Spot bedding

[pnefcpaul]

I am looking for some independent advice on the issue of spot bedding.

I have had a large patio of sandstone flags laid 6-9 months ago. They are all showing signs of spot being i.e. a common stain pattern similar to examples on this site. I am wondering what my course of action is:

1) Should I seek independent advice re the quality of the workmanship and look to seek recourse from the landscape gardener who laid the flags? If so how do I go about this?
2) Are the flags recoverable? The landscape gardener implies that power washing will resolve the issue and then apply a sealant, but I suspect the flags are stained through. I have not tried a power washer, but is this likely to have an impact.

[DNgroundworks]

Power washing the flags will not work at all, as you suspect the stains are right the way through the paving. The only way to fix would be to lift and re-lay/replace.

[dig dug dan]

i suspect that if this guy has used spot bedding, then he does not know how to lay the flags, and has not used sbr either, in which case, the flags will lift very easily and can be re-used

[lutonlagerlout]

its wrong and cannot last the test of time
dngroundworks is in your area perhaps he can fix it??
cheers LLL

[pnefcpaul]

Thanks guys. I had another landscape gardener doing some other work and he pointed out that the staining was due to spot bedding. He explained how it should be done properly and mentioned using sbr so I have every confidence in him. The issue I have is the flagging job cost me about £8k and I suspect I'm going to have to go legal to get my money back to relay new flags. In order to to do this I will need an independent 'expert' to verify that the job was not of a reasonable standard - any suggestions how to find a local expert or how to go about this?

[lutonlagerlout]

tony mc the boss here is qualified to give that sort of advice

however you may not get any money back even if you go down the legal route

LLL

[GB_Groundworks]

i think you have to offer him the chance to put it right first which is silly as he obviously doesn't know what he's doing

sis he say I've been doing it this way for x number of years or tommy walsh on the telly lays them like that!!!!

[DNgroundworks]

I actually re-did a job like this last year in warrington, not only had they spot bedded, they had spotted bedded straight onto topsoil! If the pointing hadnt of gone which was what the job originally was, replacing the pointing, you would never have known, the levels and overall appearance was bang on.....the mind boggles

[r896neo]

I also re-did one laid by 'builders' this summer. took a few snaps as it was pretty awful.

They had also managed to lay a gulley and length of pipe 15 feet long to connect into the existing system. It had a fall of 1:50 back to the gulley ???

The brown stuff is the sand they poured into the joints to fill them up before putting in 20mm of rompox easy.

[dig dug dan]

look on the bright side. not much mortar to chuck in the skip!