Flagstone: the Star of the Show
To close out 2021, we wrapped up this Thornton landscaping job during unusually mild December weather. The location of this job wasn’t too far away from the Thorncreek golf course – which actually may have been open at the time due to the great late fall / early winter weather.
The main material used for this landscaping job was flagstone.
Flagstone is an extremely popular building material here in Colorado. It looks great, it is durable, and it is relatively maintenance-free. We use flagstone on quite a bit of our landscaping installations.
Flagstone Path
We laid down a fairly extensive flagstone path on the property. The flagstone path actually starts in the front of the house, goes under a gate, down some stairs and into the backyard. Eventually, it terminates at the flagstone patio that we constructed in the back corner of the homeowner’s yard.
Flagstone Stairs with Timber Ties
Below you can see the flagstone tiles with Timber ties along the side. We made the steps relatively small in height, with nice long steps – making it very easy for people of just about any age to easily navigate the height differential from front to back yard.
Flagstone Patio
Here, you can see a before and after of the flagstone patio. Before you bring in the flagstone, you need to make sure the area is properly graded and compacted. We need to ensure that there is a slight slope to the patio to ensure that water properly drains off the patio. Failure to do this can result in water pooling on top of the patio, and eventually causing erosion problems underneath the flagstone.
You can now see what the flagstone looks like after all the flagstone has been placed. The homeowner now has a nice secluded area in which to relax and enjoy their backyard.
Flagstone Details
Precision Flagstone Cutting
A couple of things to note about this flagstone project. Look closely at how the all the flagstone is perfectly joined – like jigsaw puzzle pieces. This is the case on the walkway, the steps, and the patio. It requires a lot of precision cutting on our part to make sure that everything fits together perfectly and looks great.
No Mortar in the Seams
We also didn’t use traditional mortar in the seams. We’re fans of polymer sand. We put the sand in place and then apply a bit of water and it hardens in place. Weeds can’t get through the polymer sand – which helps to prevent back breaking weed maintenance and erosion.
There are Actually Many Different Flagstone Choices
We used red flagstone for this homeowner. While red flagstone is commonly used, there are other flagstone choices that we can use for your landscaping project. Blue flagstone, sandstone and travertine all provide different colors and options if you’re looking for something just a little bit different (or if for some reason you’re just not a fan of red flagstone).
