Devin Devine stone masonry consultant
devin@devineescapes.com

 

plastic edging for flagstone?

 

I posted a few DIY-landscape and how-to-hardscape type articles on my blog last year. Ever since then, I’ve been getting emails* with related questions. Let me share one right now in a brand new Devine Escapes blog segment called Ask Devin.

“Cheryl” writes:

Devin, love your flagstone walkways. What are you using for edging to keep the stones and screenings in place. I live in WI so freeze thaw is a issue. Have 16 foot Rhino Edge, but it’s recycled plastic, and not sure I want to use that. Any advice you can provide.

Well Cheryl, I never use plastic edging, nor any sort of edging product, on my flagstone work. Plastic edging is generally used for paver walkways and patios. The paver bricks are small and need to be restrained at the edge, or else they may wobble, or come loose under-foot. With my flagstone work, I make sure to use larger stones along the edge, stones that are too thick and/or have to much surface area, to likely ever come loose. Let me be utterly clear on this: there is absolutely no reason to use plastic edging restraints for flagstone work.

Related content: no plastic at all in the landscape

Maybe you saw it on the DIY channel or the HGTV

Sometimes those shows have good advice….but not always. Listen to a guy you can trust– listen to your trusty-dusty, handy-dandy friendly neighborhood stone guy. 24 years experience hardscaping, a love for stone and a love for writing about stone–I’d never steer you wrong! Let’s say you goofed up and placed a way-too-small piece of flagstone right on the edge of your walkway or patio. No problem right– you’ll just use some plastic edging! Wrong.

That edging works great with regular shaped, square pavers, with smooth edges. Not so with natural stone. Furthermore, those pavers are butted right up against other pavers–so the edging is helping to keep them all snuggly fit together. Your flagstones are probably not fit so tightly together. The edging just does not help.

HOT TIP!

If youโ€™re building your own stone patio, the best labor saving device you can buy is the grabo. This is a vacuum powered suction cup that allows you to lift the flagstone right up off the ground, with having to pry them up. Grabo can be purchased here.

you don't need edging

Flagstone Patio. Larger stones are used along the edge. Also note that the stones come together a bit right at the edge….I’ll generally do that, let the flagstone joints get tighter, at the lawns border. My flagstone joints are less than an inch wide to begin with anyway. Having said that, I should also state that if your flagstones are laid in a clumsier manner, and/or have wider joints, then plastic edging will in no way save you. Just lay them stones like you mean it, you’ll be alright! Or, hire the right pro. When hiring a pro always look over their portfolio well. Do they have photos proving they do this sort of work, and do it well?

Keep your flagstones stable by a) laying them right b) using stones that are appropriate for how you are laying them. Stones are too small for flagging? Lay them as cobbles! Or, get larger stones. Next question!

But wait…some people think edging will somehow keep the lawn and patio “separate”

No, it will not. Your lawn will not intrude into your patio. Maybe a blade of grass, here and there–but I’ve never had any problem like that. Your joint filler material, your sand/stone dust/whatever should not wash out into your lawn–I’ve covered that issue in previous blog posts. Anyway, if you use plastic edging, in the hopes of keeping your lawn and patio “separate” what you will end up with is a line of plastic between your patio and lawn. It will look silly! The edging will most likely heave up, and sit higher than the flagstone and be a bit of a hassle to dig up, pull out those 12″ nails–which are designed to rust and expand, making them hard to extract from the ground.

… therefore you will NEVER bother digging up and lowering that edging. And after all of that? Your joint filler still washed out into your lawn! Ha. Should have read Devin’s blog and used stone dust, not sand or polymeric sand! And….you’ll still have one or two blades of grass between your flagstones.

I speak from experience. I see bad DIY patios all the time. My customers pay me to teach them how to re-do it right, or else they hire me and my crew to re-do it.

Related hardscaping DIY articles:

flagstone installation with no edging

Here’s a flagstone walkway in process, being built. No restraint or edge material is needed–just heavy flagstones, well-fit, and with no small stones along the border.

 

DIY Flagstone and Hardscape help

My rates for DIY consultations are as follows:

$80.00 for a half hour consultation

$119.00 for a full hour

Monies are payable via paypal, or Zelle. Just deposit some money into my account, using my email address and email me to tell me your phone number. I’ll tell you what my schedule looks like, you’ll pick a time, and then I’ll call you the appointed hour.

Please feel free to post your (brief) question in the comments below. That way, when I answer your question, it can be connected right here with the related article. If you have many questions or need in-depth explanation, I’ve got you covered–I now offer DIY consultation services, and am available to walk you through your entire hardscape, flagstone or masonry project. Either way, I’m in your corner!

ย