# PATIO PAL : Good or Bad?



## concretemasonry (Oct 10, 2006)

Low strength, low stability and questionable ffective life.

Other than that it is a typical DIY gimmik "tool" to improperly re-invent the the wheel.


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## KUIPORNG (Jan 11, 2006)

*Thanks*

Good to hear from an expert....

can you also tell me other details:

should I use those 1.x inches brick or 2.x inches brick for backyard patio or doesn't matter...

should I lay 4" crashed rocks or 6" crashed rocks as the base for weather like Toronto... 

and book said use "compatible" gravels... what is that... is that same as those small crashed stone rocks we saw everywhere in construction sites....

is 1.5" coarse sand too thick ....

read a lot from difference sources.... there are variations in recommendations from different publications, I guess it is because of different climate/env...

anyway...

thanks a lot if you can give me more information and therefore more confidence to tackle this guy...


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## concretemasonry (Oct 10, 2006)

Do you want a clay brick patio or an interlocking concrete paver patio?

The thicknesses and installation methods/materials are different.

For concrete pavers, go to the Interlocking Concrete Paver Institute (icpi.org I think?).

Dick


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## KUIPORNG (Jan 11, 2006)

*thanks*

thanks for the great web site.... I will go for the more beatiful one... which I think would be the concrete interlock type ... anyway.... I will ask more question if I have any thanks...


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## KUIPORNG (Jan 11, 2006)

*Two questions*

Question 1 is related to steps

I need to build some sort of 2,3 steps from the home to the patio.... I would like to know if steps can be constructed from special concrete blocks withhout the need of pouring concrete then cover up with paving bricks... I saw some sort of web site showing that, but don't know if this is a common/good to do it like that..... if I need to pour concrete that seems too big a job .... I probably need to go with using 6x6 lumbers to build two three level of interlock paver platform.... but I prefer the conrete blocks approach because I don't want to show the big thick lumber edge....

Question 2 is related to grades...

The grade situation in my site is kind of a bit irregular... but the grade is not too deep... even the end result of the pavers using the same grade as the grass... it isn't too bad... So my thinking is to build the paver kind of exact same as how the grass grade used to be.... and as it is already draining away from house anyway.... this way the resulting paver is going to flush with all the boundary grass ground.....so my final platform will have some up and down here or there... not a 100% flat surface... Could some expect confirm this approach is ok and not a problem... 

At last one simple question, can I used a 20' transparent tube to do the leveling measure by water rather than use a regular level. is this ok?


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## KUIPORNG (Jan 11, 2006)

*looks like I find the answer for question 1 myself*

Accidentally I got a brouchure by Allan Block, which shows how to use those nice looking stone blocks to build retaining walls and steps... that definitely the idean I will look into more.... 

now after knowing this , I got other questions because of this answer:

if I am going to setup some of these retaining walls flower pot ... do I need edge materials for the patio floor for the intersaction between the walls and the pavers? My guess is not as those walls can be surve as edging for the pavers... 

and if so... should I setup all the retaining walls flower beds as the first step before anything? or should I wait after I fill the whole ground with gravel and compact them then I put in the wall then I put in the sand and pavers....or it doesn't matter the orders... but if I did set it up first, how do I make sure the wall level.... I guess I answer my question... can some of your expect confirm this....

so my guess answer is, I need to setup all retaining walls for all flower beds first before I worry about the flooring...


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