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Last week, we tackled one of our first major house projects.  In a few weeks, a contractor is coming in to put in a Sliding Glass door.  We decided that we were going to build a patio out of pavers before the Contractor showed up.  Since I read many different ways to build a paver patio, I figured I should post our method and the results.

1. Excavate the area for the Patio.
   We measured out the location for the patio and dug out the area, plus about a foot more on each side.  This gave us wiggle room so we didn’t have to deal with the sod during the actual process of building the patio.  For our patio, we dug out about 19 by 15 feet.  We dug down about 8 inches deep.  This took Molly and I 4 evenings after work.  The most difficult part was trying to find clever places to place the dirt we were excavating.
2. Acquire the materials.
   
   On Friday, we had our Pavers, gravel and sand delivered in our driveway.   For our project, we had 6 tons of 3/4 limestone gravel and 1 ton of pavers sand (we ended up needing 2 tons of sand).  We also had 3 bags of polymer.  Finally, we rented a plate compactor and had a total of 5 people working on the project.  Honestly, I think that was the perfect amount of people.
3. Level off the Excavation area.
   On Saturday morning, we tried our best to level off the excavated area.  It wasn’t perfectly level at this point, but it gave us a good base to work from.
4. Fill with about 2-2.5 inches of gravel.
   We shoveled the gravel into the excavated area and leveled it off.  We used a 2×4 and two pipes to do this.  We simply set down the two pipes about 4-5 feet away from each other, and filled that area with gravel.  We then took the 2×4 over the pipes to level off that area.  We repeated this step until the entire area was filled with gravel.
5. Run Plate Compactor over gravel.
   
   We ran the plate compactor over the area to compress the gravel.  We ran over it once, made some changes with a rake and then ran over it again.
6. Fill with another 2-2.5 inches of gravel.
   Repeat step 4.
7. Run Plate Compactor over gravel again.
   Repeat step 5.
8. Fill with 1-1.5 inches of sand.
   
   Once again, very similar process as steps 4 & 6.  The only difference is this was with paver sand and at this point, we had to make sure it was level.  We gave it a slight gradient away from the house so that rain wouldn’t leak into the house.  Also, do not walk on this once it is level and complete.
9. Start Placing the Pavers.
   
   Start at one corner and start placing the pavers.  Use a mallet to nudge them together.  After we had 4 feet each direction, we measured between 3 feet one direction and 4 feet the other direction.  If the diagonal is at 5 feet, your patio is squared off and you are fine.  If it isn’t square, then you will need to make adjustments.  Luckily for us, it was squared up.
10. Frame it together.
    Once the pavers were laid, we framed it with some plastic paver edging.  We simply put this around the pavers on the edges and staked it into the ground.
11. Cover patio with Polymer.
    
    This is the step that locks it all together.  We put 3 bags of polymer on the patio and swept it in the cracks.
12. Run Plate Compactor again.
    We ran the plate compactor over the polymer covered patio one more time.
13. Sweep off Polymer, spray with water.
    Finally, we swept off the excess polymer and sprayed the entire patio down with water.  We waited a day for everything to set and the project was complete.
14. Fin
    
    Now, I just can’t wait for the contractor to put in the sliding glass door.

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