How to lay a flagstone path

Tools

• Spade
• Rake
• Hand tamper (available at rental yards)
• Two stakes, string, line level
• One or two 2-by-4s, at least 6 ft. long, to use as leveling guides
• Stone or brick chisel
• Safety goggles

Materials

• Gypsum or flour
• Decomposed granite (sold by the cubic yd.; 1 cubic yd., about $24, covers 160 square ft. to a depth of 2 in.)
• Compost
• Flagstone of regular thickness, about 1 ½ to 2 ½ in. thick (slabs are sold by weight; 1 ton, about $320, covers 100 to 120 square ft.)
• Groundcover (sold in nursery cell-packs or mud flats)