How to Level Ground for a Stepping Stone Patio

With the availability of attractive outdoor patio decor including gas grills, fire pits, weatherproof upholstery and rugs, market umbrellas and wicker and iron patio furniture, the popularity of outdoor rooms is increasing. The foundation of an outdoor room starts with a good patio or deck. One way to achieve this with limited building skills is to build a stepping stone patio. To prevent shifting, chipping and cracking in your patio stones, you must level the foundation.

Baking flour
Shovel
Garden hose
Tamping tool
Sheet of plywood
Carpenter’s level
Gravel
Coarse Sand

Instructions

- 1
  Lay out the footprint of your patio using baking flour. Baking flour is a safe and environmentally friendly alternative to using spray paint.
- 2
  Remove the sod and dirt inside your patio boundaries to a depth of 6 inches.
- 3
  Dampen the earth inside the excavation with a garden hose.
- 4
  Tamp down the dirt using a tamping tool.
- 5
  Place a piece of plywood sheeting against the ground.
- 6
  Place a carpenter’s level on the sheeting to check if the ground is level. If the carpenter’s level will not level, you must excavate more soil and repeat steps 3 through 5 until the soil is level.
- 7
  Shovel a 2-inch layer of gravel onto the dirt and compact the gravel with the tamping tool. Check that the gravel is level by repeating steps 5 and 6.
- 8
  Lay a 3-inch layer of course sand onto the gravel. Smooth with a shovel and then tamp with the tamping tool. Check that the sand is level by repeating steps 5 and 6. The ground should now be level and prepared for your stepping stones.

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