I had a trellis that I designed built on a fresh 12'x20' slab. I want to lay flagstone, doing the work myself myself, using 1" thick gold quartzite flagstone (bought by the pound on pallets in piece sizes that are small enough to be easily handled by one person).
I plan on buying knee pads, a small Makita hand held saw & diamond blade, fitting the flagstone dry over the entire slab (leaving about 1/2" to 3/4" wide spaces for grout), then mortaring them in place, laying mortar for 3 or 4 pieces at a time, doing the grouting, using a grout bag, a day or two after all the stone has been set in mortar.
The slab has been saw-cut in both directions and I've been told to lay plastic slip sheet over the cuts to prevent the flagstone from cracking shoukd the slab crack.
Does this approach sound about right?
I have no masonry experience, but from what I've gathered, seems like a pretty straightforward process. Will I need a helper or is it a one man job?
Any advice, warnings, whatever?
Thanks in advance!
David
The trellis is built, the lattice arrives on Wed. The 4'x4' redwood lattice pieces will be left unpainted to go gray in the weather. They rest on 2x6 pieces nailed flush with the bottoms of the 2x8 rafters and cross pieces around the perimeters of each 4'x'4' grid opening. When it comes time for a repaint I'll lift out the lattice, hose it off and only have to paint the main structure.
