Indian stone driveway - Cement bed

[jbkirky]

Hi all, looking to lay 100m2 of indian stone (uncallibrated) for my driveway and wondered what the best bedding would be. Have already dug out and got down 150mm of hardcore on a good base. I laid a patio last year on 5 parts sharp/grit sand and 1 part cement but found it hard to lay as I was limited to being able to tap it down to level and felt the slabs did not stick to the mix. I fancy laying on cement (full bed approx 30mm) as I think it will be easier to lay. Im concerned as its a drive and we have 3 cars on it. Was thinking of 3 parts sand, 1 part grit and 1 cement with no air gaps (full bed). Does that sound OK as ordering sand in next few days.

[lutonlagerlout]

6:1 concrete made with at least 10mm aggregate
this needs to be 100mm thick if you are driving cars on it
LLL

[GB_Groundworks]

Ok so controversial, I've always avoided Indian stone driveways because of Tonys recommendation. I've priced them etc and never got one as they always go with an mot subbase quote.

I see lots of lads doing them on not with 40-50mm bedding

Now I don't want the hassle of going back or reputation damage, but there are lots of ppl laying these on mot, and not rouges either.

Has anyone on here laid them on a mot subbase

[cookiewales]

i have laid them on mot base and 50mm to 75mm 4to1 sharp sand cement with no problems

[jbkirky]

i have laid them on mot base and 50mm to 75mm 4to1 sharp sand cement with no problems

Sorry to sound totally inexperienced but what does mot stand for !

[GB_Groundworks]

Ministry of transport

But in the trade it's a generic term used to describe dot(department of transport) 803 graded aggregate 40mm down to fines

Basically subbase for roads that is also used for drives patios etc

[lutonlagerlout]

the big problem with indian stone drive is the quality of the stone
if you use the harder ones on a solid base it can last
I have done a couple in modak rose but this was uncalibrated times and it was close to 50mm thick not the 22mm which a lot sell today
better to use the indian drive way setts as smaller modules are less liable to break
LLL

[local patios and driveway]

I have seen plenty of sandstone driveways fail. I wouldnt have it at my gaff. Period

[cookiewales]

I have seen plenty of sandstone driveways fail. I wouldnt have it at my gaff. Period

ps only use the hard stone you dont get much toughter than modak have had eight wheeler place back wheels and tip you dont get much more presure than that

[GB_Groundworks]

Still can't beat setts, we run our 16 ton machine, 8 wheelers, tractor trailer combo over ours a lot hehe

advert for cookie lol

[Carberry]

Not done a driveway out of sandstone slabs before but I did a patio 2 years ago and recently found out that the new owners of the house have been using it to park their 4 wheel drive on for a year. Only 1 slab broke. That was 3-4" of type 1, 30-40mm bed of 5:1. Not a particularly hard stone, think it was autumn brown or fossil mint. Pointed with easipoint.

[Tony McC]

If the thicker 50-65mm flagstones are used, and as long as it's not one of the really crap Indian sandstones like Teak or Fossil Bloody Mint, then there's nothing to stop them being used for a residential driveway. However, they really do need to be laid on 50-100mm of 4:1 sharp mortar over a firm sub-base or a C20 concrete if the sub-base is a bit iffy.

I'd also recommend using a bond bridge. One notorious job where flagstones where laid to a circular driveway is under almost permanent repair because flags keeps coming loose due to enormous shearing forces as cars spin around.

[jbkirky]

If the thicker 50-65mm flagstones are used, and as long as it's not one of the really crap Indian sandstones like Teak or Fossil Bloody Mint, then there's nothing to stop them being used for a residential driveway. However, they really do need to be laid on 50-100mm of 4:1 sharp mortar over a firm sub-base or a C20 concrete if the sub-base is a bit iffy.

I'd also recommend using a bond bridge. One notorious job where flagstones where laid to a circular driveway is under almost permanent repair because flags keeps coming loose due to enormous shearing forces as cars spin around.

Thanks for that, sub base is OK and has had cars running on it for 2 months. I found using sharp sand (is that same as grit sand) difficult to lay and hard to tap down the slabs to level, maybe because I mixed it too firm. would adding 1 or 2 parts building sand help or just mix it with more water and more plastisizer. What bond bridge would you recommend, is PVA on back of slabs OK as previously mentioned.

[lutonlagerlout]

sbr for outdoors
cavaet emptor
LLL

[Tony McC]

If your bedding is proving hard to settle, add more water to bump it up to a wet mix rather than a moist mix. Building sand will achive nothing other than weakening the mix. Grit sand and sharp sand are more or less the same thing.

Bond bridges - read here