DIY Brick Patio

Part of this summer it was dedicated to doing a backyard makeover. We wanted to space it was more usable and that we could hang out outside. We didn’t have a patio or any place to sit outside in our backyard so some kind of seating area was high on my list. This project took a little while to finish as some vacations and other things ended up delaying the process.

Overall I’m really happy with the outcome, and the overall cost was less than $50 in raw materials ( not including getting a tool) to complete. I will share the steps I took if you are wanting to create your own outdoor space!

All of my materials are listed below, and at my lowes storefront for ease of shopping! Thanks for supporting affiliate links that make posts like this possible.

Materials:

Step 1: Prep the area

My area had a lot of weeds and grass in it. Also there was a satellite dish. It was there left over from the previous owners. We had already taken off the dish part and taken it to the dump as we do not use satellite.

The pole and the cement were still stuck in the dirt taking up space. This area does not get hit by my sprinkler system and saw any plants that were here had died already, but there was lots of grass and weeds. I knew that I wanted to use this corner of the yard more efficiently than it was being used.

Since no water got to the space putting a plant there didn’t make a whole lot of sense.

I prepped the space by taking a shovel and digging up all of the overgrown grass and weeds from the area. I also moved any other plants that were thriving to other areas of the yard. I dug it out and removed the satellite dish and we also took that to the dump. It was very heavy.

I removed any weird wires and cables that were connected to the side of the house, as they were no longer doing things. There was about 6 to 10 different cables for a different Internet providers and TV providers from over the years.

It took me a couple of days to get this all dug out and weeded, but it was so much cleaner once I did.

The next step in prep was to dig out the area that I knew I wanted to put the bricks. I found these bricks on Facebook marketplace for free a couple of years ago.

My sister had found them and asked me if it was some thing I would be interested in. They were in her area which is about two hours from my house. I spent the next couple of trips and times that I saw her bringing back bricks a little bit at a time. They have been sitting in my yard over on the other side as a makeshift walkway for the last three years.

I had started this walk away, thinking that it would be a great purpose for the bricks, but I didn’t have quite enough to finish the area and it ended up not working out. I gave up mid project and they sat there for a very long time.

I knew that I wanted to use these bricks for some thing eventually so I did not get rid of them. I used them as part of my fire pit makeover, which I posted recently.

I had lots left over and thought this might be the perfect use for them. I dug out the height of the brick in the dirt area so that the bricks would sit sit level with the ground surrounding them.

There’s a cement curb on this flower bed, and I knew that it was going to be a little bit tricky to get the bricks to line up and match it. I dug out everything I could being careful around the sprinkler head area and creating borders for the amount of bricks that I knew that I had.

Searching Facebook marketplace is a great way to find free or re-purposed house items that people no longer need or want. You could also use other things in assets in your area like a Habitat for Humanity where people donate housing materials all the time. If you want to go buy these brick are also not terribly expensive at most Home Improvement stores. Here are similar ones to what I used at Lowes.

Step 2: Leveling

After I got the entire area dug out for where I wanted to add the bricks, the next step is leveling the area. I used a metal rake and a shovel to try to move the dirt around the best I could, and level it with an eyeball approach first.

Then I used a tamping tool to tamp the dirt down into the ground and make it as level and flat and compacted as I could. I used a large level and laid it on the ground and tried to make the dirt is level as I could I would move around the dirt and a few other areas to try and help where it was high or low.

After the area was level, it was time to add in the landscaping fabric.

Step 3: Weed prevention

Previously, when I have laid bricks in other areas, I did not use landscaping fabric underneath the bricks. This was a huge oversight, because weeds ended up growing up in between the cracks of each brick and ruining the whole aesthetic and all that hard work.

I bought some landscaping fabric at Lowes, and some landscaping stakes to help secure it in place.

I chose one that should help with weed prevention for about 15 to 20 years which sounds great to me. I laid it all out in the area and used scissors to cut it to the length that I needed.

I overlapped the edges by about 6 inches to try to prevent any gaps in the coverage. Then I used the landscaping stakes to hold the fabric into place in the ground. I thought maybe I would need a hammer, but the ground was still soft enough for me to just hand push these stakes through the fabric and into the dirt. I made sure to secure at each edge, and at each seam so that it would be held down tightly.

Step 4: Sand & Brick laying

This is where your project really starts to take shape, using some paver sand and the bricks I started laying the bricks onto the landscaping fabric, using sand underneath edges as needed to help level it out.

I ended up using sand underneath all of the bricks in about a 1 inch layer, and then shaking the brick back-and-forth in the sand until it felt snug and level. I used my level throughout the whole process as I went to make sure that each brick was level with the one next to it, and that there wasn’t any sitting too high or too low.

This is a slow and kind of tedious process, but it really makes a big difference in the end. I had decided to do a herringbone pattern, starting in the furthest corner by my house and working out from there.

I staggered each brick, so that the next one ended up landing about halfway into the next one offsetting the pattern just enough to create a herringbone effect. I went all the way to the outside edges where I decided to put a border going horizontally in the direction of the pattern.

This did not line up perfectly with the measurements of the bricks, and I knew that I was going to have to cut some bricks later to fill in the holes. I’ll explain how I did that more in the next step. I laid out all of the bricks leaving holes where I would need to cut them. I had my kids help with laying out, which made the laying go faster, but I had to go re-level several later. Which was not a big deal. It was fun to work with them.

Step 5: Cutting bricks

This was a part of the project that intimidated me a little bit as I have never cut bricks before. My initial process was to try and use a hammer and chisel because that is what I had on hand. After several attempts and uneven breaks, I decided that I was wasting so many bricks trying to get them to break evenly, and I needed to use a different method.

I have been wanting an angle grinder for a really long time and this was the perfect project to buy it for. So to my local home-improvement store, I went and ended up purchasing this angle grinder.

I bought some masonry discs which are different than the normal discs that the angle grinder comes with.

They are specifically made for cutting pavers, stones and bricks. They have a different grit on them than you would use for cutting metal, etc. I got the disks for less than five dollars each and I ended up going through three of them for this project.

I measured where I needed to cut the bricks using a pencil and drew line on the brick. Then I used the angle grinder, with a masonry disc to cut along the line.

Initially, I thought that maybe I could cut all the way through the brick using the angle grinder but this process proved to be very slow and ate through the disc very fast. So after seeing that that process was going to need more than the three discs that I had purchased I opted to just cut, partially into each brick, essentially scoring it where I would eventually use the hammer and chisel later.

I cut a couple of centimeters down on the line of the brick, using the angle grinder and masonry discs. I cut all four sides around the brick where I knew I would be chiseling it later. One on the front, one on each side, and one on the back. I tried to make sure that all of my lines matched up around the corners.

I then used my hammer and chisel placing the chisel into the groove, I had just cut with the angle grinder and hammering down on the back of the chisel along the line. This allowed for the brick to break evenly where I had already scored it.

It worked so well, and I was so surprised at the results in comparison to using the chisel and hammer alone without the scoring technique. I did this several times on different bricks to fill in the different areas that needed it, to complete my pattern.

** This is a dusty part of the process make sure that you are using eye protection, gloves, and proper PPE.

Once I had all of the bricks cut and put into place, the pattern really was starting to look good. This is like playing real life Tetris and it felt so fun using smaller bits and pieces to fill in where I could.

Step 6: Sand

This is the final step of the patio process. Initially, I had looked into buying polymeric sand. Polymeric sand is cool because you can place it in between the pavers get it wet and it will kind of act like a glue to hold the bricks and pavers in place and prevent any weeds or shifting.

Although after looking at the price and it was about $60 for 20 pounds of polymeric sand, and I needed roughly 50 pounds I just didn’t have it in the budget.

Also, eventually we plan on tearing down this room that this patio sits next to it and redoing our backyard. I know this project is a long way off which is why I’m fine doing projects like this in the meantime, but I didn’t wanna create something super permanent. I opted to use paver sand that I used to level the bricks initially instead. This does not have any glue or binders in it, but it does help the bricks feel more secure and prevent shifting and weeds.

I simply dumped the sand on top of the bricks and used a broom to brush it around and fill in the cracks. I had to do this a couple of times as the sand eventually settles down as it gets walked on and they shift, etc. I scooped up the remaining sand that wasn’t brushed into the cracks and removed it. Then I gently washed down the bricks to clean up, making sure not to spray too hard with a nozzle and remove all of my hard work that I had just done.

I love the finished result, and I think it looks so clean and nice.

I moved a small Thrifted patio table and chairs onto the area. Next step will be tackling this wall behind the table as it is ugly and has quite a few imperfections to it.

Stay tuned for that project soon! Remember all links are easy to find on my Lowes storefront HERE.

-Amanda

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