Bricks and Stone to Help Your Home

Both your author and his concrete patio just turned 40 years old, but I like to think I'm settling down much better. I'm neither cracking up nor channeling rainwater squarely against my foundation. But a quick trip through BHG.com convinced me that a dry-laid brick or stone patio may be a more attractive, cost-effective and fun-to-build alternative to my poured-concrete contemporary.

Even if you're own patio is fine, I'd like to share more BHG.com masonry tools, tips and tutorials that will let you beautify your outdoor spaces and make money-saving simple repairs. Want to talk back -- or sent some brickbats our way? Let us know how we can better help improve, protect and beautify your homes.



In This Issue:

1. Picking From a Plethora of Patio Pavers
2. Dry-Laying Brick Patios and Walks
3. Pathways: Follow These Mellow Brick Roads!
4. Mastering Mortar Lets You Make Quick Fixes...
5. ...And Build Benches, Planters and Walls
6. Hot Forum Topics: Patio Floods, Old Brick and Acronyms
   
   1. Picking From a Plethora of Patio Pavers
   
   

   Our Home Solution's 2001 section's Patio Planning Tips and Picking Patio Pavers articles look at the style, durability and costs of brick, concrete, paving stone and other popular outdoor surfacing materials.

   Poured concrete, which ranges from $72 to $100 per yard (not including installation) is unfortunately prone to shifting, and its looks rarely move anyone to wax poetic. Bricks and stone pavers are not inexpensive, but by dry-laying them yourself, you can shift the labor savings to offset the cost of these more attractive materials.

   Our Home Improvement Encyclopedia's Planning Patios and Pathways covers mixing disparate materials, ensuring adequate drainage, building a solid foundation and proper edging. And our Patio Paver and Patio Edger Material Estimators will quickly give you the exact amount of paving materials you'll need.
   
   2. How To Dry-Lay a Brick Patio
   
   Home Solutions 2001's brick patio project is ambitious, but worth the effort. A healthy helping of bricks, fifty feet of common lumber and a few tons of sand can give you a stellar patio. No mortar or concrete is involved, so it's an easier and less-messy task. Just make sure you have willing hands to help you spread the sand, even it with a screed, and carry over the bricks.

   As always, BHG.com's Home Improvement Encyclopedia is there to back you up with specific sections on brick patterns, more on foundations, and a complete Animated How-To on excavating, tamping, laying out (landscaping fabric will keep weeds down but allow water to drain), levelling subsurfaces and cutting bricks.

   You can also opt for a semicircular brick patio either in your back yard or off a side entrance, where it (and the brick walkways we describe below) help offset the lack of an indoor mud room.
   
   3. Pathways: Follow These Mellow Brick Roads
   
   If you're happy with your current patio, (or want to tackle an easier project first), our Home Improvement Encyclopedia has a basic dry-laid brick or stone walkway that will get you started on the path to paving. Home Solutions 2001 chips in with this equally easy (and quite attractive) curved brick pathway that still doesn't require concrete.

   But we've still barely scratched the surface: Over in Our Garden section, you'll find twenty more designs for brick, concrete, crushed-stone and timber pathways. If you're sitting on a cache of old bricks, this Old Bricks for a New Path special will help you build a very mellow brick road. And while you're in the Garden section, it's definitely worth taking a look at some of the patio garden layouts to help balance the right amount of privacy, economy and beauty in your outdoor spaces.
   
   4. Mastering Mortar Lets You Do Quick Fixes...
   
   If you live in a brick home -- or just want to add the timeless beauty to your outdoor spaces -- it behooves you to master mortar and other basic bricklaying techniques. We'll take you through the step-by-step process of mixing, coloring, testing, and applying this most useful substance. It takes some practice, but "throwing" mortar onto a brick will work better than painstakingly applying it, and we'll also show you how to "butter" an entire brick, furrow the top surface and choose a particular style for your mortar joints.

   If you don't get discouraged and throw in the trowel, you can test your skills with a pair of Animated How-Tos: patching cracks and repointing mortar (a power grinder comes in handy here) or replacing a single brick in a wall.

   Just be careful when you're mixing cement in your backyard! Keep the runoff away from any yard drains, as I believe that's how my own drain got irreparably clogged.
   
   5. ...And Build Benches, Planters and Walls
   
   

   Like using mortar, learning how to build wall footings can open up a whole new world of home beautification. This brick and redwood bench is an excellent beginning masonry project that's well within the average homeowner's skillset. If the bricklaying bug bites hard, this short garden wall with concrete headers is another rewarding exercise. And if you can master curved wall footings, we've got plans for a beautiful planter wall to adorn your home.
   
   5. Hot Forum Topics: Patio Floods, Old Brick and Acronymns
   
   A quick search of our House and Home Forums turned up a full load of messages on masonry. BHG.com member patkakra gets a "patio swimming pool" every time it rains, but the always helpful Mastercrafter came up with a good solution:

   "I would consider covering the existing patio with a layer of sand and then installing paver bricks right over the top, but first I'd bore a hole in the low spot of the slab so that any water draining through the sand can escape," he notes.

   Cleochatra (my nominee for username of the month!) has come upon a trove of bricks from some old buildings being demolished nearby, and member flowerkid shared her own experience building a patio from salvaged bricks.

   Those are just a few or the real-life help and experience you'll get at some of the most colorful and friendly home improvement boards around. And we're very grateful for members husband and shy for explaining these frequently-used acronyms you'll see the BHG.com boards:
   DH=darling husband
   DD=darling daughter
   DS=darling son
   MIL/SIL= mother- and sister-in-law
   NN=nosy neighbor

   Next week, well look at more "concrete" projects that you can master and undertake during the summer outdoor work season.
   
   Editor's Note: Many of the techniques in this newsletter can be found in Better Homes and Gardens® Step-By-Step Masonry and Concrete, . At a little over $10.00, it's highly recommended.
   
   Written by Ron Taggirt
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