The Brew Cabin

Posted: **Wed May 04, 2016 7:25 pm**

I have just come home to my new patio and I'm not particularly happy - one side of it is bordered by sleepers which are old and not straight as they have bowed- and at some point in the future we would probably wish to replace with either new sleepers or a wall.

The builder has used the sleepers as a guide for the left hand side of the patio and a path between the house and the sleepers and I therefore have a very wobbly row of soldier course and single stretcher detail - the path goes from 6 bricks wide at one end to 7 bricks wide at the other with a "step" in the middle, and on the main patio has a "curve" to run with the sleepers.

Now, I see why he's done it - but i wouldn't have used a temporary structure as a guide. He's coming back to discuss and we can change it somehow to make it more aesthetically pleasing - but I'd like ideas from others if poss about how best to do this?

I've thought about either not having a soldier course, or cutting the soldier course so that it is uneven but not the path, or using a single stretcher at the sleeper edge as that might make it less obvious, or having a soldier course and using either chippings or another row of the path coloured brick if there was a large gap between the soldier course and the sleepers.

Basically, we have to have a "wobble" somewhere but I think it would be better if it were at the sleeper edge rather than in the middle of the soldier courses but the builder says they always cut within the lines and not the soldiers?

Any suggestions more than welcome. Photos in the link
Patio1 Patio2
Patio3 PAtio4

Posted: **Wed May 04, 2016 9:41 pm**

Looks a decent job but I understand your gripe.
Keep a soldier course and make up the difference between the sleepers and path with a gravel infill. Cutting the soldiers will look crap.

Could be that in the past he's done it that way and the customer has come home and requested it was laid the way he has done yours.
It's hard to second guess the customers preference but personally I would of asked "we can do it this way or that way".

Posted: **Wed May 04, 2016 10:46 pm**

It's one of them odd situations where either way can be wrong if he had done it the other way and ran a straight line and filled the gaps with concrete/gravel others might complain wy didn't they do it the other way

Posted: **Fri May 06, 2016 7:57 pm**

You lay it straight, they come out and want every possible mm of paving up to the edge.
You lay to the edge and they wonder why it's not straight.

From a contractors pov it's impossible. Always best to get them out and ask what they actually want.

For me though, I'd always rather it's straight, leave a gap and put something like slate in it which loses the wonky bit iykwim.

The Brew Cabin

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