Stone patio installation in Franklin, MA

A patio is a floor that lives outside, so it gets built like one: dug out to depth, a crushed stone base compacted in lifts, a screeded bedding layer, and pavers restrained at the edge so the field can't creep. The visible part is the last inch. Everything that decides whether it's still flat in ten years is underneath.

In Franklin that usually means deeper frost and wet springs, so depth and compaction decide whether it is flat in ten years. Wet ground also means the base has to be built dry, which changes the schedule.

Franklin patios get a base beyond the frost line and a start date that respects how late the ground stays wet in spring.

Every patio quote that comes in low usually skipped one of the four: depth, compaction, slope or edge. In Franklin the grade and the frost line make all four matter, so we walk the yard, set the fall away from the house, and build the base before a single paver is set.

• Full-depth excavation, not a skim over the existing grade
• Crushed stone base built in lifts and compacted between each pass
• Slope planned to shed water away from the house
• Edge restraint set so the field stays put
• Worked to Franklin's grade and drainage, not a cookie-cutter layout