Posted: Wed Apr 18, 2007 3:09 pm
Hello all. I've got an existing garden shed on a base of 450x450mm paving slabs. We're taking it down and putting up a bigger one, so I need to lay another row of slabs. It's my first experience in the wonderful world of paving etc. I've got all sorts of conflicting advice from the web, so my questions are:
1. I'm going to use sharp sand as a bedding, about 40-50mm deep. Some people tell me this is OK, others say it should be a dry mix of about 6:1 with cement. The problem is that I'm only laying one row, and figure I only need about 2 x 25kg bags of sand, and so would only need 10kg of cement, and I haven't seen it in bags less than 25kg. Is the cement really necessary?
2. If I do use cement/sand dry mix, should I mist it with a garden hose before laying the slabs? What about if I just use sand - should it be damp or is it OK to use it dry?
3. The existing slabs don't have any mortar between them, and I wasn't planning to put any in for the new row. But the land starts to slope away where the new row will go, and will need to be built up. Is it OK to level it out with soil, then the sand, or should I really be putting in some sort of edging and/or putting in some mortar between the existing slabs and the new row? It's just a base for a shed, so I want to keep it simple.
4. What's the best, cheapest and quickest (might be mutually exclusive, I know!) way to tamp down the soil, and then the sand/drymix bedding? Is just walking up and down on it ok?
Thanks heaps.
1. I'm going to use sharp sand as a bedding, about 40-50mm deep. Some people tell me this is OK, others say it should be a dry mix of about 6:1 with cement. The problem is that I'm only laying one row, and figure I only need about 2 x 25kg bags of sand, and so would only need 10kg of cement, and I haven't seen it in bags less than 25kg. Is the cement really necessary?
2. If I do use cement/sand dry mix, should I mist it with a garden hose before laying the slabs? What about if I just use sand - should it be damp or is it OK to use it dry?
3. The existing slabs don't have any mortar between them, and I wasn't planning to put any in for the new row. But the land starts to slope away where the new row will go, and will need to be built up. Is it OK to level it out with soil, then the sand, or should I really be putting in some sort of edging and/or putting in some mortar between the existing slabs and the new row? It's just a base for a shed, so I want to keep it simple.
4. What's the best, cheapest and quickest (might be mutually exclusive, I know!) way to tamp down the soil, and then the sand/drymix bedding? Is just walking up and down on it ok?
Thanks heaps.
