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Posted: Tue Sep 20, 2005 7:41 am
by caff
Hi
Just started laying 450 *450 flags on a bedding with a 10:1 mix.
How long before it sets? It still looked alittle crumbly this morning.
Also when is it safe to walk on?
Thanks in advance!.........Caff
Posted: Tue Sep 20, 2005 5:41 pm
by Nigel Walker
I lay my flags on a 7-1 dry mix.
I tell the client to keep off the flags for 2 days.
In emergencies, i tell them to walk on the centres to avoid rocking the flags.
I find that after 24 hrs the flags are ok to walk on, but err on the side of caution with the client.
Quite often this advice is ignored and I return to site the next day to find 4 or 5 flags with movement - the client swears he has not been on the flags, but evidence tells me otherwise - footprints, rearranged garden furniture, dirty flags, neighbours telling tales !!! . So I have to lift and re-bed the offending flags with no extra cost, as the client is always right - until they have paid !!!
I have become used to always walking on the centre of flags after laying them. So much that even when walking on a patio that has been laid for years, I always seem to walk in the middle of the flags - which some people find funny !!
It doesnt take much for a flag to rock slightly, and then it will set in that position and always move.
Nigel Walker
Posted: Tue Sep 20, 2005 8:40 pm
by caff
Hi Nigel
Thanks for the tips!
I'll up the quantity of cement for the rest of the slabs and hope the rest stay put. They seem form enough.
The bedding did seem a little harder this afternoon
Caff
Posted: Wed Sep 21, 2005 9:06 pm
by Nigel Walker
Thers no great need to up the cement content for the rest of your mixes. As long as the bedding goes hard
I know Tony advocates the 10:1 mix, which works well, but over the years and after different experiments I have found that a 7:1 ratio works best for me.
Nigel
Posted: Thu Sep 22, 2005 12:57 pm
by Tony McC
Nigel forgets to mention he has shares in Blue Circle! 
As you mentioned your sub-conscious habit of only treading on the centre of flags, Nigel - before I was disabled, my stride was exactly 1 metre. My dads's was/is exactly 1 yard, as he served his time before metric became the norm!