Laying domestic patio

[Foppotee]

I am laying my first patio and have visited countless websites seeking the best approach.

I am laying a 15 sqm patio at the back of my house replacing an existing patio an extending on to what is currently lawn, for domestic use. I am using concrete Marshalls Yorkstone.

Most sites I visited seemed to advocate a 5 spot mortar for what im doing however having read what this site says about this method I am now confused as to the best method use.

From what i have read on this site I am leaning towards laying the stones on a 50mm 10:1 mix of sand and cement with a dry 4:1 mix for the pointing sweeping it in. Is this sufficient and if so do I need to use mortar on the end flags?

I appreciate that most of the answers to my questions are within the site but believe me I have spent many hours reading this site and others like it and would appreciate some final advice before i get started!

Thanks in advance

[Stuarty]

spot bedding should never, ever, ever be used, nor thought of! As the website says, it doesnt give uniform support to the slab, leaving voids which are weakpoints on the slab. It also doesnt conform to the British Standard Tony mentions on the laying slabs page. To sweep in a dry mix for pointing, the mix and the slabs have to be bone dry, otherwise it will just make a mess, but i prefer to do a wetpoint. If i dont have an edger round slabs, i always put in a bit of a haunch to stop them moving.

[Tony McC]

These sites that advocate <spit> spot bedding: are they written and managed by a time-served tradesperson with decades of experience or are they DIY bodging sites?

Spot bedding is for morons. Anyone even considering its use should go and stand in the Naughty Corner.