Ballast as bedding for sandstone - Ballast aggregate size

Patio flagstones (slabs), concrete flags, stone flags including yorkstone and imported flagstones.
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JGreen
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Joined: Thu Feb 15, 2007 10:08 pm
Location: Henley

Post: # 16606Post JGreen

Hi,

Having reduced level to a heavy gravel soil base for my 10m2 patio project I need a bedding layer of roughly 50-60mm. I note from your website that it is possible to use ballast/cement 10:1 rather than a course grit sand mix for bedding indian sandstone.

Having spoken with Wickes, the ballast they stock can contain aggregate upto 25mm in size.

Is this ok to use as a bedding layer or should I try and get a finer ballast? I would like to use ballast if possible because it is cheaper and only one bulk bag to deal with.

Your help is appreciated as I would like to crack on this weekend.

Cheers

JIm.

Tony McC
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Post: # 16607Post Tony McC

You should be ok.

The generally accepted rule-of-thumb is that the aggregate must be no more than half the depth of the layer in which it is used.

This is explained more fully here
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JGreen
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Joined: Thu Feb 15, 2007 10:08 pm
Location: Henley

Post: # 16609Post JGreen

Perfect, thanks Tony.

lutonlagerlout
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Post: # 16612Post lutonlagerlout

i dont wish to pee on your bonfire ,but i would never use ballast as the bedding layer when it is only 50-60mm thick
surely grit/flooring/screeding/river wash/hartican sand will do this job better mixed 10:1
with ballast i always aim for 100mm minimun,i think tony is referring to the subbase===> i could be wrong??
regards LLL ???
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Tony McC
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Post: # 16624Post Tony McC

No, you can use the sandy "All-in Ballast" as a laying course, but I do actually prefer a grit sand. The problem is that, particularly in the aggregate poor sarf-eest of Engerlund, good quality sand is hard to come by and many of the big DIY sheds only supply an all-in ballast.

I'm not a fan of it being used unbound (ie: no cement) but it's not too bad when beefed up with 10-20% cement and used for patios.
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lutonlagerlout
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Post: # 16635Post lutonlagerlout

when we were allowed to do crossovers,we had to use leanmix with a 20mm aggregate,unless we had 100mm bedding course you could almost guarentee there would be a rogue stone 20mm thick but 50 long that would cause rockers
i have got 20 mm shingle on my drive ,yet i think this is just what passes though a 20mm shaker/sieve,some bits are 40mm by 20mm and some go down the 10 mm grate on the linear drain
i agree on the poor quality aggregate down here, though
cheers LLL :)
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