The Brew Cabin

Hi there

I have just purchased 13 sq m of limestone flags called Roche Marron in a "Job Lot". These were not what we had set out to buy, but both my wife and I liked them and what we wanted was already sold!
They are of various sizes, mostly 400*200, 200*200 and 100*100. The sample I have is 22mm thick and seems to have very straight/square edges.
I asked the saleman how to lay them and it was suggested to lay on a 3:1 mix of sharp sand:cement. Also because they have a very smooth underside, it would be a good idea to mix up a cement slurry to paste onto the slabs before laying.
Now having read through your laying instructions, this seems a v. strong mixture, so I was wondering what your thoughts might be. I am also somewhat apprehensive of grouting this lot - I remember to this day tiling a bathroom with mosaics and vowed never to do it again.

Incredible site, wished it had been around 12 years ago when I layed my first patio which was not a great success.

Thanks in advance

Andy

3:1 mix is a bit OTT - a 6:1 mix is more than adequate for this type of paving.

Make sure you use a full bed so that the flags/tiles are evenly supported, and forget that nonsense about pasting the base with a cement slurry. It's not essential that the flags/tiles bond to the bedding, but, if you make a wettish bedding mix and use a plasticiser, that will give a reasonable bond and save a lot of unnecessary messing about.

Grouting is always a problem. I prefer to butter and point as I lay, but I know many folk are mortarphobic and panic about staining the flags/tiles. All I can suggest is that, if you use a wet mortar buttered joint, pushing adjacent flags/tiles into position, and then brush in a dry mix of sand and cement at 4:1, then the dry mix will draw up sufficient moisture to initiate hydration of the cement (technical gobbledegook for 'going hard') with minimal risk of staining. You should tool the joints once they've tuned damp, as then ensures the joints are properly full and you get a harder finish to the jointing material. Tooling involves striking or rubbing the unset (what is known as 'plastic') jointing material with the edge of a trowel or a pointing bar.

I'd be interested to hear where you bought these flags/tiles. Limestone paving is a bit of a rarity in the UK these days.

Tony

Thanks for the advice, thats what I'll try.

We bought the paving from Artisans Of Devizes. They have a May Bank Holiday sale every year. We had gone searching for slate, but what they had left looked a little damaged, so we ended up buying these. They look fantastic (at the moment) but their relatively small size worried me somewhat as I alluded to in the first post.

One other thing that was mentioned was that I should use a special limestone grout. Is this necessary and also what colour would you suggest?

The patio is a slightly sunken area and will be surrounded by a low brick wall on 3 sides. I'm unsure whether to lay to a regular repeating pattern or just put them down as they come though I can the random approach might end in disaster. I had thought that I might use limestone chippings to plug any gaps around the sides.

Any suggestions or is this just personal preference?

Thanks again

Andy

Bloody hell! I was in Devizes on BH Monday! I was travelling down to Salisbury and we'd done a bit of a detour which brought us in via Devizes - if I'd known there was a paving sale on....wouldn't Mrs Taz have been chuffed! ;)

There's no need for a 'special limestone grout' although you might prefer to use a lime-based mortar for the pointing. As for a pattern; I think it depends on the quantities of each size that you have, Coursed work is, by far, the easiest, but I still think limestone paving looks best when laid to either regular geometric patterns or to a truly random layout.