Repurposed, used brick pavers make for a cute patio. |
How to Lay Pavers - The Non-Professional's Guide
This is the "I just need it to function" method. If I were serious, I would have made the ground completely level and used string and sticks and levels to make sure. And used something to cut a few bricks to size so my border doesn't have a gap at the back.
Instead, I worked off memory from a 3 part YouTube video I watched over a year ago on how to lay brick pavers and decided to see how it went. Because it was just too hard to spend 5 minutes watching the videos again.
Step 1: Prep Work
I paid my landscaper to dig out about four inches of dirt and rock because he does a good job of eyeballing level. And I learned when I had to dig a hole to bury my cat Boo that I hate digging.
Step 2: Lay Bricks
After I had a level, clear areas to work in, I poured about a quarter inch of landscaping sand (about $3/bag - I needed 6 bags for my roughly 5x7foot area). I didn't do it all at once - I just poured a little bit for the immediate area I was working on b/c it's nicer to work with while it's damp. Yes, it comes out of the bag damp. And yes, I'm just now realizing as I type this that I could have used the hose to re-moisten it if I had poured more.
Next I laid a border with my larger 12x12 pavers, tapping each into place with a rubber mallet.
Then I figured out a simple pattern for the brick sized pavers, again, using the mallet to tap them as close together as possible.
Last, I put a border around the border (see pictures) to try and hold everything in place.
Click to enlarge - left side has sand in the gaps, right side still needs sand. |
The final step is pouring sand into all the gaps and using a broom (and my hands) to brush it into the spaces between all the bricks. I did this twice - I noticed after a day that the first round of sanding had settled and I had more gaps again.
Step 4: Curb Appeal
Ok, that wasn't the FINAL step. The final step was putting mulch/tanbark around the border b/c I didn't build all the way to the fence (because my landscaper didn't clear that far).
The final product:
It's done! I really like how the aged and used bricks look. |
The brick patio at work - a nice home for all my garbage bins. |
It is really interesting for me to read this article. Thanks for it. I like such topics and everything connected to them.
ReplyDeleteBrick Pavers