Create a DIY Pea Gravel Patio

Backyard landscaping can add up quickly. Having some trees removed, the ground leveled, and just a few small touches can cost several thousand dollars. When two homeowners called the team for help installing an affordable patio, mason Mark McCullough knew the best option was pea gravel. But there’s more to a gravel patio than dumping rocks in the yard. Here’s how it’s done.

How to Create a DIY Pea Gravel Patio

1. Start by excavating the soil from the patio area. You won’t need to dig as deeply as you might with a paver patio; 4 or 5 inches is deep enough. Remove any rocks and roots from the space.
2. Dig along the perimeter of the patio for the retaining wall. Dig roughly 12 inches deep and roughly 16 inches wide, leaving enough room for the drainage gravel and the wall blocks
3. Compact the wall trench with a hand tamper. You want this part of the project to be as solid as possible so the wall doesn’t shift over time.
4. Add a layer of crushed stone to the trench for drainage. Move the gravel around until it’s even and about 3 to 4 inches deep before tamping it down with the hand tamper.
5. Install the wall blocks in the trench. Check each block with a level to ensure it’s sitting flat and level, and add or remove stone as needed, and seat them in place with the rubber mallet. Check across neighboring blocks to make sure they’re level as well.
6. Squeeze construction adhesive on top of the blocks in wavy beads. Add capstones to each block for a finished look, tapping them into the adhesive with the mallet.
7. Compact the soil in the patio area with a plate tamper. Make sure the soil is damp to ensure it compacts well without a lot of dust.
8. Add layers of landscape fabric to the patio areas in a shingled pattern. Start toward the wall and have each layer overlap the last by a few inches so water runs toward the wall, not backward.
9. Install perforated drainage pipe along the inside of the wall. It should sit in the block wall trench and wrap around the outside of the wall to allow water to run out.
10. Install aluminum edging around the patio to hold the pea stone in place wherever the wall won’t.
11. Spread the pea stone into the patio area. Add a couple of inches first, then wet the stone and compact with a plate compactor. Then add the remaining pea stone and use a 6-foot level to act as a screed, removing high spots and filling in low spots as you go.
12. Apply the binding agent to the pea stone with a pump sprayer according to the manufacturer’s instructions.
13. To add stepping stones, arrange them in place and mark the ground around them with marking paint. Remove the stones.
14. Remove the dirt between the paint, digging down twice the thickness of the stone. Compact the soil and fill the hole with an inch or so of compacted crushed stone.
15. Add an inch or so of wet stone dust to the hole. Place the stepping stones on top of the stone dust and use the mallet to seat them into the stone dust. Pack stone dust around the edges if there are any gaps.
16. Allow the patio to dry for 72 hours before using it.

Materials

• Crushed stone
• Wall blocks and capstones
• Construction adhesive
• Drainage pipe
• Landscape fabric
• Pea gravel
• Gravel bonding agent
• Marking paint
• Stepping stones
• Stone dust
• Bucket

Tools