River stone patios are quite lovely because this natural stone has been smoothed naturally by running river water for years. Each stone harvested from a river bed is hewn, often by hand, to create one or more paving stones for this type of patio. If you would like to place a river stone patio on your property, here is what needs to happen, from start to finish.
Hire a Stone Mason
Masonry plays a major role in any stone or brick project. Your stone mason will be the one pouring the grout and quickly fitting the river stone into the grout bed. The stonemason may or may not level the dirt underneath. If he/she does not do the ground leveling, you will also have to hire a concrete contractor to do that part of the job.
Select Colors of River Stone
Most river stone is some shade of gray, but stone masons can and do find river stone in slightly more exotic colors, such as black, white, and red. If you would like some of the less common colors of river stone in your stone patio, be sure to ask the mason for them. Otherwise, he/she is likely to use whatever river stone he/she can find and purchase.
Placing the River Stone Firmly in the Grout Bed
A "grout bed" is created within a wooden frame. The grout needs to be worked quickly so that it will not dry before the river stone is placed. For this reason, your mason may do smaller square sections of the patio individually. He/she will fit the stones he/she presently has into the grout, and as close together as possible to create a nice visual and unified pattern. The stones are pushed into the wet grout to secure them. Then the mason moves on to the next section of the patio until all sections of your patio have been grouted and all river stones have been placed successfully.
Drying and Curing
Next, you wait. The drying and curing process takes about a day or two before you can actually walk on your stone patio. Then the mason returns to coat the whole patio with a protective clear coat to seal the grout and stone. Finally, the frame that helped contain the grout as it was poured is removed from around the patio and disposed of in the trash. Your stone patio is now complete.
Check out a website like http://www.cabcoaz.com for more information and assistance.
