How to Build a Free Standing Patio

A location surrounded by plants is an option for a free-standing patio.

Attaching a patio to the back of a house is not always the best possible location. Whether you want to sit in the sun, grow a container garden or entertain, building a free-standing patio opens up options so your patio will meet all of your needs. Choose a sunny spot that offers a view of the landscape and allows space for outdoor furniture, and consider adding a walkway to guide guests to the patio.

Things You'll Need

• Tape measure
• Wood pegs
• String
• Flat shovel
• Hand tamper
• Crushed rock
• Bucket
• Coarse sand
• 2-by-4 board
• Patio paving blocks
• Level
• Fine sand
• Hand broom

Instructions

1. Walk around your chosen site to see the views, growing conditions and amount of privacy you'll have. Measure the space and make an outline of the patio -- use a hose if it will have curves, or insert wooden pegs every 4 feet along the outline and loop a string from post to post to help you visualize a square or rectangular patio.

2. Dig the site out to a depth of 8 inches, removing all plant material and rocks, and level the surface. Identify the best direction for water to run off, away from the home's foundation and toward a drain or ditch if you have one. Dig 1/4 inch deeper for every 4 feet so the patio will have enough of a slope for water to drain.

3. Press the soil with a hand tamper so the ground won't shift beneath the patio. Add an even 6 inches of crushed rock over the soil and tamp it down until the rocks are packed together.

4. Use a bucket to pour 2 inches of coarse sand over the surface, sliding a 2-by-4 back and forth over the top until the surface is smooth.

5. Place your patio blocks in the sand in a pattern of your choice. Set a level on each one and adjust the blocks until they are even with each other. Keep the spaces between each block consistent and no more than 1/8 inch on each side.

6. Add fine-grained sand over the surface once all of the blocks are in position. Use a hand broom to force the sand into the joints until all of the spaces are full. The sand joints cushion patio blocks from each other as they settle.

7. Fill any bare spaces around the patio with the grass you removed or add brick or stone edging to define the space.

References

• Paver Search: Install Patio Pavers
• Belgard Hardscapes: How to Install Concrete Pavers

Resources

• The Landscape Design Site: Patio Ideas and Designs