Most homeowners choose brick or stone for installing a patio. But if you want something different and need a loose material for your patio, crushed stone is a good choice. A benefit crushed stone has over gravel, sand, and wood chips is that it provides a stable surface and the furniture doesn’t penetrate into the surface as it does with the other mentioned materials. Below we will discuss how to build a backyard patio with crushed patio. You can hire patio builders for it or do it yourself. Let’s begin!

Edging For Crushed Stone

To avoid the crushed stone spilling all over the backyard, you need to choose an edging material. It will work as boundary for crushed stone and give it shape. Most homeowners use paver stones or bricks for this purpose. For crushed stone, paver stones are recommended.

Crushed Stone Patio Building Procedure

1. First you should determine a patio layout. Use stakes and string to ensure you follow the design you want.
2. Now dig the area that’s within the stakes four inches deep.
3. When digging for patio or anything else, you need to allow water runoff. So, always grade the excavated area way from your house about 1/8 in/ft.
4. Use a method to check the base level. We recommend using a two by four that has a level attached to its top.
5. Put a fabric cover on the decided-upon patio area to avoid weed growth. If you are using multiple strips of the fabric, make sure to overlap the fabric piece for at-least six inches.
6. Now fill the area with gravel and spread it throughout the area.
7. Compact the gravel and make sure the depth is at-least 2 inches.
8. Use the edging material to build a border for the area. The material should be one and half inches higher than the patio surface.
9. In this step, you will fill up the area with crushed stone. The depth should be one to two inches.
10. Compact the crushed stone with hand tamp or power tamp to have an even surface.
11. After this, you can spray water on the material and let it settle down.

Hiring A Masonry Contractor For Building A Crushed Stone Patio

Choosing a mason for your patio may increase the cost because you’re paying for the labor and expertise, but the result would be top-notch. Follow below to learn how to hire a masonry.

Licensing

Firstly, you should look if your state requires masonries to have a license. If it does, check the performance of the masons from the licensing commission. In case of complaints, you can have the contact information of the party that complained to get more information.

Experience With Patios

You should interview contractors that already have the experience to build different types and designs of patios. Hiring wrong contractors will directly affect your project.

Take Bids

Talk with two or more builders and get bids from them. Compare the bids and the expertise of the contractors to finalize one.

Cost Of Materials

When setting budget and patio building cost, factor in the prices of the materials needed for patio construction. There are some contractors who have connections with vendors and they buy materials at discounted prices. But most of the contractors only provide labor for building the patio without the cost of the materials.

References

If possible, look at previous works of the contractor. You can connect with their previous customers on call and ask for feedback. However, it’s even better if you can convince the previous clients to let you see the patio they have built.

Contract

Make a contract that states the type of work required, cost of the project, payment schedule, and related things. There should be a clause that the contractor provides guarantee of project completion. You can also include a clause of cleanup after the project because the work is messy and there is a lot to clean up after the completion of the project.

Final Word

You can build a crushed stone patio yourself by following the above mentioned steps. On the other hand, if you want to hire a patio contractor, follow our tips to choose the right expert. lagras