Posted: Thu Jun 09, 2016 11:58 am
hi
i'm a diyer but haveing a crack at laying my own patio with the help of the site and helpful advice on here, so thanks for that. i've done the brickwork which went fine and have started laying the slabs.
i used a pointing gun and having never used one before didn't realise how long the very wet mortar would take to start setting ready to rub the joints. i did it in the evening (trying to fit it around work), and it still hadn't gone off enough when it was starting to get dark so i had to rub the joints much earlier than i would have liked. this made a bit more of a mess than i would have liked but managed to clean them up reasonably well the next morning with a sponge.
the slabs are tumbled camel dust, which i laid on a full wet bed with a bit of sbr in the mix and wet the back of the slabs before laying.
it's hard to see from the photos but some of the slabs have a bit of white speckling on them. nothing major but they weren't like that when i laid them. and i was wondering if it's efflorescence, sort of a grout haze from where i sponged off the slabs or if it's because i didn't use a bond bridge with a wet bed?
i've still got a lot to lay so if i can avoid any more of this it would be good. if anyone has any advice or suggestions it would be really appreciated. if you see anything else where i'm going wrong i'm happy to hear any critism of what i've done too. pics below.
thanks in advance
roly
i'm a diyer but haveing a crack at laying my own patio with the help of the site and helpful advice on here, so thanks for that. i've done the brickwork which went fine and have started laying the slabs.
i used a pointing gun and having never used one before didn't realise how long the very wet mortar would take to start setting ready to rub the joints. i did it in the evening (trying to fit it around work), and it still hadn't gone off enough when it was starting to get dark so i had to rub the joints much earlier than i would have liked. this made a bit more of a mess than i would have liked but managed to clean them up reasonably well the next morning with a sponge.
the slabs are tumbled camel dust, which i laid on a full wet bed with a bit of sbr in the mix and wet the back of the slabs before laying.
it's hard to see from the photos but some of the slabs have a bit of white speckling on them. nothing major but they weren't like that when i laid them. and i was wondering if it's efflorescence, sort of a grout haze from where i sponged off the slabs or if it's because i didn't use a bond bridge with a wet bed?
i've still got a lot to lay so if i can avoid any more of this it would be good. if anyone has any advice or suggestions it would be really appreciated. if you see anything else where i'm going wrong i'm happy to hear any critism of what i've done too. pics below.
thanks in advance
roly
