That ugly house I talked about in the last post also came with a ridiculously small single car driveway.

So begins the expansion.

This photo: view from the walkway, looking at the what used to be the driveway. Tearing up grass and moving the big stone in the front.

Step 1: Cut a Straight, Square Line

The pavers didn't exactly make a nice edge when the paved the new driveway. It was pretty wavy.

In this step I snapped a chalk line 90 degrees from the sidewalk, using the 3/4/5' squaring method (I used 6/8/10') and cut away the excess asphalt.

See those interlock stones mashed in with the asphalt? I'll be keeping those for later on.

Step 2: Optional: Go to Hospital for Stitches

This is why you're not supposed to remove the guard from an angle grinder. Especially a big ass Rigid 7" grinder. Sometimes they kick.

Don't do this at home.

Step 3: Trim Grass and Excavate Dirt to Fit Stone

Using the 14"x14" stones, I laid one at each end of the new driveway cut and ran a string from the outside of one to the other. Using a garden edger, I cut along the string into the grass and peeled away the excess grass.
Next came digging and grading the dirt to accommodate the stone screenings and sand base.

Step 4: Screenings and Sand Base

I (should have) used 6" of gravel and 2" of screenings, but I used 4" of screenings and 1" of sand. The key here is to get the sand so that the stone is flush with the driveway. I dampened the screenings and hand-tamped it all.
Then a layer of sand, dampened, and tamped until my hands literally bled. ..partly because of the stitches in my thumb.

Step 5: Cut and Fit Stones

I used 14x14 patio stones that look like
cobblestone because 1. It was available at Rona down the road, and 2. It was cheap.

Not too many cuts were necessary - only one angled at the sidewalk and a straight cut at the top of the driveway. If you measure and fit ahead before you cut away the driveway, you can make all fit together perfectly ;)

With a little bit of tapping, keeping the stones even with each other and the driveway is pretty easy if you tamped the sand evenly.

Step 6: Patching in the Walkway

Remember those interlock stones I said I'd keep for later?

Not pulling up and relaying the whole walkway was the goal here so I cut away more grass and dug, screenings, sand, tamped, and pieced it back together. Some cutting was necessary so I PUT THE GUARD ON THE ANGLE GRINDER and tried my hand at masonry. You can judge my cuts in later images.

Step 7: Polymeric Sand

2 bags of polymeric "magic" sand, poured into the gaps. Swept over, tamped to jiggle the sand into the voids, and then swept over again. Then I soaked it with water to activate the polymers. Feel free to judge my cutting.

This is my first landscape job ever. I would do a few things differently next time but in the past two winters only one stone has heaved slightly.

That's it! New driveway with cobblestone banding.

HMU with questions and comments.