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Patios.

Concrete paver, bluestone, flagstone or brick, set on a base built for the ground it sits in.

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What decides whether it lasts

Every course copies the first one

A base that was levelled rather than built transfers every low spot it has straight up through the field. It cannot be corrected later from the top — the stone comes up and the base gets rebuilt, which is the same money twice.

Pitch you cannot see and water can

A terrace sheds away from the house at a fall slight enough that nobody notices while standing on it. Flat reads as correct and holds water at the door.

Sitting stone and set stone

Flagstone laid on sand moves seasonally; the same stone on a compacted base with a proper setting bed does not. Which one is appropriate depends on the stone, the traffic and the exposure, and it is a decision worth making out loud.

The edge is a detail, not an afterthought

A soldier course, a cut edge or a stone border finishes a field and holds it. An unrestrained edge is where a patio starts coming apart.

The five things every failure comes back to

Every wall and patio we have taken apart failed for one of these five reasons. They are most of what separates a job that looks right at twenty years from one that does not make five.

  1. A base that was built, not just levelled

    Compacted gravel, deep enough for the ground it sits in. Every course above copies the first one, and so does every mistake in it.

  2. Below the frost line

    New England ground moves in winter. A footing poured above the frost line lifts with it, and the wall on top of it cracks — not that winter, usually the third one.

  3. Somewhere for the water to go

    Saturated soil expands about nine percent when it freezes, against something that cannot move. Clean stone, fabric, and a pipe run out to daylight.

  4. Joints shaped, not just filled

    A tooled joint sheds water off the face of the stone. A joint struck flush holds it there, and held water is what freezes.

  5. A cap that sheds

    The top takes the weather and everything anyone sets on it. Pitched away, set solid, joints tight.

One-year workmanship warranty

If something we built moves, cracks or fails in the first year because of how it was built, we come back and fix it. No argument, no invoice.

A number before anyone visits.

Trace the job on a satellite view of your own property, or send a photograph, and the page prices it. The on-site visit is free and it is what makes it exact.

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