Flagstone Patio Table Design

These irregular flagstone tabletops set on brick piers were built in Glen Mills, PA. The design aimed to create a 'floating' effect with the massive flagstone caps. This detail mimics nearby staircases and walkways. Construction, from foundation to the stone cap, was engineered to produce an extremely durable and safe structure while appearing to be somewhat fragile.

Both tables are tied to 3 foot deep steel re-enforced concrete footers with 2 courses of half inch re-bar that protrudes through the pier cores. The brickwork was laid out in a complex hexadecagonal (16 sided) design. The goal was to avoid the typical square nature of bricks and come closer to the irregular shape of the flagstone. Inset half-courses create further depth in the piers, casting dramatic shadows and breaking the vertical lines. A stone shelf halfway up each pier is set into the brickwork. A square in the center of these shelves was removed to allow for electrical chases, re-bar and the concrete core. The grille table has 4 GFI electric outlets, a cable TV jack, and 1 extra chase for future LED under-lighting, all recessed into the brick.

The flagstone table tops were each core drilled to allow for 5 pieces of re-bar to be epoxied into their bottoms. The foundation and tabletop re-bar overlap by roughly 12" in the core of the pier, which is filled with fiber re-enforced concrete. This effectively tied the flagstone top and the concrete footer together.