Devin Devine, contractor based out of Blakeslee Pennsylvania, projects competed across the USA
contact devin@devineescapes.com

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DIY hardscape/masonry/flagstone help rates:

$128.00 for one hour

$80 for a half hour

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Ask Devin: leveling dry laid flagstones in stone dust/fixing loose or wobbly stones

an in-depth guide

Hello and welcome to another addition of Ask Devin.

Hi Devin,

Do you have a blog post that addresses how to repair dry-laid flagstone patio? Curious about what the DIY steps are for dry-laid flagstone when there are loose stones. Thanks!

Noelle

 

“Loose stones” in a dry laid patio–I take it to mean that you have wobbly stones, that pop up when stepped upon.

1. Lift the stone out of its place. I used to recommend prying up the stone using a brick hammer, but now, or possibly with a vacuum powered tool, which I’ve reviewed here.  If you are using a brick hammer, be sure to turn the hammer side-ways to left the stone up just an inch or two.
2. Level out the stone dust where it was, as needed. A square trowel may be used. (Yeah, I have mag floats and steel floats and whatever, but stone dust spreads well by hand and that’s what I usually do. The stone may not be perfectly flat on the bottom…so it may need more stone dust on one side, less on another. Adjust accordingly and then place the stone back where it goes. Hot Tip A 2″ level may be used well as a rough visual guide==if your level is 2.25″ thich
3. Check its level, in relation to the stones next to it. Might need to lift the stone again, and re-adjust the leveling material (stone dust). If the stone happens to be only slightly too high, like an 1/8″ of an inch or so, then you can persuade the stone to settle down a bit, using a dead blow type mallet. I prefer using one with replaceable heads, similar to this one here.
4. Check for wobble: put your weight on the stone, leaning on to it, corner to corner (I’m on the ground, wearing knee pads when I do this, leaning my weight unto the stone with my hands). If you push down on a corner and that corner sinks, while the opposite corner rise up–then you know the corner that sank need more stone dust. At this point, you can probably just lift one side of the stone up, rather than removing the entire thing all the way out, and then toss a hand full of stone dust under the stone, at the corner that needs it. Often I’ll intentionally add just a bit more than I think it needs…then mallet it down into place.

This video illustrated how to correct a wobble:

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leveling flagstone in stone dust

stone walkway in progress, in Rehoboth Beach Delaware. In this photo, the entire walkway has been puzzled together, and is in process of being leveled. The stone to the left has just been lifted out of place and laid down, while the bedding material is being added, to bring it up to proper height. Finishing trowel, mallet and level, all within reach.

As you can see, steps 3 and 4 may involve a bit of back and forth, Just take your time, and don’t over do it with the mallet. Well, if the stone is a good 3″ thick, then yea, you can probably mallet away and pound it down to proper level. If the stone is only an inch and a half or less, then tap it down more gently, otherwise you may break the stone.

5. Repeat, correcting wobble for every stone on your patio of walkway. As a pro, I never have a patio truly 100% wobble-free at this point. I check each stone, on my knees, and get them each seeming wobble-free, but then when I get up and walk around, I’ll notice maybe one or two stones will have a (minor) wobble underfoot. So maybe the patio is about 85% wobble free at this point. The next step will help with that.
6. Refill and top off all joints, with new stone dust. Sweep off the excess, then hose down. Top off joints that settled during hosing…sweep off again. When I’m done, joints are just shy of being flush with the top of the stones. You don’t want to leave joints over-filled, as the material will be all over the stone surface, and will be a bit of a mess. Now, that the joints are filled, the flagstones are looking more like 93% wobble-free. Minor wobbles–no stone should actually pop loose, when stepped upon.

Minor wobbles that still remain at this point are only noticeable if you’re looking for them. Quit looking for them.

Over the next 6 months or so, the stones joints will settle in, harden up a bit and when I re-visit the job site 6 months or a year later, they’re just about always approximately 100% wobble free.

Note: for new installations, I lay out the entire puzzle first, figuring out how each stone is to fit together, and cutting as needed. After the stones are all fit together, then I go about leveling them off, one stone at a time, with stone dust.

Related content: how to cut flagstone using a hammer

leveling flagstone

first the puzzling, then the leveling

Tools needed:

  • UPDATE okay, thanks to the new grabo tool, we have a new way to lift flagstones out of place. Makes the work a LOT easier! New tool, have never seen one at lowes or depot. Buy one here.
  • Level (wooden if you’re getting into the trade, or a regular carpenters spirit level, if this is a one-time task for you)
  • Knee pads
  • Dead blow type mallet. For years I used one with replaceable hard and soft faces, like this one here. For the past couple of years I’ve been using a rawhide type mallet…..but can’t find a link to one that I feel confident recommending. Really, the 2 work interchangeably and I’ll still use the replaceable hard and soft faced mallet, if the rawhide is out of reach.
  • Pry bar or rock pick (AKA brick hammer) type hammer for prying up loose stones. You can buy one here. Home depot/lowes usuaully has rock picks too, but they always have steel handles, never wood. If using a rock pick…..always buy wooden handled hammers. Steel reverberates too much. Plastic isn’t good. Go with wood. BUT you can’t use a wooden handled hammer as a pry tool, the handle will break. Okay….thing is, you don’t actually pry with it…..you place the chisel end of the hammer into the crack between the two flagstones and then turn the hammer to the side–rather than prying back on it. All the force is upon the steel head then, not the handle. Most of my readers are home owners….just use a claw hammer or a wonderman bar. (UPDATE, yeah, we usually use the grabo for this nowadays)
  • 5 gallon buckets to carry your stone dust
  • square trowel/finishing trowel (for smoothing out stone dust. bare hand works too, especially as you get better at it)

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DIY Flagstone and Hardscape help

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$80.00 for a half hour consultation

$123.00 for a full hour

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shorter questions may be answered for free in the comment section below…that’s how the present article was started, from a comment on another post.

leveling dry laid flagstone

Flagstone walkway in Wayne Pennsylvania

 

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