Daily Landscaping builds paver and flagstone patios across Greater Pittsburgh and Northwest Pennsylvania. Patios, seat walls, fire features and the steps that connect them to the house.
A patio is the thing that actually gets used out of everything we build. Call (724) 605-4822 for a free quote.
Every settled, sunken, weedy patio we tear out has the same problem underneath: not enough base, or a base that was never compacted.
Western Pennsylvania ground is heavy clay over shale, most lots have a slope on them, and the freeze and thaw cycle works on everything through the winter. A patio sitting on a few inches of loose stone over clay will move, and once it moves the joints open, water gets in, and weeds follow.
We excavate, put down a proper depth of compacted stone, screed the bed, lay the pavers tight, and lock the edges so nothing creeps outward. That is the whole job, and almost all of it happens before a single paver goes down.
Pavers are consistent, they interlock, and if one ever gets damaged you pull it and replace it. They are the practical choice and most of what we lay.
Flagstone is irregular natural stone. It costs more and takes longer to set, and on the right house it looks like nothing else. We have laid it in circles around fire pits and as walkways connecting patios to the drive.
Both need the same base. The base does not care what is on top of it.
We lay Techo-Bloc pavers, which is what we use for most of our patios and decorative walls, and we work in natural flagstone where the house calls for it. Techo-Bloc is a premium line and it costs more than a builder-grade paver. It also holds its color and its edges, which is what you are actually paying for over fifteen winters. Techo-Bloc is our preferred paver, not the only one we will lay. If you want Belgard, Unilock or Pavestone, we will install it. Most people come to us for the build rather than for the name stamped on the block, and the base underneath is the same either way.
The part that decides whether a patio still sits flat in fifteen years is all under the pavers. Here is what we put down.
We excavate to a proper depth, usually six to eight inches on a residential patio and more where the clay is soft or the patio carries weight. Over the subgrade we lay a geotextile fabric that separates the clay from the stone so the two do not mix and pump over time. On top of that goes a compacted crushed stone base, put down and plate compacted in lifts rather than all at once, then a thin screeded bedding layer that the pavers set into.
Once the pavers are laid tight we lock the perimeter with an edge restraint and sweep polymeric jointing sand into the joints. That sand hardens to hold the pavers together and keep weeds and ants out. Where water needs somewhere to go, we can pitch the patio to drain or build in a permeable system that lets it soak through instead of running toward the house.
A patio on its own is a slab of stone. What makes it a place people sit is the edge: a seat wall so you are not hauling chairs out, a fire pit so it gets used into October, lighting so it gets used after dark.
All of that is cheaper to build at the same time as the patio, because the base, the drainage and the electric are already open. Retrofitting it later means cutting into finished work.
If the patio is above grade or the yard slopes, it needs steps and often a wall to hold it. That is our core work, so it gets built as one project rather than two.
If you want shade over it, a pergola installation built at the same time shares the same footings and the same crew, which is cheaper than adding one later.
Daily Landscaping has been going since 2014. Owner TJ Belsterling runs the crews himself, and if you deal with this company you deal with him. There is not a client we work with that TJ has not spoken to personally.
Every estimate goes out within 48 hours, and usually within 24. If you have ever had a contractor walk your property and then never send anything, that is the promise we are making. You get a written, itemised estimate, not a number shouted over the phone.
We are not going to be your cheapest bid, and we will tell you that up front. We stand behind our workmanship: if something we built is not right, we come back and make it right.
PA HIC registration PA177530. $1M/$3M general liability insurance. 4.5 stars on Google and 100+ reviews across Google, HomeAdvisor, Angi and Houzz. Financing available through Dollar Bank.
Call (724) 605-4822.
Your patio carries a five-year workmanship warranty. That is the same term we put on every hardscape we install: patios, walkways, driveways, retaining walls, fire pits and outdoor living features.
Five years is long enough to mean something. A patio that was going to settle or heave will show it inside five Western Pennsylvania winters, and when it happens it is almost always the base rather than the stone. If our work moved, we come back and make it right.
That is the whole reason we spend the money under the pavers where nobody will ever see it.
In Pennsylvania, concrete pavers typically run $18 to $25 per square foot installed, premium pavers $25 to $35, and natural flagstone $30 to $45. A 300 square foot paver patio generally lands around $5,400 to $7,500, and the same patio in flagstone is closer to $9,000 to $13,500. Access, slope and how much excavation the site needs move it from there. See our full cost guide.
Pavers are consistent, interlock, and can be individually replaced if damaged. Flagstone is natural, irregular, costs more, and looks like nothing else on the right house. Both need the same base underneath.
The base. A patio needs a proper depth of compacted stone under it, and our clay soil moves through freeze and thaw. If the base was thin or never compacted, the patio settles, the joints open, and weeds follow.
Sometimes. It depends on what the patio was built on, because a seat wall and a masonry fire pit are heavy and need a base that can carry them. We will look at it and tell you straight.
Most residential patios are a matter of days rather than weeks, but it depends on the size, the access, and how much excavation and grading the site needs. Weather moves things too.
Yes. We grade so water runs away from the house rather than collecting against the foundation or under the new patio. If your yard already has a drainage problem, we deal with that first.
Under the pavers is a geotextile fabric over the clay subgrade, then six to eight inches of compacted crushed stone base laid in lifts, then a screeded bedding layer. The pavers set into that, the perimeter gets an edge restraint, and polymeric sand locks the joints. In Western Pennsylvania clay and freeze-thaw, that base is what keeps the patio from sinking, not the pavers on top.
For our freeze-thaw winters, interlocking pavers usually hold up better than a poured concrete slab. A slab cracks in one hard line and the whole thing has to be dealt with; if a paver is ever damaged you lift that one and replace it. Pavers also flex slightly with the ground instead of cracking. Poured concrete costs less up front, which is the trade-off.
Sealing is optional, not required. A quality paver like the Techo-Bloc we lay holds its color on its own. Sealer deepens the color and makes the surface a little easier to clean, and it can go on a few weeks after install once the polymeric sand has set. It wears off over a few years and can be reapplied.
Based at 22063 Perry Hwy, Zelienople, working across Butler, Allegheny and Beaver counties.
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Nearby but not on the list? Call (724) 605-4822 and we will tell you straight whether you are in our range.
