I would like some feedback and tips from the experts before I start my first patio project below.
I have been reading the site for a few weeks now, have identified the right supplier and i think i'm ready to go.
THANKS!
Project:
35sqm patio area / no cars or heavy traffic
22mm calibrated sandstone (Raj Green or Modak Brown ...not sure yet)
sub-grade is well compacted mostly clay(ish) ground
1. excavate to the required depth
2. add a compacted sub-base of 75mm Type1 (approx. 5 tons needed)
3. for the bedding i'm going for a 10:1 mix ratio of sharp sand and cement (approx. 3 tons of sand and 11 bags cement).
I will aim for a moist mix (S2) slump.
4. for pointing i was planning to use the gun injected solution. What is the recommended mix ratio? and should i do this the next day or as i go along with the flags?
5. I will take into account a slight fall for drainage.
Remember, although handy with generic DIY, this is my first patio!
75mm really is the absolute minimum for a sub-base.
Can't comment on the gun nonsense as the proprietary brands each have their own recommendation and the site-mixed-own-recipe stuff is...welll...not very good. However, pointing is normally left until all the paving is laid then it can be done in one long back-breaking, wrist-aching stint.
Tony McC wrote:However, pointing is normally left until all the paving is laid
Hi Tony, i'm sure i've read somewhere on the site that pointing is recommended carried out before the bedding sets so that the mortar used for pointing "gels" with the mortar below... or have i misread this!?!
Yes, ideal if you are a competent contractor who can be certain of covering sufficient ground and getting the jopint balancing done with time to spare, but most DIYers are better off focussing on one task at a time.
If you use string lines set up to the correct falls, with one end touching the grass, and lay to that, you should be spot on. You could lay aline of blocks, nut if you are paving up to it, you must be spot on with your measurement, or you will find youself cutting lots of slabs.
Dan the Crusher Man
01442 212315 www.crusherhire.co.uk
"a satisfied customer? we should have them stuffed!"
Hi Dan, the drop runs from one end of the garden opposite the house and drops down slightly towards the house where i then have Aco drainage channels all along.i have grass on one side and fences to the opposite side (with concrete gravelboards/posts).
The patio will cover the whole area touching the house to one end, grass to one side and fences at the back and other side.
My plan was to start from the corner near the house flush to the grass and Aco channels and work my way up towards the end of the garden (fences) and other side (fences). So all my slab cutting will be against a gravelboard and not the grass.
The dilemma is, shall i start straight with the flags pattern flush to the grass or add a line of blocks in between grass and patio?
A picture would probably help... I'll try upload one later.
You don't need an edge course full stop. The flags will form their own edge and it's not uncommon for flags to be laid adjacent to lawn or planter beds.
The sett edge looks neat and adds class, but it's not actually doing owt that the flags on their own wouldn't do.
Don't use concrete blocks or edgings, though. Concrete products are always embarassed when used in conjunction with natural stone. Their artificiality (is that a word?) is exaggerated by the naturalness of the stone.
Tony McC wrote:You don't need an edge course full stop. The flags will form their own edge and it's not uncommon for flags to be laid adjacent to lawn or planter beds.
The sett edge looks neat and adds class, but it's not actually doing owt that the flags on their own wouldn't do.
Don't use concrete blocks or edgings, though. Concrete products are always embarassed when used in conjunction with natural stone. Their artificiality (is that a word?) is exaggerated by the naturalness of the stone.
Artificiality
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Artificiality (also called factitiousness) is the state of being the product of intentional human manufacture, rather than occurring naturally. Artificiality often carries with it the implication of being false, counterfeit, or deceptive. The philosopher Aristotle wrote in his Rhetoric:
Naturalness is persuasive, artificiality is the contrary; for our hearers are prejudiced and think we have some design against them, as if we were mixing their wines for them. It is like the difference between the quality of Theodorus' voice and the voices of all other actors: his really seems to be that of the character who is speaking, theirs do not.[1]
However, artificiality does not necessarily have a negative connotation, as it may also reflect the ability of humans to replicate forms or functions arising in nature, as with an artificial heart or artificial intelligence. Political scientist and artificial intelligence expert Herbert A. Simon observes that "some artificial things are imitations of things in nature, and the imitation may use either the same basic materials as those in the natural object or quite different materials.[2] Simon distinguishes between the artificial and the synthetic, the former being an imitation of something found in nature (for example, an artificial sweetener which generates sweetness using a formula not found in nature), and the latter being a replication of something found in nature (for example, a sugar created in a laboratory that is chemically indistinguishable from a naturally occurring sugar).[2]
