Posted: Sun Jul 17, 2011 12:52 pm
Hi There
I'm a newbie to this site (an one excellent I might add) and just about to lay 60m2 of patio and path using riven sandstone paving. There's just myself and the wife - we're both retired and in our early 60's but fit and healthy (I think and hope!!).
We've just dug up the old patio and path comprising smooth paving slabs plus a brick wall about 600mm high surrounding the patio - skipping about 10m3 in the process. The paving slabs were bedded on about 75mm of mortar below which was about 200mm of sharp sand - not MOT Type 1 or hardcore much my too my surprise. In saying this the slabs had never moved (other than a few small cracks in the jointing) since being layed some 20 years ago.
Rather than remove all the sand, I decided to leave about 100mm, break up the mortar into smallish lumps no bigger than about 40mm (using an electric breaker) and then mix this with the sand together with broken bricks and slabs. On completion, I used a wacker plate to compact to level - overall thickness typically 150-200mm. I've had to do this for a few reasons:
a. The level of the original patio adjacent the house wall was only one brick below dpc with a fall of about 1 in 75 over a length of 4.5m.
b. The footing to the brick wall (three sided) is about 600mm wide and 450mm deep and constructed of very hard concrete and quite difficult to remove.
b. The whole of the surrounding garden has been set to the original levels so to lay the new patio adjacent the house at the ideal two bricks below dpc will mean it sitting 75mm too low and obviously no good for drainage.
Finally (at last, you say!!), my questions:
1. I'm proposing to use a 50mm 5:1 sharp sand:cement moist mortar bed (with thickest 40mm flags), keep to one brick below dpc (we haven't had a problem with damp in the past)and a fall of 1 in 70. Is the fall sufficient for riven sandstone - to go any steeper will probably mean a thinner bed?
2. I'm proposing to edge with 150mm wide setts throughout (other than the house wall). Are these layed first or simultaneously with the flags?
3. If I need to cut any flags, are they layed simultaneously with the surrounding flags or after - I'm hiring a disc cutter?
4. What is recommended for jointing/pointing - ordinary sand:cement mortar or specialised material?
Apologies for rambling on, however after reading some of the blogs on this site, I'm certain there are few experts out there that can help me out.
ps I will be using a design service for a proper layout diagram.
I'm a newbie to this site (an one excellent I might add) and just about to lay 60m2 of patio and path using riven sandstone paving. There's just myself and the wife - we're both retired and in our early 60's but fit and healthy (I think and hope!!).
We've just dug up the old patio and path comprising smooth paving slabs plus a brick wall about 600mm high surrounding the patio - skipping about 10m3 in the process. The paving slabs were bedded on about 75mm of mortar below which was about 200mm of sharp sand - not MOT Type 1 or hardcore much my too my surprise. In saying this the slabs had never moved (other than a few small cracks in the jointing) since being layed some 20 years ago.
Rather than remove all the sand, I decided to leave about 100mm, break up the mortar into smallish lumps no bigger than about 40mm (using an electric breaker) and then mix this with the sand together with broken bricks and slabs. On completion, I used a wacker plate to compact to level - overall thickness typically 150-200mm. I've had to do this for a few reasons:
a. The level of the original patio adjacent the house wall was only one brick below dpc with a fall of about 1 in 75 over a length of 4.5m.
b. The footing to the brick wall (three sided) is about 600mm wide and 450mm deep and constructed of very hard concrete and quite difficult to remove.
b. The whole of the surrounding garden has been set to the original levels so to lay the new patio adjacent the house at the ideal two bricks below dpc will mean it sitting 75mm too low and obviously no good for drainage.
Finally (at last, you say!!), my questions:
1. I'm proposing to use a 50mm 5:1 sharp sand:cement moist mortar bed (with thickest 40mm flags), keep to one brick below dpc (we haven't had a problem with damp in the past)and a fall of 1 in 70. Is the fall sufficient for riven sandstone - to go any steeper will probably mean a thinner bed?
2. I'm proposing to edge with 150mm wide setts throughout (other than the house wall). Are these layed first or simultaneously with the flags?
3. If I need to cut any flags, are they layed simultaneously with the surrounding flags or after - I'm hiring a disc cutter?
4. What is recommended for jointing/pointing - ordinary sand:cement mortar or specialised material?
Apologies for rambling on, however after reading some of the blogs on this site, I'm certain there are few experts out there that can help me out.
ps I will be using a design service for a proper layout diagram.