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A Flagstone Patio Is The Perfect Match To Most Homes. Here Are Some Answers From E-Mails That I've Received!Most of my e-mails are about flagstone patios.
If you want to know the steps to installation, then CLICK HERE!
Question: What should I do about cracks? Answer: Cracks come from expansion of your concrete pad. You never know where the cracks will form. The cracks will occur in the concrete joints, because that is the weakest link on a pad. The stone will never crack. We recommend that it looks better to leave the cracks in the concrete or replace the concrete every few years rather than put in an expansion joint. An expansion joint requires caulking and we haven't found a caulking that looks good. Question: Is there any place to use caulking? Answer: We only use caulking for the joint between the house and the flagstone patio. It is not that noticable against the house and there usually is some type of expansion between the house and the stone patio. Question: How thick does the concrete under the flagstone need to be? Answer: We recommend 1/2" of concrete under each stone. We take the thickest stone on the pad and put 1/2" of concrete under that and then make sure our line goes smoothly across that stone so that we have a nice fall away from the house. Question: Can I lay flagstone over a concrete patio with a lot of cracks Answer: It depends how bad the cracks are. If you have a lot of settlement already with your patio, then that settlement will cause cracks in your joints. If you have small cracks, then you shouldn't have any problems laying flagstone on top of your existing concrete. If there is one or two big cracks, you can lay a metal lath over the cracks and that will help tie the stone and concrete pad together.
The picture above is the lath you could lay down for big cracks. You just ram set it into the concrete patio or use concrete nails. More Questions will be coming!
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