On 5/16/2011 1:21 PM, Pavel314 wrote:
Just polling the group on the better method to make a little patio,
about 8 feet by 8 feet square.

We have a table and chairs under a large tree in the back yard.
They're just set on the lawn so during the rainy season my chair legs
frequently sink into the soft ground, leaving me to sip my martinis on
an incline. I need to put something solid under there and first
thought of paving blocks, those cement slabs a couple of inches thick
and 12"x12" or 18"x18". I've done that sort of thing years ago at
another location using red paving bricks.

If you value the tree, don't risk it by installing a non-permeable
surface anywhere between the trunk and four or five feet outside the
drip line. You'll injure a great many roots while prepping the area,
and will kill others slowly from lack of air and water. That side of
the tree will see branch dieback as a result, and there goes your shade.

I'd remove the grass, smooth the surface, pin down permeable landscape
cloth, then cover the cloth with something that will permit air and
water to pass through. I used large bark chips under my tree, but you
could use a decorative gravel, or even those fake bark chunks made of
recycled tires (those are springy and comfortable on the feet). That's
a compromise you and the tree can both live with.

Another, simpler option would be to buy patio furniture that doesn't
have legs that can sink into soft ground. Rocking chairs or swivel
rockers that sit on a round base are a couple of possibilities.