This is the BEST video on DIY flagstone. I’m doing a path (not a patio) but every bit of this video is going to help. What a huge job you did, and stayed smiling the whole time!!
Thanks for taking the time to make this! Solid advice and great skills. Watching you hump those buckets full of sand and gravel to the backyard made me want to buy you a wheelbarrow!
@@BrandonTran I have a gorilla brand cart that has been so useful for this. It can handle all kinds of terrain. Once you fill it up, pull it along to the site, you can pull a lever and dump it out. It's great if you don't want a traditional wheelbarrow.
Rick that sounds amazing! Funny that we are also lookin go at pergola designs. We plan to build a custom one over this patio :) . Cheers to your awesome project! It will be amazing!
That's an interesting way to deliver flagstone! Around where I live they have a forklift at the back of the truck and will place the pallet where you want it.
I just had 2 pallets delivered to another project and same drop off style. I would prefer a forklift because it creates more work. I had to re-stack 6000 pounds of stone.
i am the first one to thumbs up this video!!!!! Thank you for the video.. I am from Texas.. doing some landscaping.. i subscribed to your channel a long while back .. the day i need the guidance , your video popped up .. thanks again .. stay blessed
Oh the timing is amazing hah! We lived in Georgetown TX for 5 years. We loved it there. Moved for work. I got yard of the year in my TX neighborhood, good times! What do you plan to joint fill with? I’d go with mortar after testing it out on another pad. Looks a little better! Good luck!
Questions: What is the objection to poly sand? Does the resin and gravel allow water through to drain or does it all run off? Thanks so much, extremely helpful video for a DIYer!
Poly sand when the gaps are large is softer. One guy did an experiment to test 6+ brands of poly sand. It washes out over time. Gravel and resin does allow water through. Mortar is my new favorite. It’s the strongest of the 3. It’s what they use in Europe. Sorry I don’t have a video using mortar.
I am in complete awe of what you created here, and in record time. This is so much more work than people realize! Yours turned out so much nicer than what I've seen created by pro hardscapers. Is this your profession?! :) Would you do anything differently if you did this again? I hired someone to do this same project, yet larger, in my back yard for a patio with a fire pit in the middle, and he was a professional landscaper and assured me he understood the style I was going for, based on photos I provided. All the materials were dropped off. I believe he made some mistakes with the grading and he started working super fast and got much of it done in one day, which is insane. So I went out there and there were gaps as large as my foot - no cutting any pieces at all, no attempts to make things look cohesive. He was kind of just throwing things in place, working as fast as possible with putting in little thought to it. So, I paid him for the day and let him go. He way overcharged me too! I was then left with this massive project to redo. Fixing and adjusting the gradient and fixing the leveling on the pieces has been a lot of work. I'm finally finishing it up now, more than a year later. My flagstone looks so different from yours and I wonder if one was manufactured and if mine is just natural. Mine appears to have way more inconsistencies with some pieces being several inches thick and some being way thinner and lots of variation and differences which makes leveling a bit tricky. In the beginning my son and I were hand-chiseling to cut pieces and now I'm to the point where somehow I can just find pieces that fit decently well, though my gaps are larger than yours and mine look much less perfect and neat. I am still really happy with the results and nearly done. It's hard as there are tons of mosquitos out now, so I try to work on it at 5 AM when it's cool out. I'm close to being done with the patio, but plan to make walking paths later with left over stones. Sorry for the long comment but I am so impressed and in awe of your skills. I want to ask your advice. I was planning to purchase polymeric sand, until I saw the brilliant method you used. With polymeric sand, you need to get a plate compactor to get the product deep to the bottom of the stones. With your method, it isn't necessary? Maybe I missed it, but when you used the easihold, did you only apply it to the top of it? Or, did you do one layer of the aggregate gravel, then apply some easihold, then another and more? I just want to make sure my flagstone is nice and secure as I have some smaller pieces being used in between some larger ones. The edge of my area is more organic and not cut. Do you think it might be a problem as the pieces could possibly move slightly? I could adjust some pieces to use really large or heavier ones on the outside. Thank you!
Hi Holly! Thank you for stopping by! Yes I would do something different, I would use mortar as the joint filler. I built a small stone pad on the side of the house in front of the crawl space door. There I used mortar and it is holding up great. I can still scrape out some of the gravel and install mortar if I want at some point. For now it's good enough. No, this is not my profession. I work for TWDC as a software engineering manager. This was my first flagstone patio project. I just did some research and went for it. Wow what a story dealing with your flagstone patio. Sorry that didn't work out for you. I learned that, working with flagstone is an art form. It takes patience to get the pieces where you want them. Everyone has a different expectation of the gaps, joints, and level of perfection. Flagstones are hard. I did have a lot of variation in the depth. 1" was the thinnest to 3.5" for the thickest. The polymeric sand is definitely easy to install and will work fine. Many any the comments recommended I just go with sand. Gravel would be a good #2 choice like I did. My ultimate #1 choice today if I redid this would be a mortar. Even though it's not installed on top of concrete, it's holding up great. All 3 of these come with pros and cons and I can tell you like to make the best decision as much as I do. Good luck in the rest of your patio project. Once it's done you can forget about the past and move forward enjoying the space with your family :)
I just applied 2-3 coats of easihold on top. It’s very liquid so it sinks fast. 3 coats made it very firm. If you apply it in layers as you described it would be stronger in theory.
Definitely larger stones on the outside help hold it in place. Some experts suggested mortar as an edge restraint. I tried it and it works well. You don’t need a straight edge like mine.
@@BrandonTran Thank you so much for all the great tips here, Brandon! I really appreciate it. I showed my son some of your video earlier and he was also impressed. We are finally ready to get this done and you made it seem much more manageable. I saw your other video clip regarding having to buy new stones. I think my stones might be similar to your first batch. Some are fine to use but some of mine have layers and they break apart really thin. Thanks for sharing that tip regarding mortar! This is a good idea. I look forward to your future videos and projects. You might want to post some of your projects on Instructables. Thanks again!
Ah I run a string. They have string levels or you can just level the string. After it’s level you drop the string by 1/8” per foot. My patio was 8 feet, so I dropped the string 8/8” which is 1 inch :)
Are you talking about my porch? That is a good call. I am going to be enclosing the porch and it will have a wood floor soon. But for anyone who cares about your porch, this is a great suggestion!
Yes that’s a great idea. Gravel does lock the stones. However after building 4 stone patios, I learned mortar is the best! If I need to repair this one, I will scrape out the gravel and mortar it in! Good luck
This project only needed 2-3 buckets of gravel. Put the 3 buckets in the drive way, empty them, hose it down, and shovel it back into the buckets. Or wheel barrow.
Does water drain through the gravel seams with the adhesive? My back yard is on a hill that slopes down. I had retaining walls put in and I'm currently working on my walkway and patio on the upper most portion of those walls...I am wondering if I should go right up to the edge of my retaining wall or if i should leave a gap for drainage to run vehind the retaining wall where the french drain is located so it can run through my corregated perf (socked) pipe?
Yes it drains through gravel. Over 50 years that gravel may be full of debris and not drain through. How tall is your retaining wall? If it’s high a rail is needed. I think the decision to go up to the retaining wall or on top of it may be a design decision. What looks the best is what I would ask.
After having completed 3 techniques. Poly sand, gravel resin, and mortar, I much prefer the mortar joint fill. Everything has pros and cons, and we have to make decisions on our factors that are important for us, or client.
Great call out. Go for the textile fabric if you like. It separates gravel from the clay so that they never merge. It’s an ultra long term strategy. But if you need 200 year longevity then go with a concrete or mortar base. Concrete will last longer.
I’m going to remove a good chunk of the top soil to get to more of a clay base and then use 3 inch limestone compacted down with a plate compactor (mine is via Harbor Freight but they can be rented). Then gravel and sand. I despise landscape fabric. Top soil will be scrape away with a mini ex and clean out/grading bucket. I have a bunch to do and my back sucks.
0:46 Can you help me or someone on this thread! I had someone do my flagstone patio but all the edges outside edges are left open and I want to fill them can you help me with this? Just direct me on which product to use or any information. I had someone do a terrible job
Love the video! What area of the country are you located? I'm in Michigan and landscape supply places are recommending 6" of gravel rather than 3" due to frost.
Hi Pammie, Thank you! I’m in Asheville NC. The more gravel you throw down the better. 6” of gravel you may be able to drive on it :) it will help not worry about it. We do get a freeze every year but it’s done in 1-2 days typically.
Hi Ann! It is not easy for sure. There’s strategies to accomplish this. Spread it out. Buy a wheelbarrow. Team up with someone to help. I hope you are able to reach for your goals and find a way to achieve it. Let me know if you want to chat through ideas. Take care!
Holy cow my neighbors and city would be pissed if I had a truck just come out and dump stone on our public roads like you just did. This is what not to do people. Be considerate of your tax dollars, after all you paid for those roads. Protect them and keep them nice and clean.
Totally! Don’t do what they did. This is a base layer road. So the final road layer has not been installed yet. Coming soon. But you make a great point, most would have a final road so a fork lift would be optimal.
Great call out! As I look at other videos it’s about 50/50 that remove the guard. I’ll keep the guard on moving forward. I took the guard off a long time ago for a different use case and never put it back on. It should stay on for safety!
Thank you for stopping by! I hope this helps your DIY project and wish you all the success! Share your story! 🎉
it was JUST what I needed to do my little patio in the lawn, Thanks for a great video!
This is the BEST video on DIY flagstone. I’m doing a path (not a patio) but every bit of this video is going to help. What a huge job you did, and stayed smiling the whole time!!
Awesome! Thank you. I hope your project turns out amazing! I just helped a neighbor and installed a flagstone path. It turned out nice!
Thanks for taking the time to make this! Solid advice and great skills. Watching you hump those buckets full of sand and gravel to the backyard made me want to buy you a wheelbarrow!
Thank you! And yes I’m due for a wheelbarrow :) I was not efficient with the buckets.
@@BrandonTran I have a gorilla brand cart that has been so useful for this. It can handle all kinds of terrain. Once you fill it up, pull it along to the site, you can pull a lever and dump it out. It's great if you don't want a traditional wheelbarrow.
Doing a flagstone deck under a pergola I’m building and this is perfect. Thank you so much.
Rick that sounds amazing! Funny that we are also lookin go at pergola designs. We plan to build a custom one over this patio :) . Cheers to your awesome project! It will be amazing!
That's an interesting way to deliver flagstone! Around where I live they have a forklift at the back of the truck and will place the pallet where you want it.
I just had 2 pallets delivered to another project and same drop off style. I would prefer a forklift because it creates more work. I had to re-stack 6000 pounds of stone.
That turned out absolutely beautiful!!!!!
Awesome thank you!
Beautiful. Nice work -- great narration and detail.
Thank you very much! I wish you the best for you and your landscape!
Excellent video! Thank you. You are a good teacher.
Wow thank you! I’m so glad it was helpful. I hope your project turns out amazing!
Great video! Super helpful! Appreciate all aspects of the video as I dive into my project.
Amazing Drew! I hope the best for your patio project!
i am the first one to thumbs up this video!!!!! Thank you for the video.. I am from Texas.. doing some landscaping.. i subscribed to your channel a long while back .. the day i need the guidance , your video popped up .. thanks again .. stay blessed
Oh the timing is amazing hah! We lived in Georgetown TX for 5 years. We loved it there. Moved for work. I got yard of the year in my TX neighborhood, good times!
What do you plan to joint fill with? I’d go with mortar after testing it out on another pad. Looks a little better! Good luck!
Awesome job, Brandon! I’m working on mine now and like the gravel idea. Thanks!
Thank you! Oh that's exciting! How far along are you? This took me a while to complete. A few weekends at least hah. Best of luck!
Good video, I learned a ton watching.
Glad it was helpful! What are you going to be building for a patio and what strategy will you go with?
Looks great
Thank you!
Nice Job Brandon. Great video and great work on that patio!!
Awesome thank you!
Questions: What is the objection to poly sand? Does the resin and gravel allow water through to drain or does it all run off? Thanks so much, extremely helpful video for a DIYer!
Poly sand when the gaps are large is softer. One guy did an experiment to test 6+ brands of poly sand. It washes out over time.
Gravel and resin does allow water through.
Mortar is my new favorite. It’s the strongest of the 3. It’s what they use in Europe. Sorry I don’t have a video using mortar.
Very well done (informative to the Nth degree.)
Wow thank you so much for the kind words! I hope your project turns out amazing!
@@BrandonTran You’re welcome
Amazing job you have done! 👏👏👏 I am going to follow your video to do the same job with my patio. Thank you!
Amazing! Best of luck on your project!
Good job 👍🏾
Thank you!
I am in complete awe of what you created here, and in record time. This is so much more work than people realize! Yours turned out so much nicer than what I've seen created by pro hardscapers. Is this your profession?! :) Would you do anything differently if you did this again? I hired someone to do this same project, yet larger, in my back yard for a patio with a fire pit in the middle, and he was a professional landscaper and assured me he understood the style I was going for, based on photos I provided. All the materials were dropped off. I believe he made some mistakes with the grading and he started working super fast and got much of it done in one day, which is insane. So I went out there and there were gaps as large as my foot - no cutting any pieces at all, no attempts to make things look cohesive. He was kind of just throwing things in place, working as fast as possible with putting in little thought to it. So, I paid him for the day and let him go. He way overcharged me too! I was then left with this massive project to redo. Fixing and adjusting the gradient and fixing the leveling on the pieces has been a lot of work.
I'm finally finishing it up now, more than a year later. My flagstone looks so different from yours and I wonder if one was manufactured and if mine is just natural. Mine appears to have way more inconsistencies with some pieces being several inches thick and some being way thinner and lots of variation and differences which makes leveling a bit tricky. In the beginning my son and I were hand-chiseling to cut pieces and now I'm to the point where somehow I can just find pieces that fit decently well, though my gaps are larger than yours and mine look much less perfect and neat. I am still really happy with the results and nearly done. It's hard as there are tons of mosquitos out now, so I try to work on it at 5 AM when it's cool out. I'm close to being done with the patio, but plan to make walking paths later with left over stones.
Sorry for the long comment but I am so impressed and in awe of your skills. I want to ask your advice. I was planning to purchase polymeric sand, until I saw the brilliant method you used. With polymeric sand, you need to get a plate compactor to get the product deep to the bottom of the stones. With your method, it isn't necessary? Maybe I missed it, but when you used the easihold, did you only apply it to the top of it? Or, did you do one layer of the aggregate gravel, then apply some easihold, then another and more? I just want to make sure my flagstone is nice and secure as I have some smaller pieces being used in between some larger ones. The edge of my area is more organic and not cut. Do you think it might be a problem as the pieces could possibly move slightly? I could adjust some pieces to use really large or heavier ones on the outside. Thank you!
Hi Holly! Thank you for stopping by! Yes I would do something different, I would use mortar as the joint filler. I built a small stone pad on the side of the house in front of the crawl space door. There I used mortar and it is holding up great. I can still scrape out some of the gravel and install mortar if I want at some point. For now it's good enough.
No, this is not my profession. I work for TWDC as a software engineering manager. This was my first flagstone patio project. I just did some research and went for it.
Wow what a story dealing with your flagstone patio. Sorry that didn't work out for you. I learned that, working with flagstone is an art form. It takes patience to get the pieces where you want them. Everyone has a different expectation of the gaps, joints, and level of perfection. Flagstones are hard. I did have a lot of variation in the depth. 1" was the thinnest to 3.5" for the thickest.
The polymeric sand is definitely easy to install and will work fine. Many any the comments recommended I just go with sand. Gravel would be a good #2 choice like I did. My ultimate #1 choice today if I redid this would be a mortar. Even though it's not installed on top of concrete, it's holding up great.
All 3 of these come with pros and cons and I can tell you like to make the best decision as much as I do. Good luck in the rest of your patio project. Once it's done you can forget about the past and move forward enjoying the space with your family :)
I just applied 2-3 coats of easihold on top. It’s very liquid so it sinks fast. 3 coats made it very firm. If you apply it in layers as you described it would be stronger in theory.
Definitely larger stones on the outside help hold it in place. Some experts suggested mortar as an edge restraint. I tried it and it works well. You don’t need a straight edge like mine.
@@BrandonTran Thank you so much for all the great tips here, Brandon! I really appreciate it. I showed my son some of your video earlier and he was also impressed. We are finally ready to get this done and you made it seem much more manageable. I saw your other video clip regarding having to buy new stones. I think my stones might be similar to your first batch. Some are fine to use but some of mine have layers and they break apart really thin. Thanks for sharing that tip regarding mortar! This is a good idea. I look forward to your future videos and projects. You might want to post some of your projects on Instructables. Thanks again!
Thank you so much for this video. Really appreciate it. How do you level the 1/8" slope?
Ah I run a string. They have string levels or you can just level the string. After it’s level you drop the string by 1/8” per foot. My patio was 8 feet, so I dropped the string 8/8” which is 1 inch :)
"Yeah, drop those stones right on the street. A few broken ones will save them some time. "
Yep :(
start with a tarp on the concrete so little or no damage
Are you talking about my porch? That is a good call. I am going to be enclosing the porch and it will have a wood floor soon. But for anyone who cares about your porch, this is a great suggestion!
@BrandonTran - No, he is talking about the public road 🤦♀️, where the truck grossly dumped all that stone.
Youve mentioned you like the mortar joints in the comments. Is there a video of you installing those?
Unfortunately no, I didn’t get any video of that project.
When he was adding sand he was doing the salt bae pose. Sand Bae 🎉😂
Right on ;)
Can't you use morter for the joints even if there's just gravel and sand underneath the stones? I don't see how gravel can hold the stones in place.
Yes that’s a great idea. Gravel does lock the stones. However after building 4 stone patios, I learned mortar is the best! If I need to repair this one, I will scrape out the gravel and mortar it in! Good luck
im still stuck on how the truck just dumped that flagstone on the street.... um yeah no.
I agree it was a bit wild to witness.
You mentioned rinsing the pea gravel for the joints. How would you do that? Thanks!
This project only needed 2-3 buckets of gravel. Put the 3 buckets in the drive way, empty them, hose it down, and shovel it back into the buckets. Or wheel barrow.
Does water drain through the gravel seams with the adhesive? My back yard is on a hill that slopes down. I had retaining walls put in and I'm currently working on my walkway and patio on the upper most portion of those walls...I am wondering if I should go right up to the edge of my retaining wall or if i should leave a gap for drainage to run vehind the retaining wall where the french drain is located so it can run through my corregated perf (socked) pipe?
Yes it drains through gravel. Over 50 years that gravel may be full of debris and not drain through.
How tall is your retaining wall? If it’s high a rail is needed.
I think the decision to go up to the retaining wall or on top of it may be a design decision. What looks the best is what I would ask.
Collar shirt for hardscape work?
I think the patio turned out nice! Next up I need to make a spot for the grill!
Do you think it will be a good idea if i did a one inch thick gravel base instead of 3 or 4 because gravel is very expensive
It’s going to move and get wavy if you do that. Gravel should be cheap. It’s $50 per ton. I wouldn’t cut corners there on the foundation :)
@@BrandonTran Oh okay, can you tell me where you got your gravel
Polymeric sand is a better option. That resin won't last very long & loose gravel will end up all over the place
After having completed 3 techniques. Poly sand, gravel resin, and mortar, I much prefer the mortar joint fill. Everything has pros and cons, and we have to make decisions on our factors that are important for us, or client.
@@BrandonTranpoly sand sucks. Using DG mixed with pea gravel then coated with a stabilizer is literally rock solid
What brand and item name was the joint sealer you used?
Easihold resin
@@BrandonTran it's RIGHT IN THE VIDEO. Dang.
I noticed you didn’t put a barrier. What was your reason if i might ask?
Great call out. Go for the textile fabric if you like. It separates gravel from the clay so that they never merge. It’s an ultra long term strategy. But if you need 200 year longevity then go with a concrete or mortar base. Concrete will last longer.
Thanks for your reply. Really appreciate your time and generosity of knowledge.
I’m going to remove a good chunk of the top soil to get to more of a clay base and then use 3 inch limestone compacted down with a plate compactor (mine is via Harbor Freight but they can be rented). Then gravel and sand. I despise landscape fabric.
Top soil will be scrape away with a mini ex and clean out/grading bucket. I have a bunch to do and my back sucks.
0:46 Can you help me or someone on this thread! I had someone do my flagstone patio but all the edges outside edges are left open and I want to fill them can you help me with this? Just direct me on which product to use or any information. I had someone do a terrible job
Wish I could see a pic. You could line with concrete or the plastic edging.
Deck
You certainly could install a deck.
Love the video! What area of the country are you located? I'm in Michigan and landscape supply places are recommending 6" of gravel rather than 3" due to frost.
Hi Pammie, Thank you! I’m in Asheville NC. The more gravel you throw down the better. 6” of gravel you may be able to drive on it :) it will help not worry about it. We do get a freeze every year but it’s done in 1-2 days typically.
@@BrandonTranThank you!
What the heck was with that delivery
That’s their standard practice as wild as it seems. I would love a forklift
Pro tip: Invest in a wheelbarrow!
I would love one. I have no where to store a wheel barrow. One day!
Yo you should’ve left a natural edge and you mf crazy for moving all that sand , I don’t believe it lol but a wonderful job for DIY
Natural edge is a nice look. And yeah I agree I was on the crazy side :)
This is too hard for me😢
Hi Ann! It is not easy for sure. There’s strategies to accomplish this. Spread it out. Buy a wheelbarrow. Team up with someone to help. I hope you are able to reach for your goals and find a way to achieve it. Let me know if you want to chat through ideas. Take care!
Why
Holy cow my neighbors and city would be pissed if I had a truck just come out and dump stone on our public roads like you just did.
This is what not to do people. Be considerate of your tax dollars, after all you paid for those roads. Protect them and keep them nice and clean.
Totally! Don’t do what they did. This is a base layer road. So the final road layer has not been installed yet. Coming soon. But you make a great point, most would have a final road so a fork lift would be optimal.
Boohoo
Wrong again bobby
Right on
I know a lot of stone masons don't use the guard... But you should at least mention in your video that SAFETY WISE it's not recommended
Great call out! As I look at other videos it’s about 50/50 that remove the guard. I’ll keep the guard on moving forward. I took the guard off a long time ago for a different use case and never put it back on. It should stay on for safety!
Well done sir!
Thank you!
Pro tip: get some knee pads. They move with you. No need to ruin a good chair cushion.
I know right. Some knee pads would have helped save my knees and back!
Nice video. educational, no crazy music. Really appreciated the channel.
Wow such nice words :) thank you so much for stopping by and watching!