1. Sketch out your design and determine the area in square feet. If you are unsure, bring your figures to L&M and we can help you with the numbers. To remember: more curves means more cutting but a better 'look', get creative with going to different levels, think about the color scheme of the house or yard you are trying to match and don't be afraid. Pavers are forgiving; if you are making something square make sure your angle is 90 degrees.   2. Come to L&M look at the displays and pick out the shape, type and color of paver you want. Determine whether you are going to pick up or have them delivered. To remember: you may need ABC base material, you will need sand to lay the pavers in, you will need a method to restrain your pavers along any edges and you may want to stabilize your joint sand and seal the pavers when you are done.   3. Time to do the heavy work. You will need in general to excavate the area where your pavers are going see photo 1. To determine how deep take your paver thickness add to it the 1 inch of sand and the 2 to 4 inches of ABC you will use as the base. Patios require 2 inches of base material and anything you are going to drive on is minimum 4 inches. To remember: if you are matching the height of a patio this becomes the point from which you go down from see photo 2, you don't need to be perfect but the more accurate the better, use a string level to make sure you are digging down the correct depth at each place in your project.

4. Now you have a flat hole to fill in. Bring in your ABC and spread it around being careful to keep as level as possible. A landscape rake works well here. Once you have it in dampen it if it is completely dry and use a tamp to pack the ABC, see photo 3. It should be hard to the touch and leave almost no foot print if you walk on it. Keep using your strings and string level to keep everything in perspective.   5. Now you have a solid foundation on which to build! Next comes the sand and you want it to be 1 inch thick. The best way to do this is use 1 inch OD pipe from a hardware store. Get two pieces and set them in sections about 3 ft apart see photo 4. Pour the sand in and screed or level the sand between the pipes with a flat piece of 2x4 or another straight piece of wood see photo 5. Keep moving the pipes and fill in the slot left when you pull them out. You don't have to do the entire patio at one time but do enough that you have a good area to work in. Remember to make sure your pavers will be the right height see photo 2.

6. Time to lay pavers! Start next to where you want them to be the truest without cutting i.e. along an existing walk way or patio or building. Lock them in as you go by butting the one your laying against the pervious one and slide it down into position see photo 6. Stand back and look during your laying to make sure the job remains square or to see if you are doing something wrong. If you have cutting you can use a saw with a blade or a chisel for the rough look see photo 7.   7. Now you have the entire patio laid. Be careful with the edges because there is nothing holding them up but sand. Next sand in the pavers to lock them in see photo 8. You can use regular sand or a 'locking' sand which forms a bond. To get the sand to settle use a tamp again over the pavers see photo 9. This gets the sand to fill up all of the gaps between the pavers. Fix any broken pavers by wedging them out and replacing. To restrain edges you can do one of three things, use a paver edger see photo 10, use a plastic edger see photo 11 or make a footer underneath the paver see diagram 12. The last is the most popular in Arizona and it involves lifting up the edge course and excavating a 4 inch by 4 inch trench and putting in concrete and 'floating' in the edge on the wet concrete see diagram 12. This is actually much easier than it sounds. Now decide if you are going to seal it and then enjoy it. Congratulations!