How to Install Interlocking Bricks on a Herringbone
- 1). Choose your bricks. The brick color and style should complement your home and garden.
- 2). Have the utility companies mark where your electrical and plumbing are on your property. Identify and spray paint the location of your walkway or patio.
- 3). Clear out all the plants, furniture and lawn decorations where you want your patio. Dig 8 to 12 inches of dirt out of your patio area. Dig deeper if you live in a colder climate, but dig at least 8 inches. Your ground does not have to be completely level or flat. Excavate about 8 to 8 inches wider on every side of your patio dimensions so that you have a solid foundation and can adjust as you are laying out the pavers. Tamp the soil down with a tamper or plate compactor. Run the compactor over the area until the soil does not sink when you walk on it.
- 4). Outline it with string lines. Hammer wooden or metal stakes into the ground at all four corners of the patio or path. Wrap and tie the string around the stakes so you have a square or rectangle outlined in string. Keep the lines at the height you want your walkway or patio to be.
- 5). Add at least 6 inches of crushed stone to the base. Add 8 inches if you live in a cold area and dug down 12 inches. Add a few inches at a time, and compact it using the tamper or plate compactor. Then add another few inches and compact it. Continue until all 6 to 8 inches of stone is compacted. Stop adding stone when you are 3 to 4 inches below your string line, because most bricks are 2 to 2 ½ inches tall.
- 6). Add 2 inches of sand or stone dust over the gravel. Your sand level should leave exactly enough space between the sand and the string line to fit the brick. Tamp down the sand or stone dust using the tamper.
- 7). Place your two 1-inch pipes on opposite sides of the patio or walkway so that the top of the pipes are even with the height of sand you want. Drag a 2-by-4 board over the two pipes to remove excess sand from your prepared bed.
- 8). Add brick borders to all the sides of your path or patio. Hammer in the borders with 12-inch galvanized nails every foot.
- 9). Lay your bricks so they interlock. Begin in one corner, and lay the first brick along the edge. Turn the second brick, and lay it upward so that it locks into the already laid brick, but goes in the opposite direction on the edge of the patio. These two bricks will make an "L" shape.
- 10
Cut a brick in half, and place it so the cut edge is at the bottom of the patio next to the first brick you laid, so the bottom of the "L" is longer. Continue laying the bottom row alternating a straight brick, and then a cut brick until you reach the end of the patio. - 11
Add the next brick by turning it in the direction of the first brick and laying it up against the second brick you laid in the second row of the patio. Your pattern should look somewhat similar to stairs. Continue laying the bricks in this pattern until the patio or path is complete. - 12
Add sand to the outside edge of the patio to support the patio, and then backfill the outer edges with topsoil. You can lay sod, grass seed or add plants to the patio edges. - 13
Sweep sand into the cracks of the patio. Fill the joints with sand. Check the patio or pathway during the next week or so, and continue sweeping sand into the joints until they are completely full.
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