In the fall I made a simple front stoop. It is 24 inches by 48 inches. That size feels just right. It has some brick-shaped things from Home Depot as the under layer, and then the top layer is eight one-foot-square pavers also from Home Depot. I stuck everything together with "landscape glue" using a caulking gun. It was late fall and maybe a little too cold, and now a couple of the square pavers are loose. I was about to re-attach the loose ones with either the same type of landscape glue or with some quick set mortar (I have some power left over from another project). But I started to think that maybe two bluestone treads would look better, similar to this:
which I got from a This Old House video.
If I do that, should the two treads (each measuring one foot by four feet) be butted against each other, or should I leave half an inch between, and then put some mortar in between with a "grout bag"?
Also, about the mortar for the treads. In the video, here's how they stuck the treads on: start with regular mortar, pretty thick. Then scratch X's in that mortar. Then add water to some mortar to make a slurry and put some of that on top of the regular mortar layer. I guess that's to make it easier to get the big heavy tread nice and level. Is there any simplification possible?
