We are going to put in a patio in the back yard using pavers. One thing
we're stuck on is the grade. The patio should be 1/4 inch per foot and
right now the lawn is about 1/2 inch per foot. The patio will probably
end up being about 16 X 19 feet which will result in the patio being
about 4 inches higher than the lawn at the end.

How would we do this? Do we use some sort of retaining wall blocks or
some kind of edging? Would it be easier for us to bring in some soil to
bring the lawn up to the height of the patio? Is 1/2 inch grade too
much or is it not much different than a 1/4 inch grade?

Thanks,

--
Jerry

1/2 inch is a bit too much if you are using sand as a filler in between
your payers but not if you use stonedust and landscape paver edging.
rain erosion would be more prevalent with a steeper slope of course. so
to preserve your hard work, it is probably worth the effort to to use a
6 inch base of crushed stone at 1/4 in slope followed by 1-2 in of
stone dust and a finishing sweep of stone dust after the pavers are
laid. the 6 in base will also help assure you don't get frost heaves
that will loosen the pavers.

Thanks for the reply!

If I do 1/4 inch grade, the end of my patio will be about 4 inches
higher than the lawn. What should I do about the sides of the patio to
keep everything in place?

--
Jerry

Plastic snap edging is the way to go. just drive in 8 in landscape
spikes to secure these retainers then backfill with topsoil or gravel
right over them. the grass will also root straight thru the openings.
http://www.snapedgeusa.com/ You can also use plastic brick stop
edging like this:
http://www.brickstopcorporation.com/...ic_edging.html

1/2 inch per foot is way too much slope for a patio regardless of what
you use to install it and it's going to have an obvious slope. If you
try to put a 5 ft table on it, one end is going to be 2 1/2 inchs lower
than the other and it's going to be obvious something is very wrong.
A slope of 1/8 to 1/4" per foot is typical. If you go with 3/16, that
cuts your delta at the far end down to 3 inchs. Then I would either
use a 3 ft wide planting bed for shrubs, flowers, etc for the
transition, or else change the grade of the existing grass over the
next 5 ft of so by renting a sod cutter and adding topsoil. If you
go with the planting bed idea, you can use a couple large stepping
stones in the bed spots you want to use as walkways.