Blue Stone Patio
Shapes, Sizes and Installation Methods

A blue stone patio is one of my favorite types of hardscapes.

The stone is a lovely natural material which blends in well with many other landscape elements.

Pennsylvania bluestone is very beautiful and easy to find.

However, don't just tell your contractor that you want a blue stone, as there are choices to be made.



Blue Stone Shapes

Blue stone comes in straight, geometric shapes, such as squares and rectangles. You can use all of the same shape and size, such as 18" squares.

This makes a nice design, especially if you set the stones on the diagonal. I often use mixed sizes though.

Geometric stones in various sizes were used for this lovely patio. The bluestone was dry laid and laid parallel and perpendicular to the house. Natural stone walls compliment the patio with blue stone used for the wall caps.

You can also choose to have your patio created from free-form bluestone shapes.

These are irregular sizes and are a bit more difficult to lay since the edges are not straight.

This can create a more naturalistic look.

In this project the irregular bluestones were laid in concrete. it's nice to add some very large pieces as was done here. Photo courtesy of Clipper Masonry.

Blue Stone Installation

The two methods for installation are either dry laid or wet laid.

With the dry laid method, no concrete is used and therefore will not crack in later years.

This patio was laid on the diagonal which adds interest. You can do this with stones that are various sizes as in this photo, or with stones that are all the same size. The stones were dry laid.

If you choose to have the bluestone patio wet laid, a concrete base must be laid and the joints will be filled with concrete also.

This is an example of bluestone laid in concrete. It's a matter of personal preference, although this method is more expensive.

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