The Brew Cabin

Posted: **Tue Mar 03, 2009 11:12 am**

Well my preparation is well underway: levels set out and pavers delivered and stacked.

The first 3 photos show the work I'm doing: paving the lower steps in photo 1. Then a path that goes along the house and wraps round the steps in photo 2 and out to the back garden in photo 3. Also adding the same pavers to the steps in photo 2 up to the front door.

Photo 4 shows the result of 4 hours work carrying the pavers into the garage from the nature strip!

Now my question: what is the smallest gap I can use when paving the steps if I'm using a standard mortar?
The steps will be butting up against the path which will be filled with roadbase and sand and the pavers will be 4mm apart on this section. Iâ€™d like to use the same spacing for the steps but especially with the bullnose pavers I canâ€™t see that the mortar is going to stay in place. Do I have to go with a 10mm gap and just accept that the steps wonâ€™t line up with the other pavers?

Posted: **Tue Mar 03, 2009 5:51 pm**

the ideal mortar joint is 10mm but you can make them smaller ,the main thing is to ensure that you have a full joint

4 mm is tight but do-able,
LLL

Posted: **Fri Mar 06, 2009 2:46 pm**

Would it be possible to eliminate the jointing mortar completely and just rely on a bed mortar to hold the step blocks in place? If you used a high-strength, high-bond mortar using SBR or similar, that might be adequate.

Posted: **Fri Mar 06, 2009 7:44 pm**

Hmmm. Do you mean eliminate the gap between the step pavers completely? (This would again mean that they wouldn't ine up exactly with the block paving of the path which will have a 4mm gap) or do you mean keep the same 4mm gap but use something other than standard mortar to fill the gap? I was thinking of this but wasn't sure what to use to fill the gap:
(a) gap sand won't work because of the slight tread overhang I'll use
(b) is there another type of mortar that is suitable?

Posted: **Sat Mar 07, 2009 11:10 am**

You could use a SBR mortar in a 4mm gap, provided you were using a fine sand. Whereas standard mortar would simply crack and fall apart at that thickness (thin-ness??) the SBR will keep it together and ensure it sticks to the edges of the pavers.

The Brew Cabin

Paving steps