I have decided to go it alone

[shadow12345]

So after recieving 4 more qoutes for my patio project I have decided to go it alone.

A bit of background:
area to be covered: 7.6 x 4.1 mts
Using: Flags
Ground: level.... ish

I am have tiled areas this large in my house a couple of times and I figure the slab laying must be similar.

My plan:
1. break up my old path and exisiting slabs to provide the hardcore.
2. dig to a depth of about 30 cm and remove all soil (might use some to fill the path hole up)
3. add hardcore
4. add sand to raise level to (whatever depth of slabs - 2cm for concreate)
5. wacker plate it.
6. cement the slabs in place (not blobs)
7. Brush dry cement into gaps

I have 3 questions
1. Do i really need to cement under all the slabs?
2. how much sand would I need to cover that kind of area? (im thinking about 2t)
3. Anything else wrong with my plan?

[lutonlagerlout]

HAVE YOU READ ANY OF THE MAIN WEBSITE?

LLL

[shadow12345]

no need to shout....

I read the how to guide piece, and the part about not blobbing the cement underneath.

Did I miss something about asking these kind of questions? If so I am sorry and I retract my question.

[mickg]

Answers
1. Do i really need to cement under all the slabs?
no you could bed the flags on sand but within a short period in time they will start to move
you could bed them on spots, 1 to each corner and 1 in the middle and like wise they could start to rock so really the only option left is the right way on a full bed of concrete

2. how much sand would I need to cover that kind of area? (im thinking about 2t)
this will depend on the depth of bedding but to get you started you will need 2 ton

3. Anything else wrong with my plan?
unless the existing ground is very soft you would only need to dig 200mm for a patio and not 300mm but this does depend on ground conditions

you don't brush dry cement in the joints they need to be pointed using either a sand and cement mixture or the resin type jointing compounds what are available

[shadow12345]

excellent, so point them like I would brick work, 200mm (its pretty firm) and full bed ... fair enough


thanks for the help guys.

[lutonlagerlout]

sorry shadow but when you mentioned brushing cement in the joints,it looked like you had decided to disregard all of the carefully put together information on the main site
are you a bricklayer by any chance?
LLL

[irishpaving]

Bricklayer... Even thats a scary thought... Put some pics up shadow... Lets see the ground your working

[Suggers]

TBH, to begin with, thought it wos WOP havin' a bit of a larf....