Paving is one of the most expensive parts of any garden construction
project. You can calculate the likely
cost of laying a patio by working out the square metrage of the area to be
paved. Then use a ‘laid’ or ‘all in’
cost of £100 per square metre to work out how much it will cost to get a
landscape contractor to lay the patio. So,
if you want a patio that measures 5m x 7m the total area will be 35 square
metres which will cost £3500 if you use a medium priced paving slab.
Random Indian Sandstone Paving - Berkshire Garden Design
If the site is open and flat, laying paving is not too
difficult for someone with good DIY skills who is not averse to hard physical
work. So, if you decide to do the work yourself here are some basic
instructions on how to lay a patio.
Start by measuring out the area to be paved and marking it
clearly. Aerosol cans of spray line
marker are available from builders merchants and area ideal for this
purpose. Next dig out the area to a deep
enough for the sub-base, which needs to be 75mm deep for foot traffic, or at
least 150mm deep if vehicles are to be driven over the surface, plus the height
of the paving slabs and a mortar bed of 30mm – 50mm.
The top of the paved area must finish two brickwork courses
below the damp proof course at any point where it touches the house. Paving
must have a fall of around 1:80 towards an area of lawn or planting or a drain
to enable surface water to drain from the surface.
Construction detail - cross section of paving
The commonest sub-base material is MOT Type 1 hardcore often
referred to as scalpings. This material is
tipped into the excavated area, roughly leveled then compressed to a hard
surface using a vibrating plate, often called a whacker plate. This surface
should be flat, but don’t worry if it is not absolutely level as the difference
can be adjusted with the mortar bed.
The best way to lay the paving slabs is to use a full mortar
bed. If you don’t use a full mortar bed
there will be gaps under the paving which can cause it to sink and crack over
time. A mortar mix is placed on top of
the sub-base to fix each slab securely to the sub-base. A suitable mortar mix is 1:5, which means 1
part cement to 1 part sharp sand.
Sandstone Paved Circle - Windsor Courtyard Garden Design
Start laying the paving in one corner of the marked out area. If the paving is being laid by the house
start at the house wall and work out.
Put down enough mortar mix to create a bed for one slab. Level it out so that it is covering the area
where you want to lay each slab and rough up the surface with the spade to
ensure the slab will stick to the mortar.
It is important to create a mortar bed for each slab separately to cater
for varying slab thicknesses. Use a
string line to keep lines straight and a spirit level to check the falls as you
work across the area. Use an angle
grinder to cut slabs where necessary. After
the paving is laid do not walk on it for 24 hours to allow the mortar to set
hard.
Granite Paved Terrace - Buckinghamshire Garden Design
Most paving is laid with a gap in between each slab of
around 10-15mm. This is later filled
with mortar. This gap is called a
pointing gap and should be measured (keep a small piece of wood of the correct
width in your pocket to check) to ensure it is uniform for each slab. When the surface is finished and the mortar
bed is set you can fill the pointing gaps with a mortar mix. Use a fairly dry mortar mix, drop it into the
gaps and push it in with a pointing trowel and smooth the top. Remove any loose mortar from the surface to
stop it staining the paving.
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