I am about to have a go at laying an area of paving in my back garden which will be used for barbies e.t.c but I've never tried my hand at paving before and would appreciated some advice.
I have laid a brick border to prevent leeching/bleeding but i'm not sure what depth of soil to excavate and what type of bedding I should use. I've read various books but they all suggest different methods - the simplest of which seems to be to excavate down three inches and then just bed the slabs on sharp sand. However, I watched a gardening program last week in which the landscaper bedded slabs on what he referred to as 'dry mix' - which I'm assuming is some kind of sand and cement mix - but he didn't mention what ratio of sand to cement was used.
Need less to say, I'm a bit confused and would be grateful if anyone could point me in the right direction.
Would also like to congratulate Tony on a well run and informative site.
First crack at laying paving.
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84-1093879891
All the info you need is on the main website. Start on the Laying Flags page and then work your way through the subsequent pages.
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73-1093879373
From what I've learnt from Tony and his website, you don't need a wacker plate for a light use patio - simply trodding down the bedding material with your feet is good enough. Then loosen the top 15-25mm to allow the flag to be bedded down.
For heavy use or vehicular access, a well laid subbase and firm compaction method is needed.
I'm currently doing a light use patio but because of a soft subbase, I'm putting in the effort to lay a good granular sub base, including using a whacker to compress it. Maybe a bit over the top, but I'm planning on living in the house for a long long time, so I'd rather get the foundations right.
As I said above though, for the bedding layer I'll be using the good old trample with my boots method.
(Edited by InfAddict at 11:43 am on June 4, 2004)
For heavy use or vehicular access, a well laid subbase and firm compaction method is needed.
I'm currently doing a light use patio but because of a soft subbase, I'm putting in the effort to lay a good granular sub base, including using a whacker to compress it. Maybe a bit over the top, but I'm planning on living in the house for a long long time, so I'd rather get the foundations right.
As I said above though, for the bedding layer I'll be using the good old trample with my boots method.
(Edited by InfAddict at 11:43 am on June 4, 2004)
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84-1093879891