The Brew Cabin

Hi

Congratulations on an impressive and extremely informative site.

I'm planning a patio for my back garden, approx 4m x 6m. I'll be using rivened, concrete slabs of mixed sizes, and after reading your site I'm intending to lay them on a bed of 10:1 grit sand/cement bedding layer. What I'm not sure about is what to do about edging.

One side will be against a lawn, the other by a fence, with a narrow border for climbing plants. I'm considering using rope-toped concrete edging, bedded in concrete. Would this be a good solution, or can you suggest something better?

personally i would never use a rope top as i dont like them , but unless you really need a edging, why use one, it sounds to me as if you are using an edging because you think you have to and you dont, unless you are leaving an exposed edge which it sounds like you are not with a but jointed lawn and a but jointed border.

My wife is keen on them :-)

However, this is what I wasn't sure about - I'd prefer not to use them. So if its butted up to the lawn, do I need any sort of edging, or can I just lay the bed and then start the lawn at the edge of the slabs?

if i was you i would just lay the lawn up to the edge of the flags as you would need a bed to lay the edgings on anyway.and personally i think this looks better..Alan

It's true that you don't need and edging kerb - for flagged patios they are purely decorative, but it is a good idea to ensure those flags laid to "free edges" are firmly anchored in place to prevent them wandering off into the lawn.

Have a read of the Laying to Free Edges page for a few tips on how this can be achieved, but, if your missus is owt like mine, it's a lot easier to let them have their way and bob in a few of the naff rope tops and let them think they've won! :)