Patio Contractor in Cincinnati: Stone Patios, Fire Pits and Walkways

A Cincinnati patio contractor who starts with the ground

A patio here has two jobs: look good on a July evening and survive January. The second is harder. Our winters freeze and thaw again and again, the ground around Cincinnati is heavy with clay that holds water, and plenty of yards slope toward the house. A patio laid on a thin base over that ground heaves, sinks at the edges, puddles against the foundation and loosens its joints, often within a few winters.

Swiss Masonry is a patio contractor and masonry contractor serving Cincinnati and the 50-mile area around it, from Loveland and West Chester to Florence in Northern Kentucky. We build and repair flagstone, natural stone and brick paver patios, fire pits and outdoor fireplaces, seat walls, walkways and steps. As a general contractor, we also line up the other trades an outdoor space can need: gas and electrical work goes to licensed trade partners that we schedule and coordinate. The owner visits every site, checks the grade and drainage himself, and prices the job.

Stone patio and paver choices

Whether a patio lasts usually comes down to the base and the edge more than the stone. A modest stone on a deep, drained base will outlast an expensive one laid on topsoil. Every job is priced after the owner sees it. Common masonry ranges, including patios and hardscape, are on our pricing page.

The base decides how long a patio lasts

Nobody sees the base, and it is most of the job:

1. Locates first. Ohio law requires the excavator to notify the utility protection service before digging (Ohio Revised Code 3781.28), and Kentucky has a similar rule. We are the excavator, so we make the 811 request.
2. Dig to firm subgrade. Topsoil and roots come out, and the subgrade gets compacted.
3. Fabric on clay. A woven geotextile keeps the stone base from pushing down into soft clay.
4. Crushed stone in lifts. The base goes in thin layers, each run with a plate compactor. It gets thicker on clay and under a grill station, hot tub or fire feature.
5. Pitch and plan the water. The surface slopes away from the house, and we decide where the water goes: lawn, a dry well or a drain line.
6. Bed, lay and lock. Bedding layer, then stone or pavers, then an edge restraint so the field cannot spread.
7. Joint and settle. Joints are filled, pavers are compacted into the bedding, and the surface is cleaned.

Frost heave is water in the soil freezing and swelling. You cannot stop the cold, so you take away the water: a compacted, drained stone base with no clay or topsoil in it has little left to freeze.

Outdoor fireplaces and fire pit installation

A fire feature is masonry that gets hot, and it has to be built for heat.

• Wood-burning fire pits get a firebrick lining laid in refractory mortar inside the stone or block ring, a base that drains, and a cap that sheds rain.
• Outdoor fireplaces are small buildings: a reinforced concrete footing, a firebrick firebox, a smoke chamber and a chimney tall enough to draw, then stone or brick to match the patio. The top gets the same reinforced cast crown with a drip we put on house chimneys; see chimney repair.
• Gas fire pits and fireplaces are built by us as masonry, and the gas line is run by a licensed trade partner who pulls their own permit.

Placement is part of the design. For an open wood-burning fire pit, Ohio’s fire code adopts the International Fire Code rule that keeps a recreational fire 25 feet from a structure or combustible material, and Ohio adds a 15-foot rule for gas-fired fire pits. Built outdoor fireplaces, local fire departments and Kentucky and Indiana towns can have rules of their own, so we confirm clearances before we pick the spot. We also remove built-in fire features that no longer work and patch the patio where they stood.

Seat walls, walkways and steps

A seat wall gives a patio an edge and a place to sit without more furniture. We build them in stone or brick on a concrete footing, with a cap wide enough to sit on and pitched to shed water. A seat wall that also holds back soil is a retaining wall and needs drainage behind it; our retaining walls page explains how we build those.

Walkways get the same base as the patio, narrower. Garden steps are stone slabs or brick on a compacted base, every riser the same height so nobody catches a toe, and every tread pitched to drain. Front stoops and steps attached to the house are covered on our porch and step repair page. Stone faces and caps for any of these can match stone already on the house; see stone work.

Flagstone patio repair and other fixes

Not every tired patio has to come out.

• Heaved or sunken flagstone: lift the stones, fix the base and drainage under them, relay the same stone.
• Loose mortar-set flagstone: if the slab is sound, reset the loose stones in fresh mortar and repoint. If the slab is cracked through, it gets repaired or replaced first.
• Pavers sinking at the edges: usually a missing edge restraint. Pull the edge rows, rebuild the base, add a restraint, relay.
• Cracked or settled concrete patios: crack repair, a structural overlay or replacement, covered on our concrete page.
• Water running toward the house: relay or regrade the patio with real slope away from the foundation.

Swiss Masonry has done masonry in Cincinnati since 1993. Small crews do the stonework, usually two masons. Insured. Certificate of insurance on request. Patio work carries our one-year workmanship warranty. To have the owner look at your yard, call 513-202-3598.