Your Guide to Preparing a Natural Bed for Indian Sandstone Paving

When it comes to patios, nothing can beat the warm, enduring beauty of imported stone tiles. Lovely Indian sandstone, which ranges in color from alabaster to nearly pure gray-black, is a popular choice among do-it-yourself homeowners because of its affordability and beauty. While laying a stone tile patio requires preparation and some degree of skill, the use of cut-to-size stone pavers makes the project very doable for someone who is willing to put in the hard work and care needed to ensure the Indian sandstone is properly laid in its bed.

The most important part of laying the stone tiles is the proper preparation of the patio underlayment, or bed. At the same time, it's one of the easier parts, as long as you are willing to be meticulous about measurements and tamping. If you'd rather leave the actual laying of the stone tiles to professionals with the proper cutting equipment and expertise, you could still save a considerable amount of cash by doing the preliminary hard labor yourself.

What You'll Need

* Measuring tape
* Stakes
* String
* Shovels
* Crushed stone
* Comb rake
* Tamper
* A 2x4 cut to the width of your patio
* Building sand
* Hose

1. Contact your local utility companies to find out the location of any buried pipes or gas lines on your property. Avoid them when planning your patio location.

2. Determine how much crushed stone and builders' sand you'll need by using a calculator on the website of a home improvement store or consulting them in-person. You'll need to know the length and width of your patio, as well as the recommended depth for each underlayment.

3. Drive a stake into one corner edge of your desired location.

4. Measure out the dimensions of the rest of your patio working from the first stake. Drive a stake into each corner as you work.

5. Wrap string around the stakes to lay out a clear outline for your patio, or use a spray paint to outline it on the turf.

6. Starting at the edges, excavate the soil inside your outline to a depth of at least 12 inches plus the depth of your stone tiles. Consider the direction in which you'd like your finished patio to drain and the pitch your patio will require to drain properly. Your excavation should be slightly deeper at the drainage edge, and should deepen evenly so that there is no discernible slope to the hole.

7. Work toward the center of your patio floor, trying to keep the depth as even as possible.

8. Tamp down the earth inside the outline and measure the depth at regular intervals to be certain that you've kept it level.

9. Pour the crushed stone into the excavated outline and spread it evenly to a depth of six inches over the floor with rakes.

10. Working with a partner, use the 2x4 to level the top of the crushed stone. Wet it lightly with a garden hose, then tamp it down with a hand or motorized tamper. Allow it to dry completely before continuing.

11. Repeat the last two steps with the builders' sand.

12. Allow the bed to settle overnight and check the pitch and depth with a level. Add sand if required to smooth out the surface.

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About the Author

+Chris Robertson is a published author of Majon International. All Rights Reserved. Copyright 2011 (Fri Feb 18 2011) Majon International. Majon International is one of the worlds MOST popular internet marketing and internet advertising companies on the web. Visit their main business resource internet marketing web site at: http://www.majon.com