I'm building a stone driveway at our backyard. We have plenty of "used" stones from an old weed/grass-infested stone patio that we decided to replace with grass area. They are about 2"-4" thick. The driveway will have a slope of about 5-10 degree. My plan is to have 2 strips (3' wide) separated by grass strip (2' wide). I have dug up the dirt for the two strips, about 8" deep.
I plan to put 3-4" of patio base gravel/sand sold at Home Depot in the ditches.
Since this is my first time doing this, I have the right to ask questions :)
- I have plenty of small stones/concrete pieces from the old patio. Can I mix them with the new patio base?
- I need to put wood edges before doing this. At what point do you remove these edges? How?
- How do you lay the stones on the sand base? In one book I read you're supposed to put some 5 blobs of mortar mix on the sand and then put the stone on it. How about spreading the mortar on the sand the size of the stone?
- What's the recipe for best mortar to use (cement/sand/water ratio)?
- When do you fill in the space between the stones with mortar? Do you do it at the end, after you lay all the stones, or do you fill it as you go along the ditch?
Thanks for any reply!
David