Advice for making a patio with paving stones?

ditto to Johns reply, its just to many steps to explain here.

One thing I will say is don't use a screw driver or nail to try to cut the paver's it will not work and you may need to go to the hospital...NO JOKE

You can use a grinder with a diamond blade or a carbide blade to cut the paver's but they must be cut the will NOT break cleanly on a score line consistently and you will break a lot of them.

YES it will make a lot of dust when you cut them. if you use a diamond blade you can have someone spray a stream of water from a garden pump sprayer on the blade as you cut this will greatly reduce the dust and help the blade last longer.

Sure you can just put down sand and then the paver's if you feel like doing it all over again next year. Even with paver's the surface is only as stable as the base on which it rests on. take the time to do the base right . dig out the dirt make it nice and level then tamp it and then add a layer of sand about 2" no more. before you lay the paver's wet the sand down good to make sure it is settled. then put the paver's on.

As far as the gaps the best way for you to fill the gaps is after all the paver's are in and you have walked on them to make sure none are out of wack go get a couple of bags of masons mix and dump it out dry on the paver's and broom it in the cracks.sweep all the excess off as best you can then wet the whole thing with a very fine mist of water to get the mix wet. pay attention to how much is on the paver's and try to wash them off but if its going to wash out the joints don't worry about it for now you can always go back and wash them with a light muriatic acid solution that will remove it.just make sure you use enough water to we the mix all the way through. doing it this way will ensure a good bond to the paver's in the joints. This is not how we do it on a professional level but it will work for you just fine.

unless the current ground level + 1/2" sand + your paver = the desired height - you'll need to remove some of the soil. main thing is getting the right height after you've put down 1/2" of sand.

I if you remove some of the soil, blend some portland lime into the remaining soil before you put down the sand, especially if your soil is clay.

To cut the stones, you can score a line where you want to cut the stone - using a big nail or screw driver. Then press the stone on a thin edge - like a hoe blade - to break it. You'll get a pretty clean break. you could score it with the grinder but that's probably not necessary.

Regarding gaps, I don't like to mortar in pavers. just sweep sand into the cracks and it will lock them in place. mortar just cracks out over time...

I can't spend the time typing everything out when I started out years ago I got a book on it But you can go to a home improvement store and get a pamphlet on it for free that will explain everything on it

i could go into detail but it be a long story so the best answer i can give you is go to lowes.com or homedepot.com they have a how to section there that will explain it all in detail with pictures too.