stack and to smack it once in the middle as hard as he can using a 20-pound sledgehammer. That breaks the stone into four or five irregular-shaped pieces that you can heft or haul around on a two-wheel handcart.

“Never lay the stone flat to break it,” Joel cautioned. “That just blows a big hole (like an exit wound) out the back where the hammer’s head hits.”

Another technique is to slide a large slab off the pallet onto the ground. Draw geometric shapes on the large stone and cut it in place with a gasoline-powered cutoff saw fitted with a diamond blade. Don’t cut all the way through. Instead, break the last inch or so by tapping along the cut with a sledge. This will leave an attractive, slightly irregular edge on the back side, which should face up when building the path.

The sledge technique tends to produce smaller and more irregular-shaped stones that are perfect for casual walks. The “mark and cut” technique gives you more control over the size and shape of each piece. While this can reduce waste and create tighter joints, it also increases the number of cuts you must make.

Placing the stones
Joel began by placing the straight edge of a large stone against the face of the stoop to form a 7-in. step. The rest of the walk grew from this point.

“A common mistake people make is trying too hard to form a pattern,” he warned. “You have to keep the big picture in mind and not worry so much about each little joint.”
No two stone walkways are the same, so randomness is rule one. Scott used mostly larger stones, from 8 x 18 in. up to 24 x 24 in., but he wasn’t afraid to fill in with smaller stones as long as they weren’t along the edges. He also placed sawn edges against broken edges, which reduced cutting and added character.

Joel placed and leveled the stones one at a time. First he made sure the stone was fully supported by wiggling it vigorously in the gravel. If one edge was a little high, he tamped it with the butt end of his sledgehammer handle. This acted like a dead blow hammer on a large scale and without damaging the stone. But it’s murder on the handle itself. If the sledge blow didn’t work, he pivoted the stone up and adjusted the gravel by hand. Don’t try to settle a stone by striking it with the hammer head. An unsupported stone will break when struck.

“The objective is to make the edges of the stones flush and the overall surface of the walk even,” Joel explained.

Sometimes the intersection of stones left a small hole. Instead of filling the void with a tiny stone, he placed a larger stone over the hole and traced its shape. Then he cut the surrounding stones in place and removed the cutoffs to accept it. Filling the void with a large stone was both better looking and more stable.

Joel let the edges of the walk run wild the way you would deck boards when building a wooden deck. When the last stone was laid, he traced pleasing arcs on the top and trimmed the edges. “Just be careful that the stones that run along the edges will not be too small when you trim them,” he warned.

Wielding the saw
A diamond cutoff saw is your secret weapon when building a walk like this. It’s big and noisy and can kick up a powerful dust storm. But it grinds through stone with the ease of a circular saw through wood.

Don’t be afraid to rent one, but do wear hearing, dust and eye protection. You can have a helper train a garden hose on the blade to subdue the dust, but you’ll have to contend with the slippery, mucky slurry.

Controlling the saw takes a little practice. The large diameter of the 12- to 14-in. toothless diamond blade makes it act like a gyroscope at high speed, weaving a figure eight in midair. The key is to establish a shallow kerf along the entire cut line before the saw reaches top speed and to avoid sudden movements. Center your weight over the saw and lower the blade until it just touches the stone. Score the surface. Then run the saw back and forth along your cut without rocking the blade.

Work slowly and let the weight of the saw carry the blade into the stone. Don’t press or allow the blade to rock side to side. That can spoil the cut and wear out the blade. Diamond saw blades cost $200 to $250. If you put excessive wear on the blade, the rental store will charge you extra, perhaps as much as the rental fee itself.

Straight cuts are easiest, but gentle curves are possible by angling the saw slightly to one side or the other as you would to steer a bike. And don’t fret if you wander off the line and leave a divot in an edge. Granite dust is to stone path joints what caulk is to painters.

Most cuts are made by laying one stone on top of another and tracing the edge to trim with a mason’s crayon. Sometimes you trim the installed stone; other times you trim the edge of the new stone. When working with thinner stone, Joel often uses the upper stone as a fence for the blade or saws through both stones at the same time. These techniques aren’t practical with thick stones.

Maintenance and care
Stone paths and patios may settle over time as the base continues to compact. If a stone becomes a trip hazard, pry it up and adjust the base. You also will have to replenish the granite dust once or twice a year as it filters down into the base.
The 6-in. gravel base is too thick for weeds to sprout through. If weeds do develop, they’re from seeds that drop from above. The roots will be loose in the granite dust, so just pluck them out.

Expect a scale drawing from a landscape designer to look something like this. It lists the varieties of flowers and shurbs and their place-ment and has just a few dimensions for the paving.	Use hoses or electrical cords to visualize and adjust the edges of the walk. Then walk the path to see how it feels.	A power sod stripper not only removes sod but also lifts soil in layers without disturbing the base for easy shoveling.
The undisturbed soil in the excavation site slopes away from the house at least 1/4 in. per foot after it is compacted.	Place 6 in. of crushed limestone in the excavated area. The plate compactor uses vibration to settle the stone.	To break a large slab of dolomite into manageable pieces, strike the unsupported center once, as hard as you can.
Start by making a shallow kerf in the stone with the diamond cutoff saw, then let the saw’s weight finish the cut.	Lay one stone over another to mark for trimming with a mason’s crayon. Then cut the top stone or the bottom one.	You may remove the overlying stone and make the cut in place as shown or leave the stone in position as a saw fence.
Set stones by wiggling them from side to side until they’re flush with the ones around them.	Level stones by adding or removing small amounts of gravel and smoothing by hand. Each stone needs full support or it may crack.	Use a long brass-edged level to check the pitch of each stone as you work. Pitch the walk 1/4 to 1/3 bubble away from the house.
Tweak the stones downward by tamping the high spots with the handle of a sledge hammer or maul.	Use a wide brick set to adjust joints. Stand on the adjacent stone so you can pry against it.	Lay stones “wild,” beyond the walk’s edge. When the entire walk is done, mark and trim the edge.

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SOURCES
Stone Creations, Maple Grove, MN (612) 747-3349
Hedberg Aggregates, Plymouth, MN (612) 545-4400
www.shadeslanding.com/hedberg

Otten Brothers Nursery, Long Lake, MN, (612) 473-5425
www.ottenbros.com