It's a labor intensive job, and it really helps if you are good at jigsaw puzzles. You also don't want to be dealing with rocks that are too heavy because they will be moved around a lot. How I do it, is to dig out maybe six inches. On average, the stone is about 2 - 4 inches thick. I then pour in a base of maybe two inches of stone dust. Now the fun starts. I have a rough idea of how the stone will fit together. It's stuff I dug up in the backyard, and is probably best described as poor quality bluestone. It's very irregular. A couple of stone go together, with level adjustments until it's reasonably good. Some of the adjustment is from adding more stone dust, some is from digging deeper into the soil. It usually takes a couple of tries to get it right. A particularly nasty rock might have to be replaced more than half a dozen times. In heavy soil, is a cold climate, this has produced fairly durable paths. The oldest is about 5 years old, and hasn't moved at all. BTW, this isn't at all how you do cut stone.

Thanks for all the great compliments. Just a few details about the kitchen for now. I'll post them all when it is completed. The granite has a 1/2 bull nose edge. I chose this because I wanted a flat surface on the bottom where I could place my hand to catch crumbs as I wipe them off. I also wanted to stay simple to match the style of cabinets. Flooring is Somerset Country Collection with the buttercup finish. It is hand-scraped and helps hide the scrapes my 2 labs put into it every day. I figured I might as well blend in what I knew was inevitable. :-)

The are going to tell you its a "natural" product. You don't have a shot in the dark to get them to replace this. Rock crumbles, breaks and turns back into sand. Its the nature of stone. You can't tell from one pallet to the next or one box to the next whats inside. I am laying slate and each box is a complete surprise and doesn't look anything like the box before. They are not even all the same size making laying them very difficult. You can ask...but don't kick yourself too hard if they tell you no way....it is what it is. Good Luck.

I recently read online, I think it was on Granite Gurus that they put it on routinely for shipping. I was relieved because my mom's has the mesh on the back and I was really worried about that after hearing that same rumor. Perhaps it depends on what part of the world it ships from. My mom's particular stone does seem a little fragile, it's Typhoon Bordeaux. I hope it's going to be ok. It could just be her slab...I wish I had had more knowledge about granite when we shopped for her because I don't think that particular vendor sold the best pieces, beautiful, but wonder where he got them.