How to Build a Bluestone Walkway | Ask This Old House
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- Опубликовано: 9 фев 2025
- Ask This Old House landscaping contractor Roger Cook helps a homeowner remove a flagstone walkway and replace it with bluestone.
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Time: 7-8 hours
Cost: Varies
Skill Level: Difficult
Tools:
Gas powered plate compacter [amzn.to/307Hb0K]
Rubber hammer [amzn.to/2N7FsXq]
Wheelbarrow [amzn.to/2LqsrpZ]
Electric jack hammer [amzn.to/2LowfI0]
Spade shovels [amzn.to/2A9jpXG]
Shopping List:
Bluestone
¾-inch stone [amzn.to/2NbzNzp]
Stone dust [amzn.to/2Lr3jiI]
Portland cement [amzn.to/34Egkgg]
Mason’s line [amzn.to/2NTImyE]
Stakes [amzn.to/2N8Odk2]
Steps:
1. Start the process by removing the existing walkway with an electric powered jackhammer. Be sure to wear eye and ear protection.
2. Determine the width of the walkway (in this instance, referencing the the width of the front stairs). Spray paint marks six inches wider than the finished walkway to allow working space.
3. Excavate the area between the sprayed lines about 6 to 8 inches below grade.
4. Before backfilling, place a PVC pipe horizontally across the walkway using your height as a reference. This pipe can serve as a future chase for electrical or irrigation lines without disturbing the walkway.
5. Rake the surface smooth and then use a gas powered plate compacter to compact the subsoil.
6. Next, add a mix of stone dust and _-inch stone to a depth of 2-3” and run the plate compactor over that layer. Continually add the mix 2-3” at a time, compacting between layers, to ensure a solid base, until you are 3” from finished grade.
7. Set a mason’s line of 3 inches to match the height of the walkway and place it at a 90-degree angle to the front steps. To ensure the line is perpendicular, use the 3-4-5 method. Measure three feet horizontally and four feet vertically and the diagonal measurement in between the two points should be five feet if the lines are truly perpendicular.
8. To fill the uneven underside of the bluestone, use a 12:1 mix of stone dust and Portland cement and hammer the bluestone down on top of it, filling any voids. If the stone still rocks, you may need to add more mix and hammer again.
9. Once the stones are set and the stone surface is completely dry, spread polymeric sand into the joints, then carefully sweep or blow it off the stone surface. Wet the sand in the joints to lock the bluestone into place and minimize weeds and insects.
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Homeowners have a virtual truckload of questions for us on smaller projects, and we're ready to answer. Ask This Old House solves the steady stream of home improvement problems faced by our viewers-and we make house calls! Ask This Old House features some familiar faces from This Old House, including Kevin O'Connor, general contractor Tom Silva, plumbing and heating expert Richard Trethewey, and landscape contractor Roger Cook.
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How to Build a Bluestone Walkway | Ask This Old House
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Young folks in the future. I want you to know. This man is a legend and treasure.
I would never have thought of the rule to choose the distance in which to put the pipe. Nice one indeed.
Wicked smahht
Goes nicely under the waklk way
pythahgoreahn
Roger is such a hero of mine! I've been watching him my whole life!! And just wow this is amazing
Hes the best what he dose.
He is the best.
My back would have given out about half way through his career. He does a lot of this hard work.
@@robertf6344 He's a beast
'This Old House' is the most realistic home and garden show that I know of. He is very clear and simple with the fundamentals of building patios. The materials he uses are available and practical. Curtis Boney, Landscape Architect
That 5’10” idea was awesome!
6:30 mallet strikes matchup with the song
Noticed that as well.
Nice
Yeah that's nice
Thank You for all of your years of hard work Roger!
I hope Roger is enjoying his retirement. He did a lot of good work over the years.
Anyone else binge the Roger episodes while looking at comments noting his accent 😂
Me! 🙋🏻♂️ 45% accent 55% content.
Front Yarrd. Love watching Rodger work his my favorite of the crew, his not afraid to get down and dirty but the guy has put his time in.
I like how the hammering went with the beat 😊😂🎸🎼🔨😀 @ 6:25
Totally satisfied my OCD.
He looked at him like ‘yeeeah, riiight’ when he said five ten lol 😂
he reminds me of Tattoo from Fantasy Island
7:27 "You'd have a mess." "Ugh!" Guy is a master of improv.
Roger Cook & Tommy Silva are my faves 😃
I did a walk-way! A lot of prayer went into the project cause at the time I never had done a walk way. I thank my Yeshua! It turned out beautiful!! all because PBS this old house show that have watched all the time lol to point my kids saying that's all watched now they are adults
i love this show, bring back those full seasons.
what a day to choose to wear a white polo lol
And not an ounce of mud on him! Look at Roger!
And stayed tucked in!😂😂
How the heck do I find someone like him to help me do quality work like that and who is reliable and knows what he’s doing?
So very rare 😢
5' 10"....damn. such a simple concept.
Rodger is not afraid to get dirty. He is the man I would like to work together.
Another transformation to beauty from Roger. Thank you.
Roger is a legend
Every time I've ever bought a house, one of the first things I do is have the utility locating service come out and locate everything. Then I take pictures and I draw an overhead map with measurements. That goes in a folder that hangs on the wall next to the breaker box. When it's time to plant a tree, I will know if I'm anywhere near anything underground. If I'm even remotely close I call and get it located or if it's a big job I get it located again. But if it's just planting a shrub or a tree I can look and know for a fact that 30 ft from anything.
That's also the place where I would note where the septic tank lids are and if I added a crossover like they did under a walkway. I always stuck with 6 ft as a standard measurement and noted that. Some of that I might never need but the next guy that owns the house might appreciate it. And it's really pretty simple to do
The 5'10" thing is very clever!
And what' if the next homeowner is 6;6"
The difference is amazing
He’s really likes bluestone he uses it all the time 😂
Roger is the hero
Love ya, Roger! 👍🏾
Looks so much better. Great job.
Roger really does work!
Good looking wok!
( KNUCKLE👊🏽BUMP ) To You "Roger" .....
ON THE UNDERGROUND PASS'THRU
& [ HEIGHT MEASUREMENT ] IDEA 🤔.... VERY KOOL👍🏼. 👏🏼 .....
Excellent video. Good work and the legendary team back at it. They do some quality work and folks that leave negative comments are probably jelous bc this crew has been impacting so many homeowners.
Nice! This looks great!
the pipe with your height is a awesome idea
Roger , my Love
Wow, Roger looks so tired on this episode. These guys should'nt be allowed to age at all. :(
Ricardo Junqueira I was thinking the same thing. He's moving very slow these days. Still amazing what he can do.
Indeed. A lifetime in the trade. He is strong as an ox still.
Ricardo Junqueira
What?
aging is better than the alternative. I admit bias in that I don't care how old or young they are, to me they're just fine craftspeople doing quality work
Woow, what a transformation
Really great work and an inspiration
Rog-a does an amazing job every time
Great work Roger!
Good job Roger.
Thank you
it looks beautiful, well done guys
Wow thanks for the first video 👍👍👍
Rodger really is a heck of a worker
gorgeous walkway
The base should be deeper up north, right? If you have poor draining clay I was told to use 6 or 7 inches of crushed stone before compacting in stone dust.
Wow nice work but im wondering do they charge the work.
I like Roger..
great vid, the 5'10' thing I will use..cheers :)
Very. Good job look nice and level
At right and left side of those tiles you can lay down diagonal red clay bricks
again it looks pretty
Stone dust salesman hard at work.
it's beautiful. great job
6:30 that moment when the mallet strikes temporarily match the music
Can that flagstone be used to make a driveway and support the weight of cars?
One of those stones seems darker than the rest, but very nice job!!!
Beautiful job👍
That 5'10 sleeve thing was smart af of him
At the end roger is filthy and the owners white shirt is spotless
Roger should be in the Icy Hot commercials, not Shaq.
True, but emu is the stuff.
What happens if my contractor installed 1” thermal bluestone over compacted soil, not over mud or concrete?
The hesitation when he said hes 5'10" makes me think hes shorter than that. Love Roger and his work.
The dude is 5'5" at most
How man pairs of jeans does Roger go through
3
Could you put grout in the joints?
Pro job!..
fantastico video
"our biggest issue seems to be the walkway" that grass is almost all burned :DD
Is there another way to do this without using a wet mortar substrate?
Great project!!!
you get old man.i been doing it for better than 40 years.but us old guys are smart.i would have poured a slab and thinseted it in.
6:32 Hama that beat
Those stones are amazing! Is there any benefit in using stone dust/cement instead of the traditional paving sand for bedding the stones?
Gino Brown road base is overkill stone dust is a good choice.
Robin Lewis you mean as a base? Paving sand is just to fill the joints on certain type of block or brick walkways. This wasn't stone dust this was 3/4 dense pack mixed with Portland cement ( the stuff in gray bags I think they are 80lbs bags) 4 to 1 ratio. sand won't compact that well with this size stone but if you do use smaller bricks or blocks you could get away with sand just lightly mist with a garden hose and compact it will tighten up fairly tight. And you will need to fill the joints with mortar or sand
Sorry, should've been more clear. Yeah, that final layer that the stones/bricks bed into. Roger's base preparation is what I would expect but the final layer I've always heard is just fine sand. It makes sense to add some cement, will make it stay in place better, but won't that crack over time as the cement dries and hardens
Robin Lewis small 1/4 or smaller joints sands fine maybe even a few handfuls of Portland cement just to stiffen it up a little but sweep the sand into the joints maybe sand it again then light mist of water on the top at a angle just to clean up and not wash out the sand. But at that point it's not going to do anymore damage than rain would do
Vax Buster 5-1 or 4-1 is so small of a difference you can't even notice but the you tube comment section is full of people that get hard ons criticizing everyone. So I'm going to say you are 100% right👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻 5-1 makes a massive difference over 4-1 is unreal!!! Thanks for coming on here making the world a better place, sincerely thank you so much I bow to you
Ganda!
Unfortunately most people don't think ahead and do things like run a pipe underneath for future work.
The next homeowner wont know about the pipe anyway
Stat working
"just dress how you would if you were fixing the front walkway"
wears white polo
Pythagorean theorem! 3-4-5!
1:32 the fear of God has entered my heart.
Make a MAAAK there, Take a MAAAK and MAAAK one more. MAAAAk out any thing with the MAAAK and the MAAAAK with a MAAAK there
Howard James I love his accent!
lmao
Listen to yourself talk and I'll bet you'll hear a hillbilly talking. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
Northeast Boston, I'm in bennington Vermont
Hg
4:20 compacter makes same note as music
Is Roger OK?
Why does roger always look like he just rolled outta bed lol
Don't waste time with the compacter- use repetitive water applications instead. But otherwise I love what Rahga does.
Nope. The compacter is the way to go. You got it wrong.
Where was this filmed. Sandy soil
Where is the grass guy when you need him.
Anyone know if that base is crushed concrete or paver base?
1:07
That's what she said.
Sleeve is a brilliant idea. Save yourself a headache later!
If the guys have kids who want to follow their foot steps sometime episodes should be like the fathers teaching their kids to keep the show alive when they all retired and we will know the new people are their relatives.
Roger mentioned 3 4 5 method. I get the 3 and 4 but what angle represented 5?
diagonal
3^2 + 4^2 = 5^2
Don’t understand the section about the 3 4 5 rule?
Measure where the steps meet the string. From that corner across the steps, he measured 3ft. That same corner across the string, he measured 4ft. Now measure the 3 and 4ft mark. It should give you a 5ft distance. This let's you know that it is squared. Think of a triangle 3x4x5.
I don't really like the stone choice or the sizes they chose , but it looks nice . gd work.
Big stones little house
I know you plan on flipping the house but if you was to live there then a rough concrete path with the stone set on that will last way longer.
I like how he gets himself dirty
People will say, he is still waiting for 3-4 dry days.
Roger loves stone dust... almost as much as he loves angle dust
Lmao
OK, what's "angle dust"?
lol
OK, this has been driving me nuts for a while. Can anyone explain to me how he gets the grade stake/ mason line perfectly straight from the porch to the road? Is this something that just has to be eyeballed or is there a way to precisely measure this?
He talked about using the 3 4 5 method in the video. I think that's what you mean?
lookup pythagorean theorem. I guess you slept thru high school geometry class.
Much easier just to do stamp concrete
Was thinking the same thing. Should be a LOT cheaper and can be made to look really good.
Yeah would be a better match for that low end house too
who's idea was it to synchronize Rogers hammer pounding with the beat of the song at 6:30 ??? Clever music nerd