How to Lay a Bluestone Patio

with Landscape contractor Roger Cook, This Old House television

Shopping List

Supplies You Will Need

1. Bluestone

2. Pack material, crushed stone
used to create stable base for patio

3. Stone dust and Portland cement,
mixed together to create setting base for bluestone

4. Wood stakes and mason's string,
used to create layout lines for bluestone

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Tools List
Tools You Will Need
- Plate compactor,
  rental item used to tamp pack material
- Rubber mallet,
  for pounding bluestone into setting base
- 4-foot level,
  used to level bluestone slabs
- Pointed trowel,
  for smoothing cement setting base
- Wheelbarrow,
  for mixing stone dust and cement
- Shovel,
  for moving cement and pack material
- Rake,
  for smoothing pack material
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In this video, This Old House landscape contractor Roger Cook explains how to lay a bluestone patio.

Steps:

1 Spread several inches of pack material across patio area.
2 Rake the pack material smooth, then tamp with a plate compactor.
3 Mix seven parts stone dust with one part Portland cement; add just enough water to hydrate the mixture.
4 Spread enough cement mixture to set three or four stones.
5 Set stones onto the 4-inch-thick cement setting base and tap them down with rubber mallet.
6 Continue spreading the cement setting base and setting stones, making sure to slope the patio away from the house.