The Brew Cabin

Evening Tony, I am currently preparing to lay a paved path for foot traffic only, and have found your site a great help, but there are a few things I wish to check. I am hoping to joint the slabs with kiln dried sand having first laid them on a screeded sharp sand bed, my question is which type of slab is the best to use, I assume it to be one with a straight edge, I need to use a 450 x 450 unit, and should I butt them tight up or leave a small gap? I have reduced the levels and I am about to start laying the sharp sand bed, I have used a manual tamper to consolidate the sub-soil, is this sufficient to use for the sand bed? Any advice would be much appreciated. One point to note is that the path is retained on all sides by walling and a lawn.

If you're using a pressed 450 square flag, then butt-jointing is fine. It's only the riven flags, which have uneven edges, that can't be butt-jointed.

The type of flag you use is up to you. There are plain flags, textured flags, polished flags and coloured flags, all in a 450x450 format with straight edges. Have a look what's available in your local BM

The 'manual tamper' intrigues me - what is it? The head of a sledge hammer? The sand bed should be fine, but what are you going to use to consolidate the flags? You really need a mall to get full consolidation of a non-bound bedding material. The little rubber clonkers are OK for cement-bound bedding, but unbound stuff needs summat with a bit more welly.

Cheers Tony, I was concerned about the sand bed and dry jointing, all of my friends in the trade were advocating mortar joints and the 5 "blob" method of laying that you hate so much! As for my tamper, it is the next step up from the "sledge", it is a 250x250 steel plate welded to a long steel rod, it is is fairly physical to use but seems to do the job. As for consolidating the slabs I had borrowed a rubber clonker as you put it. But I should be using something more hefty, you think?

Definitely - you can hire a maul from some of the Hire Shops, or you could use a cement-bound bed (10:1) and rely on the little rubber clonker.

So are you saying that by using a dry mix of 10:1, and screeding in the same manner, my little rubber clonker may do the job?

Yep! - A semi-dry mix - just enough moisture to bind together the sands and cement, and initiate hydration, without risking any staining of the flags.