Building a brick patio or converting your asphalt walk into a brick one takes some labor, but you don't have to be a contractor to do it. The main effort comes in hauling 2,000 bricks (5 pounds each) and placing them, one by one, on your new patio.
Actually, the final work, putting the bricks in place, is kind of fun. It's the ground work - preparation - that's no fun.But let's go to work, in this order:
1. Excavate.
2. Install a border.
3. Put down sand or stone dust as a base and tamp it down.
4. Place the bricks.
5. Sweep sand or stone dust between the bricks.
The result is a walk or patio that looks great, needs absolutely no maintenance and will last a lifetime; nay, a millennium.
A thousand years? Why not, if you use the right kind of brick? City Hall Pavers are the right kind.
Suppose you build a patio 20 by 20 feet (400 square feet). You'll need 2,000 bricks. City Hall Pivers cost about 56 cents each. That's $2.80 per square foot, a bargain for a paving that needs no maintenance and will look good for its long life.
Other supplies are several cubic yards of stone dust or sand, something for the border, and, if the patio is in the sun, an underlayment to prevent weeds from growing up between the bricks. Perforated black plastic is good to allow water to drain; agricultural cloth is better: It allows drainage and does an excellent job of preventing weed growth. Underlayment is not necessary on a patio in the shade.
To start, dig out about 5 inches of earth. Install a border to prevent the bricks from walking. They must be confined or they will spread over the years. If the patio is flush with the ground, put in soldier bricks (those placed on their ends) or 8-by-16-inch concrete patio blocks laid on their long sides or 2-by-6 pressure-treated boards.
You will have to dig deeper for these border units, but they can be set directly on the earth. There is no need for stone dust under them.
Sometimes you'll run into roots from nearby trees, just below the surface. Instead of trying to cut the roots (not a good idea if you want to keep the trees), raise the patio as high as necessary. You don't have to dig into the earth.
Suppose you want to make the patio 6 inches above ground: now you need a border sturdier than the soldier bricks.
Use patio blocks (concrete blocks 8 by 16 inches, and a full 2 inches thick). Avoid 1 1/2-inch-thick patio blocks; they are not strong enough. Set these blocks on their long end, with 6 inches above ground. They will not lean for many years.
An alternative is 2-by-12 pressure-treated boards.
Install the plastic or agricultural cloth on the ground. Put in 2 inches of stone dust or sand. Stone dust is best as an underlayment because it readily packs down and will not slew, as sand can do. However, fine builder's sand is best for sweeping into the joints between the bricks. Stone dust swept tends to separate into pebbles that won't fit into the joints.
Tamp the stone dust thoroughly. The easiest way is to invite a bunch of kids to have a tamping party: Just have them walk around and around, pressing the stone dust down with their little, catlight feet.
Brick on well-tamped stone dust will not settle, or at least will take years to do so. If the stone dust is not well tamped, you will soon discover depressions in the patio. The ony cure is to pick up the bricks one at a time, add stone dust, re-level, re-tamp, and return the bricks.
Now, lay the bricks. Lay them close together, so they are touching.
You can make the patio level, because water will drain through the joints and into the earth. If you want to slope it, forwater runoff, slope it 1/16 to 1/8 inch per foot.
What kind of a pattern? Ah, yes, good point. Easiest pattern is a running or common bond. Such a bond is a row of bricks laid end to end, with the second row overlapping the first by half a brick. To achieve this, cut a brick in half and put a half piece at the end of the line. Each succeeding full brick will overlap its neighbor by half.
There are other patterns such as herring-bone, basket weave and jack on jack. Herringbone is a row of bricks laid at an angle. Disadvantage to this is that all border bricks must be cut. Basket weave is two bricks laid in one direction, and two more at right angles to the original. These two patterns are difficult for standard brick because of their odd size, 35/8 inches wide by 75/8 inches long. Jack on jack is simply lining up the bricks without alternating them.
If you have a square or rectangular patio, here's another pattern, easy and good-looking: concentric squares. Start a row of bricks along a border, continuing that one row around all four sides. Then start a second row of bricks; the half overlap on each row will be automatic. Eventually, you will end up in the middle with a brick or two.
OK, in go the bricks one at a time. Easy, but watch it! You have to make the entire patio level (or slanted at the same angle), and the bricks have to be even with each other.
One way to do this is to stretch a string from border to border and lay the bricks just under this string. This is OK, but you're very likely to lift the string as you place the bricks, resulting in a roller-coaster patio.
A better way is to lay a long board from border to border; it would be tough to raise that board. And put a straight board on the bricks as you lay several of them. If the board sort of rocks on the bricks, the center is high. If there is a gap under the board, the center is low. Then, make the necessary adjustments.
As you lay each brick, tap it in place with the butt end of a mason's hammer; never hit a brick with a steel head; it is a sure way of breaking it.
Speaking of breaking, you can cut a brick this way, using a brick set (a cold chisel sold in hardware stores for a couple of bucks): Lay the brick on a firm surface, score it in the center with the brick set and a mason's hammer, then set the brick on the scored line and whack it hard with the hammer. You will get a clean cut 99 times out 100. Angled cuts are harder to make, requiring deeper scoring.
As you position and tap down a brick, if it is higher than its neighbor, take a little stone dust from under it. If it is low, add a little stone dust.
Now all you have to do is sweep in the sand. You may have to repeat.
While City Hall Pavers are the best of the bricks (hard, and mostly red, with a few black ones thrown in randomly), you can get other kinds of bricks and also concrete pavers, some of which are interlocking. These pavers are made of highly com-pressed concrete and are likely to last as long as the bricks.
While a brick patio is maintenance free, it will get dirty and collect mildew, algae and moss. Actually, these are good, in a way, giving the brick an antique look and the patio a lived-in look.
If you want to clean the brick, paint on a mix of one part bleach and three parts water. After it dries, rinse with a hose.
This all will keep you out of trouble for the long weekend, and well into autumn.