Plan for laying paving, is it ok?

nikolaitr

I plan to lay some paving slabs next week, in the front garden in a relatively lightly trafficed area about 10 metres squared.


Plan is to lay them on a base of hardcore, which I plan to compact with a plate compactor. I will bed them in mortar.


The alternative is laying a concrete slab and then laying the paving slabs on that, but it will require a lot of work in my mind and more expense.

I am also worried about getting the level correct so that the lwater flows away from the house, any tips on this?


I'm sure someone has some experience of this, any tips and advice would be greatly appreciated

slavetothegrind

http://www.pavingexpert.com/home.htm

link provided by some one here a while ago.

Good luck!

Delta Kilo

Firstly, you are correct about the concrete slab in that it is a waste of money and unnecessary. Is it paving slabs or the smaller bricks? Apparently the smaller bricks are more suited for driveways if there is the weight of a car on them. But, they are trickier to lay, in every respect. they are hard to cut and have to be layed on sand, which is tedious work to get level.

As regards having the level fall away from the house, it is fairly straightforward. Set up a small post at each corner and use string as a guide. have the 2 sides parallel to the house level and the 2 sides perpendicular to the house off by the same amount. I think the correct fall is one in 20 so any where in around that should be fine although you should probably double check with your supplier/builders merchant.

Lay the ones perpendicular to your house first, one row at a time. When you have one down each side fill in the middle using a string going across at the edge of the slabs.

You should go down 5-6" and backfill with hardcore up to the 2" mark. That allows for an inch of concrete and the slab is probably close to an inch as well. The hardcore doesn't have to be perfectly level but you don't want to be a million miles out either as it will cause headaches at a later stage.

Put mortar everywhere under the slab, a splodge in each corner won't suffice as you will have weak spots that may break once a car is on them. Lay down your mortar run the trowel through it so that you can push the slab down into it. Try not to get cement on the top of the slab as it never really comes off.

When you have it all done and it is set, make a dry mix, completely dry, no water at all, of sand and cement. Then throw it on top and brush into the joints and it will eventually harden.

ART6

Adding to Delta kilo's advice, a water level is handy for getting the fall and the level across right. This is simply a length of polythene tube filled with water. It can be any length suitable, with the ends turned up though 90 degrees and taped to angle brackets. The water level at each end will be the same -- dead horizontal, so you can work out the right fall by simply measuring down from the water top in the lower end.

nikolaitr

Ok just to clarify, the ground will only be used for light foot traffic, so nothing heavier than a person.


Do you think I could get away with just leveling the ground and laying paving slabs on mortar on raw earth(which has been somewhat compacted already as there was some slabs on top of part of it and some gravel on other parts)


Thanks again

Delta Kilo

Probably not the best idea. You should still get some gravel and compact it. The Earth is not suitable to take cement. Don't dig down too far though, maybe 3 inches. You can hire a compactor (similar to lawnmower) for ~€30 a day. Put in some gravel or sand and compact it.