Hello all. I've got an existing garden shed on a base of 450x450mm paving slabs. We're taking it down and putting up a bigger one, so I need to lay another row of slabs. It's my first experience in the wonderful world of paving etc. I've got all sorts of conflicting advice from the web, so my questions are:
1. I'm going to use sharp sand as a bedding, about 40-50mm deep. Some people tell me this is OK, others say it should be a dry mix of about 6:1 with cement. The problem is that I'm only laying one row, and figure I only need about 2 x 25kg bags of sand, and so would only need 10kg of cement, and I haven't seen it in bags less than 25kg. Is the cement really necessary?
2. If I do use cement/sand dry mix, should I mist it with a garden hose before laying the slabs? What about if I just use sand - should it be damp or is it OK to use it dry?
3. The existing slabs don't have any mortar between them, and I wasn't planning to put any in for the new row. But the land starts to slope away where the new row will go, and will need to be built up. Is it OK to level it out with soil, then the sand, or should I really be putting in some sort of edging and/or putting in some mortar between the existing slabs and the new row? It's just a base for a shed, so I want to keep it simple.
4. What's the best, cheapest and quickest (might be mutually exclusive, I know!) way to tamp down the soil, and then the sand/drymix bedding? Is just walking up and down on it ok?
Thanks heaps.
Slabs for a shed - newbie questions
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bobhughes
- Posts: 276
- Joined: Sun Nov 07, 2004 11:09 am
- Location: Redditch, Worcestershire
I can hear the sharp intake of breath from the professionals from here.
I did the same thing for a relative 10 years ago – just had to lay half a dozen slabs alongside the existing ones that had been there since the fifties.
All we did was to dig off the top soil, tip in a couple of bags of gravel he had lying around and tamp it down with a big lump of iron. The slabs were laid on a wet mix (5:1 probably) and the shed just sat on top. It’s still there last time I looked.
I should say though that the underlying clay is very hard – Gardeners round here use a pick axe to dig the borders.
I did the same thing for a relative 10 years ago – just had to lay half a dozen slabs alongside the existing ones that had been there since the fifties.
All we did was to dig off the top soil, tip in a couple of bags of gravel he had lying around and tamp it down with a big lump of iron. The slabs were laid on a wet mix (5:1 probably) and the shed just sat on top. It’s still there last time I looked.
I should say though that the underlying clay is very hard – Gardeners round here use a pick axe to dig the borders.
You're entitled to the work, not the reward.
Bob
Bob
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lutonlagerlout
- Site Admin
- Posts: 15184
- Joined: Fri Aug 04, 2006 12:20 am
- Location: bedfordshire
like bob says its a shed base if that row sinks an inch its not Armageddon
the reason you need some cement in the mix is those little fellas called ants
they will mine through the sand and eventually undermine the slabs
try and remove any loose or soft soil and leave the subsoil exposed.
there is a proper ,professional way to do shed bases but it costs dollar and i am guessing you want to do it on a budget
bon chance!
LLL
the reason you need some cement in the mix is those little fellas called ants
they will mine through the sand and eventually undermine the slabs
try and remove any loose or soft soil and leave the subsoil exposed.
there is a proper ,professional way to do shed bases but it costs dollar and i am guessing you want to do it on a budget
bon chance!
LLL