- Planning the design of your patio is the first step to building the perfect brick patio. Using brick as a building material gives you lots of options for the overall look of your patio, with a variety of shapes, sizes and colors to choose from. Check out your local hardware or home improvement store to find the brick type you like the best.
Once you've chosen the bricks, you need to plan out the patio. Plan the brick pattern you want to use. Common patterns include herringbone, circles, solid colors with a border of differently colored bricks, staggered bricks or anything else that you can imagine.
When you've chosen the brick type and the pattern, decide on the size and shape of the patio. Plan a patio that complements your chosen pattern and home, while requiring you to cut as few bricks as possible. With a size and shape in mind you can measure the space, buy the necessary materials and begin the installation. - To prepare the area for the bricks you must excavate a hole in the size and shape of your planned patio. Excavate to a depth of 4 inches, leveling the ground as much as possible. Compress the ground to prevent settling. You can rent a soil compactor from a home improvement store or equipment rental shop to do this. Place a layer of gravel into the excavated area about an inch deep, compacting and leveling this layer as well. You'll want to create a slight slope with this layer (about 1 inch for every 8 feet), sloping away from your home to keep water from running toward the house foundation. Pour an inch of sand over the gravel and level with a screed board.
- Place the bricks in the desired pattern atop the layer of sand. You need to ensure that the bricks are placed tightly against one another. Use a paver edger to create a definitive edge to your patio. You may need to cut a few bricks to fit the planned space. You can cut the bricks easily using a circular saw fitted with a masonry blade.
Once the bricks are placed, compact the area again, and then fill the spaces between the bricks with sand, sweeping it into the cracks. For the space between the bricks and the paver edger, use pea gravel as a fill. Repeat the compact and sand-fill step until all cracks have been completely filled. After the last compacting run, use a hose on the bricks to remove any excess sand from the area. Give the bricks a day to dry and then apply a brick sealer to finish the patio, protecting the color of the bricks and decreasing future maintenance.
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