no stone dust?

The square patio is bounded by 6 stones on each side (which totals out to 36 stones (6 x 6)). You said you bought 48 pieces. Why?

How much does each piece of slate weigh?

Is that a wine bottle tree? I've always wanted to make one of those. How did you make yours?

how do you compensate for the natural unevenness of the ground? how do you keep the stones from wobbling?

The 6x6 picture appears to be part of the step-by-step photos. In the end, (at night) you can see it becomes a rectangle or 6x8. (48 pieces)

As a landscape designer, I like the idea of your patio but I think a few problems might come up. When it rains, water will likely not drain well and it will probably flood or at least get very muddy (which is why stone patios usually have a few inches of gravel and sand beneath). Uneven stones could be a tripping hazard. And I'm not from an area where there are true winters, but will the frozen ground crack the stone?

I don't mean to be a party pooper, but I've always heard that patio installations need a foundation of sand or gravel. Can we have a discussion of whether this method will last long term? If yes, that's great! All the site prep is what has held me back from doing a patio.

This is not a long term solution and is not the way to go if living in frost zones.
I agree with macbride and recycleg. If you're living in a freeze/thaw area it's rather important to excavate down several inches (6-12") and lay in layers of sand and gravel to allow for drainage. Otherwise frost heave will cause havoc with and probably breakage of your pavers.
In the spring look for inconsistencies in the surface beneath that will likely have developed over winter and have the job done right. Either by a professional or as a well-instructed DIY project. This is not an acceptable solution for creating a patio in the freeze zones.
However, I see what you've done as inspiration for the next step. It's a lovely space.

Nice space. I've been dying to put together a patio of our our own, but since we have been viciously and frequently attacked by mosquitos every time we set one toe outside we're thinking screened in porch may be the best way to go.
We also have flooding issues so are worried that maybe a patio (as much as I love them) may not be the best way to go.

Did anyone read the post?!

"...a simple slate patio just to test the location. I assumed I'd have to redo it, but after a month on these rustic and semi-uneven slate pieces, I sorta think I might leave it"

It was a test that worked for him.

One advantage of this approach is that the tiles cover and therefore kill the lawn underneath, making it much easier to strip and remove if Maxwell chooses to go the full route and install the underlayment. (Having just dug sod to make a small "zen" garden, I'm all in favor of that, believe me!)

Looks great. But 48 squares @ $24 per square isn't "affordable" in my book!

I want directions for the lit up bottle tree!

AT posts like this one make my blood boil. As everyone else has mentioned, this patio is unsafe and a waste of nearly $1200 since the stones would likely deteriorate in even one winter outside. Advocating for anyone to follow your lead in creating such a structure is simply irresponsible.

Um,... kudos to 'quietmouth'. If one doesn't like the idea of trying something out first, or spending $1,200 to test something, then don't do it. Great post. Should you decide to make permanent, then you'll know what to do next. If not, then you have a perfect template for a new planter bed!

I'm doing something similar because, quite frankly, after some serious regrading, retaining walls and sod (all of which are currently underway), I ran out of money. So, in the meantime, I'm going to take 24 by 24 inch pavers ($23 each) and set them individually in the sod (digging about 3 inches) them out with some stone dust or gravel beneath. My landscape contractor said that this would be workable. The photo above looks great - the pavers look level with the sod, so I may try this out.

Quietmouth, I did read the post. It was the "sorta think I'll leave it" part that got me. I think it's a valid question to ask what happens long term if he leaves it. I absolutely love the idea of a quick patio, and I'd love to do one, but I want to understand the ramifications of using one particular method over another.

It should be easy enough to dig it up next spring, do the sand and gravel. That will give you stabiity and drainage. The last step should be brushing sand in between the stones. If you want to keep the grid as a dominant part of the design, you could use a highly contrasting sand color (e.g. for aquariums).

@ anittah This site is very much about directing readers to advertisers through postings. As someone who works in the business, I can tell you that the editorial integrity in fashion and shelter magazines is close to nonexistent. Those magazines are also known as magalogs -- catalogs with a magazine lable on them. I think AT is on the verge of becoming that. But the pictures are pretty and the tips can be very useful, so I still enjoy it.

Edit: label

Agree with GDW - $24 each slate tile is astronomical in my book! in the UK we can get slate that size for a few quid each - thats $4-5 EACH. Why would you pay around $1200 for a temporary patio - even if you are able to re-use them when a permanent patio is built - that much money for slate? PURLEESE! I love slate - but buying the fancier slate for a patio is just not cost-effective. More money than sense me thinks :-))

Just thought I'd weigh in with my experience. I did the exact same thing in my Austin, TX yard with 12 x 12 X 1 concrete pavers . . . in 2006. We intended to put it down on a temporary basis to try out the placement and we liked it so much, we never moved it. The pavers sunk into the ground almost immediately and haven't been wobbly since the first week or so. Living in Texas, we rarely have any freezing issues, but we do have lots of rain and it's held up well with no sand or gravel base (we just set the pavers on the then-living grass). It worked for us. We received our 1/2 pallet of pavers as a wedding gift, so I don't remember the cost.

Lord have mercy! $1,200 is a freakin' lot of money - I wouldn't spend that much total on a dug out, gravel & sand below, pavers on top, patio. Affordable = a coupla hundred bucks ... maybe. Plus, the biting bugs here are so bad, they sip citronella for strength and I have to spray myself just to take the garbage out across the yard to the composter. Screened deck is lookin' might good to me.

slate pavers are not cheap around here, so i can see it easily to be about $24 each. i would worry about the stability of the stone just set on grass so i would be inclined to set it on a bed of gravel and sand. but i like the look of having grass between the pavers. any suggestions to the type of grass that would work best between pavers. could it just the be the same grass in any back yard? or maybe it wants to be a like a moss?

$$$.

cool, but expensive for a temporary solution. For a less expensive, temporary solution I would outline a space with timbers, put down landscape fabric (or plastic) and fill is with a nice looking pea gravel.

I love the umbrella!

I'm surprised no one responded to this, but "slate" is not a generic term for patio surfacing (at least here in the US). A better word to use would probably have been "paver", and I only point this out because using the word slate could be quite confusing to many people. Slate is a type of rock; where I'm from in upstate NY it is the native stone, and it is INCREDIBLY slippery when wet, and also tends to split unpredictably of it is too thin, and therefore can be dangerous as a patio surfacing. The stone Maxwell used for this patio is a bluestone, which is a type of sandstone sometimes quarried in PA. It has a slightly rougher grain, which gives it a bit of a non-slip quality. Bluestone pavers are a lovely material for a patio surface.

"Affordable = a coupla hundred bucks ... maybe."

I don't think that's realistic, in my opinion. I did an approximately 9 by 6 foot patio using 12 inch flagstone square pavers in 2007. The 50 plus pavers cost about $500. My partner and I did ALL of the work ourselves. We dug down 6-7 inches, laid edging, fabric, gravel, sand and then the pavers. Total cost for all materials, including delivery of materials ($95), came to about $1000. Plus, I had to buy a couple of tools, e.g., hand tamper.

In fact, the project would have probably cost more if we hadn't gone around illegally dumping the dirt.

What the naysayers are posting makes sense, but I still like it. Sure, it can't survive during the winter or rainy seasons, but since it's not permanent, why not just put it away during those months. You probably won't be out on the "patio" during the winter anyway.

Where did you get the flags?

I love the patio but coming from a landscaping background where I built hundreds of stone patios, I have to say this a very temporary solution. It looks fantastic but you should go all the way with this and pull up the stone, lay a 8"-12" stone dust foundation, tamp it down really well, level it off and then put the stones back down. It's going to take some work but the results will be long lasting and totally work it in the end. This is assuming you want this as a permanent patio and not just a temporary one. I'm not knocking it though, it looks good, I love the wine bottle tree too.

sorry, should read "worth it in the end". Anyone who's knocking the cost of this too needs to know that flagstone is expensive but you can get different grades and cuts as well for it. You don't have to spend tons of money on this project either. If you get man-made paving stones, you can do it for cheaper. Another alternative is getting pressed concrete to look like flagstone. They can make it the same slate colour and even put in lines to make it look like flagstone has been laid. Depending on the company, this may be cheaper than actual flagstone but, if not, it can be done for a reasonable price.

I would do the same thing if I had the resources. The stones could very well settle in themselves, and if they're a little uneven, well, that wouldn't bother me.

My beef is with the term "quick." Those slate panels must weigh a ton! I'd need 2 or 3 friends to help me with each one, and the payback for their help would hardly be "quick."

And I'll reiterate what meganfabulous said about how slippery slate gets when it's wet.

Wish I had a patio of any kind, but apartment dwellers have to do without! :(

One additional comment for all those who worry about proper underlayment -- I am from Eastern Long Island. Whether he knew it or not, he has sand underneath. The entire island is glacial deposit -- unless he's in one of the rare areas of improved farmland, the topsoil is extremely shallow. Unless he's in one of the rare areas of clay, the drainage excellent.