Will wrote:
"kzin" wrote in message
...
On 20-Nov-2007, "Will" wrote:

4) Lay down 1.5 to 2" thick flagstone, approximate 2 foot square
slabs,
along the path, left loose on top of drainage rock and pressed down
to
settle flat on that rock.
You'll want to top the drainage rock with sand and tamp it down well to
provide a solid level surface for the flagstone.
What about using Pea Gravel instead of Sand as the top layer above the
drainage rock?

Would we need to rent one of those big rollers that is used to compress
material? What's the best procedure for making the top layer as
compressed as possible?
Pea gravel isn't suitable. You really need to use sand if you don't want
your stones to shift about. There are websites out there that can give
you
detailed instructions on laying flagstone with and without mortar. For a
patio tamping by hand with a tool made for such is fine. You are trying
to
essentially build a 100 x 4 foot road. That's an awful lot to tamp by
hand
and the engineering may be such that you really need to compact that with
a
roller. I'm not qualified to tell you even if I could look at it.

Okay


I don't want to be discouraging but you are trying to build a 100x4
flagstone road that you know will be subject to adverse drainage
conditions.
I'd consider getting the advice of a pro.

The concrete guys wanted $5K to build just a trench, and $12K to build a
sidewalk. We are the tenants, not the landlord, and the landlord is
refusing the solve the problem. I have about $3K to spend.



The fact that you're willing to dump 3k into a rental is... Well..
shocking..

Look at doing something like this, which will be the base of your work.
You can lay the flagstone over this for stepping stones.. No need to
over complicate things, but the stones will shift.. I'm however assuming
that you're looking at leaving gaps around the stone.

Drainage:
http://www.askthebuilder.com/407_Dry...y_Ground.shtml

You'll need a place LOWER than what the water is currently at to drain
to. Perhaps run it around the house and drain down the driveway if it's
paved.

Then just do something like this with the flagstone:
http://www.txgreenscapes.com/images/...n_grass111.jpg

If the problem area is wide, you may want to do something almost like a
reverse leech field, such as having the main french drain, but have sub
drains point to it, like this..

^ to storm drain.
||
======||======
||
======||======
||
======||======
||
======||====== --
^water flow

This will drain a wide area to a central pipe which can be as stated,
ran to a drain or driveway or some place ON THE SAME PROPERTY.. It's
illegal to drain onto someone elses land.

Keep it simple.. Start with the french drain system and then if you want
to go further after it's shown to do the job, add the expensive
flagstone over it as a path.

Here's another site you may find useful which is a person doing a
shallow fench drain system to drain surface water from against their house.

http://www.fusecon.com/pubs/txtfiles...inProject.html

They also go so far as to plumb the gutter down spouts into the system,
which is where a TON of water comes from.. It's amazing how many
thousands of gallons can come off a roof in just a simple rainfall.

At any rate, my advice is to keep it simple.. Keep it running down hill
and get the problem taken care of before you make it pretty...

But then again, is it really worth it for a rental? That's up to you all
so I'll leave that as an opinion.

If possible, some pictures of your yard may help anyone on the group to
help you all and may aid in further advice. Hard to give advice blind.