[natural12]

I am biding on a pretty large job which has a lot of flagstone work. One aspect is laying a flagstone driveway. A concrete pad will be poured of course and the stone will be laid on a bed of mortar. I have never laid stone for a driveway before and I'm wondering if there is any special measures that should be taken to withstand the abuse of automobiles and trucks and things?
Anyone have any experience with this?

Thanks,
Mike

[EpicInterlock]

I have no experience with a concrete driveway mortared with flagstone, but I definitely do have experience with flagstone mortared onto concrete porches found in the front of most homes. I do know that flagstone, which is a natural rock and can have natural occuring veins of differing minerals, can crack or "spall". In either case, flagstone should be used carefully, with the homeowner knowing ahead of time that these instances may occur in the future.

And that's only for a walkway/patio used mainly by foot traffic.

I'd be very, very wary of using a natural rock as a driveway....phew.

I do know there are products out there that mimic the look of flagstone, but are made of concrete, just like a paver.

Check this example out. http://www.brooklin.com/slab-systems-colours.php Scroll down to the bottom of the page to "Quarry Stone". Its a relatively new product they came out with, but I just finished a huge backyard patio with it, and it's an absolutely gorgeous product.

[natural12]

Yup, I have done many walkways and patios but I am concerned about cracking on a driveway. Because stones do crack. The choice of materials is out of my hands and the homeowners are very rich and probably are set on stone. I would prefer to use some type of paver. Makes more sense.
Just measured the driveway and its 3400 sq. ft. Phew my back hurts thinking about it.

[mrusk]

Sell them marble pavers. You can get them in 2 and 3/8 thickness and they are fine for a driveway.

[Lanelle]

Techo-Bloc makes a thick, concrete paver that imitates flagstone that can be used for driveways. I believe it is called 'Blu'. It's not cheap.

[EpicInterlock]

Mrusk - Marble pavers? I've never seen that before, sounds terribly expensive. Do you have a picture or a website of them?

[Raj Venugopal]

I looked into laying a natural flag driveway earlier this year. I think there's a thread on this subject somewhere on gtx. I spoke with a stone supplier that said he's seen it done once, but the stone was a square cut flag that was drylaid onto a 6' rebarred slab.

I don't know the answer to your question, but I did recently lay a driveway with a new product. (We laid the first one in our market)

Google "Permacon mega-arbel"

It's a lookalike flagstone product...maybe distributed by Belgard...very thick, a pre-cast concrete product. Looks quite nice...hard to work with due to weight but replicates the flag look with the practicality of taking vehicle weight.

[NCSULandscaper]

if they want the stone look find a good concrete man and have them color and stamp in some flagstone inserts or stamp the whole thing

ive seen a few flagstone driveways, and they all have cracked and look horrible now.

[NCSULandscaper]

here is a new house we did, and they did a stamped flagstone grid in the concrete

[NCSULandscaper]

closeup

[rye]

we install Belgian block on concrete as an apron, without a problem. Flagstone 2' decorative strip in driveway once. Small area- no problems. I think if I did a large drive, I would probably use Portland cement slurry on backside of stones for better adhesion, select thicker stone/ buy extra material to allow for waste.

I try to use natural materials as often as possible so I would give the clients what they asked for...

This is my opinion, but I also would like to hear from someone who has done a flagstone driveway before.

[natural12]

After seeking several opinions from various masons it seems the best method is to use a straight portland mix for the base. Some suggested using some lime in the mixture. Most have said it is important to thinset the backside of the stone for better adhesion. At the least wet the backside. It also been suggested to use some acrylic (glue) in the cement mix for adhesion. Bonding the stone seems to be the most crucial aspect of the process.
thanks for all the responses.