Posted: Fri Jul 10, 2020 2:37 pm
Right...
We've had a patio laid by a "professional builder" I'm not going to get into naming and shaming or any of that, unfortunately it appears to have been a not so professional outcome...
The patio is laid in part onto a concrete slab (put in place for a garden building) with the remainder laid onto soil...
The manufacturers guidelines have not been followed (we subsequently downloaded them to check) and we are already having issues only some 2 weeks after install.
From what we saw of the installation and what is visible the slabs were laid onto 50mm or there abouts of a sand/cement bed directly onto the concrete slab and also directly to soil (with offcuts of some form of DPM on-top of the soil no jointing tape used)
Grout is a mix of sand/cement and the builder said he applied a "dye"
A list of the issues we have are below;
Slabs "sinking" which in time will cause a trip hazard
Joins are wildly varying sizes (from almost no gap to 30mm and over).
"Grout" is a poor mix of sand/cement, crumbles, colour is bleeding and water just soaks through.
Multiple slabs sound "hollow" and there is an increasing number.
The laying pattern which we supplied when asked has not been followed, has 4 cross joints.
No drainage was added surrounding the garden building and slabs laid with a mortar join against the timber causing damp issues
Fleets are all over the place.
Grout "wetness" seems to go way beyond where rainfall has caused, we suspect a lot of water underneath the slabs. (he blames us for not sealing it, but told us not to for a couple months)
I have uploaded some videos to youtube;
https://youtu.be/NZkiFjI0lFM (patio slabs sounding hollow, not the best video)
https://youtu.be/qNvebmV2Dec (patio grout crumbly)
https://youtu.be/qKdHVZXwuog (grout absorbing water)
He also constructed a "water feature" that due to the 60mm+ fall across 3m/3.5m there's no way it will work as it overflows before filling and looks like an eyesore.
We have had a few other tradesmen visit who so far have all said the patio needs fully uplifting and re-laying (all saying 803 hardcore needs going under the bit that's currently 50mm bed onto soil)
What are your opinions?
We've had a patio laid by a "professional builder" I'm not going to get into naming and shaming or any of that, unfortunately it appears to have been a not so professional outcome...
The patio is laid in part onto a concrete slab (put in place for a garden building) with the remainder laid onto soil...
The manufacturers guidelines have not been followed (we subsequently downloaded them to check) and we are already having issues only some 2 weeks after install.
From what we saw of the installation and what is visible the slabs were laid onto 50mm or there abouts of a sand/cement bed directly onto the concrete slab and also directly to soil (with offcuts of some form of DPM on-top of the soil no jointing tape used)
Grout is a mix of sand/cement and the builder said he applied a "dye"
A list of the issues we have are below;
Slabs "sinking" which in time will cause a trip hazard
Joins are wildly varying sizes (from almost no gap to 30mm and over).
"Grout" is a poor mix of sand/cement, crumbles, colour is bleeding and water just soaks through.
Multiple slabs sound "hollow" and there is an increasing number.
The laying pattern which we supplied when asked has not been followed, has 4 cross joints.
No drainage was added surrounding the garden building and slabs laid with a mortar join against the timber causing damp issues
Fleets are all over the place.
Grout "wetness" seems to go way beyond where rainfall has caused, we suspect a lot of water underneath the slabs. (he blames us for not sealing it, but told us not to for a couple months)
I have uploaded some videos to youtube;
https://youtu.be/NZkiFjI0lFM (patio slabs sounding hollow, not the best video)
https://youtu.be/qNvebmV2Dec (patio grout crumbly)
https://youtu.be/qKdHVZXwuog (grout absorbing water)
He also constructed a "water feature" that due to the 60mm+ fall across 3m/3.5m there's no way it will work as it overflows before filling and looks like an eyesore.
We have had a few other tradesmen visit who so far have all said the patio needs fully uplifting and re-laying (all saying 803 hardcore needs going under the bit that's currently 50mm bed onto soil)
What are your opinions?
