The last four days have been absolute chaos in Patio Land (not to be confused with Temptation Island—remember that show?). The good news is it’s nearly finished. About 90% done. I’m a bit low on energy right now and we’re waiting for better light to take final photos, so here’s a recap of our four-day patio marathon. The final details and polished after shots will come when we’re 100% complete.
To recap: as of last Monday the area was all marked, leveled, and dug up.
On Tuesday our nearly 10-ton delivery arrived on a flatbed (300 square feet of pavers apparently weigh more than two elephants). The delivery itself was mostly uneventful, except the forklift hooked to the back of the truck got a flat tire halfway through, so there was a short delay while the driver fixed it.
Eventually everything made it into the carport in one piece: three giant bags of fill gravel, one giant bag of sand, and three pallets of cobblestone pavers (two pallets of rectangular pavers and one of square pavers).
We chose CottageStone pavers from a local Richmond manufacturer, Eagle Bay. We found them at a local stoneyard, Southside Builders Supply, where they were the most affordable option—about $2 per square foot, cheaper than the big-box stores. The color is a gray tone called “Jefferson,” which roughly matches the gray cobblestones already in our driveway. That made the decision easy and kept the new patio cohesive with the rest of the yard. But enough about budgeting and color choices—back to the physical work.
We took Wednesday off because it rained, so Thursday was the first real workday. Following a Lowe’s how-to video and the stoneyard’s advice, the next step was laying down weed blocker fabric. I bought a 300-square-foot roll and ground staples—oddly labeled “crampons”—from Home Depot.
We know from experience that weeds love to grow between pavers, so we wanted to discourage them. The fabric was easy to cut and secure with staples, and this step only took about forty-five minutes.
Next came gravel—three tons of it.
Laying the gravel took most of Thursday. Our wheelbarrow wouldn’t fit through the gate between the carport and the patio, so I lugged gravel bucket by bucket using a spare 5-gallon paint bucket. It was exhausting but practical: carrying smaller loads let me keep nylon guide strings in place, which were crucial for maintaining a consistent slope away from the house for drainage.
After spreading the gravel I misted the area so the gravel would start to clump and set—wet enough to bind a little but not so wet it turned into mud. The hand tamper did the compaction since we skipped renting a plate compactor. It was tiring work, but the tamped surface came out flat and semi-solid—almost like asphalt. That finished Thursday after about seven hours of labor.
On Friday morning, after taking Clara’s weekly photo, I spread a one-inch layer of sand. A tip from the Lowe’s video saved a lot of time: use two lengths of 1″ PVC pipe as spacers, lay them side by side, dump sand over them, and then screed with a straight board so the sand is consistently one inch deep.
After pulling out the pipes, I filled the grooves by hand for a flush surface. The sand step was much faster than the gravel because it only needed to be an inch deep. I paused when we ran out of sand, grabbed a few extra bags from Lowe’s, and finished the layer.
Before setting any pavers, we installed flexible plastic edging to hold the patio perimeter. There are differing opinions on whether to install edging before or after laying pavers, but for our curved design the flexible edging made planning the curves much easier and gave us a solid guide to follow.
By Friday afternoon we were eager to lay some pavers so we could finally see the patio take shape. We started with the entrance area and slowly filled in the central section with whole pavers, saving border cuts for later when we had better light.
Sherry worked the evening shift—tending the baby, handing me granola bars and water, and snapping photos when Clara was asleep. We stopped cutting pavers as the sun set and focused on filling the center with full stones to avoid operating a wet saw in low light.
By about 9:30 pm we laid the last full paver at the far end of the patio for the night. The patio is beginning to look cohesive even though the border cuts and a few finishing touches remain.
We wrapped up the evening exhausted but satisfied, took a quick shower, and capped the night with a Netflix movie. Progress is steady and we’re excited to share the final photos and a detailed post about cutting and laying patterns once the job is completely finished.
