Bamboo infestation & redooing slate patio

[kiteboy]

Hi all

Excellent site with amazing info btw

My problem is as in the title really - we laid a fairly large slate patio at the end of garden probably about 5 years ago now

it was laid on a full bed of sand/cement mix to in some places over 2 inches

There was bamboo in the corner of neighbouring property and while I knew at the time it may cause a problem the thickness of the bed we thought would stop it....theres no way it was getting through

We also put a REALLY thick wooden plank on the fence line and bedded that in a bit - not enough it seems

The rhizomes of the bamboo went under around and in

We noticed a large piece of slate was rising so we had to remove and under the concrete bed there were the rhizomes of the bamboo practically everywhere and in all directions

It hadnt broke through the concrete but was trying to find a weak point

HORRIBLE stuff - we have now removed about a third of the patio - the area removed is about 4 x 3m maybe and found all of the rhizomes and removed back to the main source of the problem .....amazed that more slate hadnt been raised

Eventually I would have thought it would have found a way out somewhere so glad its out now

Anyway had the neighbour around and he agreed thankfully to remove the bamboo as he could see it going mad- we are in that process now and getting a mini digger in to get the main root up sometime next week

My neighbour has also noticed the bamboo growing and spreading on his land....... we will probably have to remove the topsoil for possibly a third of his garden too - the rhizomes are going all over the place

Sorry for the long backstory just wondering as my neighbour mentioned using stone dust mixed with cement to lay slate patio back down ??

Any opinions or thoughts on this - I was planning to just use the sand/cement bed to match what we have left for the rest of the patio

i think my preference would be to match what weve got just in case

Oh and even though we are now removing the source of the bamboo Im also putting root barrier fabric down to stop anything (hopefully coming back) and also not relaying the patio for a while too

Thanks for any advice and sorry again for the huge post!!!!

[lutonlagerlout]

you are correct
grit sand and cement to relay the slabs
never realised bamboo did that,what soild have you got?
cheers LLL

[Mikey_C]

There is no mention of a subase here. Did the mortar go straight on to the soil? Where you have dug out you will need to replace with compacted layers of type 1.

[kiteboy]

Thanks guys

We put a good layer of type 1....thats the chippings and mix of stone if I remember right...we then compacted that with a whacker plate we hired then laid a plastic membrane and on top of that laid the slate with sand and cement mix of various thicknesses but in the area concerned at least two inches

The bamboo never came up through the concrete/slate but was just travelling along the plastic membrane or just under it doing enough to move things up top

I've learnt a lot about bamboo these past few weeks

[lutonlagerlout]

the plastic membrane is a mistake you should have used a non woven geo fabric underneath the type 1
but overall sound like a plan
LLL

[meany]

I think you have Japanese Knotweed that mimics the characteristics of Bamboo.
A bastard of a plant to eradicate.

[Noony]

bamboo can be a nitemare.... it gets everywhere, cant stand the stuff!!

[kiteboy]

Yeh its very invasive - defo not JK but spreads horribly but luckily not very deep