Old front patio bedding - To stay or to go

[Neobot]

Hello again,

I'm looking to put down some (limestone) slabs on my front patio, and was wondering if I should :

1. leave as is and compact mot1 on top
2. smash up the bedding and then compact mot1 on top
3. remove all the bedding material, back to previous sub base, then compact mot1 on top

I've just taken up the concrete slabs and most of the bedding later is quite hard (looks like a 4:1 wet mix when laid?) and there's a well compacted 75mm sub-base underneath it, and solid Bristol clay under that.
There's scope to go up in height if I leave it as is.

Front patio is 8.6m2 and for bins and bikes only.


Photo taken on wet day.

[Tony McC]

Have you read the page about maintaining clearance from DPC levels?

https://www.pavingexpert.com/faq_layover01

If you can lay the new *and* remain 150mm below DPC, then all should be OK as that old bedding seems fine, but don;t risk compromising the DPC for such a relatively small area.