Paver/Patio bed

[Maarkr]

I've seen different treatments for prepping a bed for pavers and flagstone for a patio. Some sources recommend a gravel and sand bed (up to 8" of gravel and 2" of sand) and others just use a 2" sand bed over tamped soil. I live in Maine so I wanted something I don't have to redo every couple of years.

This won't be a high-use area: the walkway (75' long) just goes around the house to a ~100 sqft patio area to step up on an 18" raised back deck. Pretty sure we'll use flagstone for the patio, and we're leaning toward brick pavers for the wallkway, although I still want to look at precast concrete molds that I'll pour myself. Trying to keep costs low.

Any suggestions? Thanks.

[rodster]

I dug my sidewalk out, ran the plate vibrator over it, filled in 8 in of stone, added 1 in sand, pavers, then sand, vibrate until all cracks are filled in. A good base makes the job. All of your ideas sound good.