The Brew Cabin

Hi! I'm a Design Craft student at Staffordshire University currently undertaking a project to design something for our campus. I am proposing to re-pave an area outside the students union and cast some of my own hand-made cast glass flagstones in between concrete ones. I was wondering if I could have some advice as to how to drain cast glass slabs and also if I could have some idea of the cost for labour and materials to flag an area 14X3.5 metres in concrete slabs? I would very much apreciate some help!

Melissa Hansom

(Edited by archive at 4:12 pm on Mar. 1, 2002)

I'm not sure about what you mean by a "cast glass slab" and how it would be drained. Can you explain a bit more?

14 x 3.5 = 49m2, so, assuming you're using plain concrete BS flags, rather than decorative patio flags, that would cost around 1750-2000 quids all in.

Thanks for the reply. I'm planning on making several pieces of solid glass in the shape of a square or a rectangle-probably about 3inches deep which have imprints of certain types of the body in them, like a foot or hand. As you can tell if it rains there will be a problem with water collecting in the imprints. Ones of the things I was thinking of was maybe putting some holes through the glass so any excess water would drain through into the earth underneath, but I'm a novice and don't really know what I'm talking about!

If you drain via the glass blocks, then the bedding layer *must* be very free draining. I would consider using a drainage composite bentween the bedding and the sub-base/sub-grade to avoid any risk of waterlogging.

If you let me see your design before implementation, I'll advise on any potential pitfalls.