HOUSE WHISPERER

A PALETTE OF STONES A PAVEMENT MAKES…

CHRISTINE MAC SHANE

I have been staring at the small patch of garden that I had cleared and planted with small tufts of decorative grasses. I had been hoping that the yellowing leaves meant fall was coming, but after a couple of weeks, I realized that the soil composition and its need for nutrient enrichment meant that my pathway to the lawn from the front porch of the Project House was in need of an overhaul.

I visited Teresa Hungate of Sutherland Landscaping with a more permanent solution in mind. She is not only extremely helpful in choosing the perfect stone for the project at hand, but her enthusiasm and encouragement has me feeling pretty confident that I am more than capable of creating a patio extension with rock. We settled on Early Sunset Bronze stone pieces. It will compliment the porch’s cement stain and still have enough color to give the entire area a lift.

The Sutherland truck delivered my stones and the filler of Polymeric Stone Dust that will settle between the stones and help set them in place. Sutherland calculated that I would need 1,000 lbs of stone for the job at hand, but sent 1,200 just to be sure. I was able to send the unused stones back at no extra cost.

I dug and turned the soil in the plot destined for greatness and smoothed and pressed it into a 6” deep level base. The edges are all bordered by the cement patio, the lawn edging and the two sides of edging Sutherland provided for my project. Using a road base, I filled it to 4” and topped that with 2” of sand to finish off. The sand has more ‘give’ to it than the road base and so; it helps compensate for the various thicknesses of stone.

I used Polymeric Sand to fill the ‘joints’ between the stones. This is the trickiest part of the job as you don’t want any to settle on the pavers as it will form a film and cloud your beautiful stone. A less sensitive and lower cost option is using decomposed granite which will fill the gaps nicely.

If you are looking for a more rustic, quick solution you can press the flatrocks directly into your turned earth and create a pathway or ‘paved’ area with a looser feel. This is a great way of taking care of muddy areas and shaded lawn that just won’t stay grassy.

By the way, some of my initial problem with keeping plants alive in that spot proved to be due to a gopher who had quite the surprise when he tried to pop up in his usual spot after the stones were laid. I have managed to press the rock back down and Mr. Gopher has left it alone.

This is a great month to get these smaller projects under way while the weather still holds. You can find Sutherland Landscape at 2720 Highway 32 in Chico. Or, call Teresa and Bruce at (530) 893-4531.