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Posted: Mon May 31, 2010 6:33 pm
by mongo
Hello all!
I had taken a look at this site before purchasing my patio slabs and had not realised there was a forum on the site also! Great place for information.
Im a keen DIY'er but i have never taken onboard or done somethig like this before, apart from laying 6 slabs to put my bins on!
Just after a bit of advice, as i have done a bit of reading through the forums and looking to know a couple of things.
I have purchased 25mm sawn and shotblasted mint sandstone from stonecrete in the 22m squared kit. Should i SBR the sandstone?
Im planning on a 75mm MOT type 1 sub base, with mortar ontop 25-35mm then the flags, the ground underneath is quite clay like and fairly solid. I would imagine this should be sufficient?
I spent all day yesterday digging up the garden with a 4x3m section to patio with a 8metre section coming down to the slabs round the house:
larger image: http://www.yamr1.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/Images/inthetrenches.jpg
That was hard graft! Unfortuntely there is no access to the garden, so the wheelbarrow will have to be used to get stuff from front to the back.
Any pointers would be appreciated 
Posted: Tue Jun 01, 2010 12:13 am
by Suggers
Very neat - I reckon you've photo-shopped that photie .. :laugh:
Forget SBR - what you're proposing is fine.
Keep the lovely photies going as yer go - excellent.
ps - more fun if you can put the photo into the post.
how to post photies
Posted: Tue Jun 01, 2010 3:31 pm
by mongo
Thanks for the reply. No photoshopping going on, just hard graft! Have edited the original post, its just that the original image was way too big to include into the posting, so have put another resized one up.
The plan is to slab up to the patio at the back, its on a gentle slope, but im planing on having the slabs running uphill without steps, so that th dogs can still run around the garden without tripping over steps etc.
The paving is coming in 4 different sizes, so will need to work out a nice pattern for the patio.
ordering up the sub-base mot type 1 today, i reckon should be around 2 tonnes. Will order up a ton of sand as well for the mortar mix and around 10 x 25kg cement bags (for up to a 4:1 ratio). I take it normal cement will be fine and no need for white cement (its stonecrete sawn sandstone, of which there was no mention on what to use)?
Im going to build a small wall round the outside edges of the patio and leave the front leading edge of patio up to the grass, as the level is higher towards the back of the patio. I will then dig down either sides of the slabs leading to the patio and put in some stonechips just to break it up a little a border of about 15cm either side. I will take photos as i go, i kept it neat as i dont want to have anythign rented out that will cause a delay and have to re-hire stuff over and over again!
Posted: Tue Jun 01, 2010 5:01 pm
by GB_Groundworks
think you'll need more than 2 tons have you used the sub base calculator on the calculators page of the main site
remember bulk bags are only roughly 800kg
Posted: Tue Jun 01, 2010 7:12 pm
by mongo
GB_Groundworks wrote:think you'll need more than 2 tons have you used the sub base calculator on the calculators page of the main site
remember bulk bags are only roughly 800kg
Yeah i ordered up 3 tons just to make sure. Not looking forward to hauling it round the back though!
Looks like im going to go for the Rompox Easy, for the pointing of the slabs, since it seems to be quite highly recommended.
Posted: Tue Jun 01, 2010 7:43 pm
by irishpaving
Have you measured the path to take the exact flag. Less cuts you got the better.
Try been a little tidier 
Looks great so far and when are you available to do some digging out for us :;):
Posted: Tue Jun 01, 2010 11:58 pm
by mongo
irishpaving wrote:Have you measured the path to take the exact flag. Less cuts you got the better.
Try been a little tidier Looks great so far and when are you available to do some digging out for us :;):
I have indeed, the flag is 600mm wide, i made the path 630-650mm wide, last thing i want to do is have to start taking the sides away with the hardcore down just to fit the flag into the gap!
I will try and be more tidy in the future
Are you kidding me? There will be no more digging, I feel like ive been pumped by an elephant ten times over and this is 2 days after the digging has been done!
Posted: Thu Jun 03, 2010 10:38 am
by London Stone Paving
Very impressive dig out.
Posted: Thu Jun 03, 2010 6:28 pm
by lutonlagerlout
my only question on the dig is "why does the path not line up with the edge of the patio?
looks like a 100mm step there?
other than that it looks like aliens removed it,its that neat 
LLL
Posted: Thu Jun 03, 2010 6:37 pm
by London Stone Paving
OCD.
Wish a few of my guys had that
Posted: Thu Jun 03, 2010 7:14 pm
by mongo
lutonlagerlout wrote:my only question on the dig is "why does the path not line up with the edge of the patio?
looks like a 100mm step there?
other than that it looks like aliens removed it,its that neat
LLL
You cant see it from that angle, but the garden is on an incline uphill. I have left a bit of an edge, as im going to build up a small retaining wall. The highest part should only be around 5-7cm above the patio slabs. The wall will run along both sides and the back, but the front leading edge should hopefully go straight onto the grass.
I had to dig it by hand (with a spade and wheelbarrow) so the least amount of mud to remove the better!
Posted: Fri Jun 04, 2010 6:34 pm
by mongo
Still lovely weather so have been cracking on with it, the type 1 arrived yesterday along with the sand and cement. So to free up the driveway it was all transported round the back:
Might need more than 3 tons of type 1, the amount of soil we took out, or i can go for around a 40mm thick mortar base to lift the level up so the flags sit just on the grass level at the front.
Dug out round the edges and created a foundation for the small wall and purchased some concrete blocks:
The wall will be built up once the foundations are dry, it will then be rendered and painted white, it wont be too tall, about 30cm high at the back and gently sloping down to the front.
Once the wall is set, i will then get the compactor and get the type 1 flattened down and see if it needs more, or if its workable.
Such hard graft, no cement mixer yet, was mixing it in the barra! :p
Posted: Fri Jun 04, 2010 10:13 pm
by Suggers
Lovely hills photo-shopped into the horizon ...
ps - someone's nicked all the chimney stacks off the houses...
Posted: Fri Jun 04, 2010 10:58 pm
by lutonlagerlout
i have an old mixer you could have for zilch trig
i like to see people doing things the right way
i would wack it before you lay the blocks as its a sod when you hit the wall with the wacker
also i would aim for your edge slabs to be 15-25mm above the grass,to aid cutting and for looks
LLL
Posted: Sat Jun 05, 2010 12:52 am
by mongo
lutonlagerlout wrote:i have an old mixer you could have for zilch trig
i like to see people doing things the right way
i would wack it before you lay the blocks as its a sod when you hit the wall with the wacker
also i would aim for your edge slabs to be 15-25mm above the grass,to aid cutting and for looks
LLL
Very kind of you LLL, but im up a bit north of Edinburgh, bit of a treck to collect it! Now you`ll think the photos are all more photoshoped, blue skies and sunshine in scotland?!?! :laugh:
yeah i was wondering in what order i was going to carry it all out incase i accidently bumped it off the wall and demolished it :;):
its a good point about the slabs, i think i might need another ton of type 1 to build it up a bit more though.
