Paving

Pinoy adventure

Hi all
I'm looking at doing a bit of DIY paving out the back.its fairly square and level.
I'm considering doing it myself.
Would putting plastic sheating down followed by paving sand and then the slabs itself ?
The area is about 17 feet long by 10 feet wide.
Any tips or advise thanks

magicbastarder

i don't think plastic would be a good idea, would cause drainage issues?

Pinoy adventure

magicbastarder wrote: »

i don't think plastic would be a good idea, would cause drainage issues?

Would you just go with sand on top of the clay then ? Would the plastic not prevent weeds coming up true the space between the paving stones

looksee

Definitely not plastic, if laid flat you will create a non-draining pool, if laid with a slope/fall the sand will wash out.

Weeds will grow in sand no matter what you do, even with a membrane underneath eventually weeds will appear. You need cement or one of the equivalent commercial products to keep it weed free.

rje66

Pinoy adventure wrote: »

Hi all
I'm looking at doing a bit of DIY paving out the back.its fairly square and level.
I'm considering doing it myself.
Would putting plastic sheating down followed by paving sand and then the slabs itself ?
The area is about 17 feet long by 10 feet wide.
Any tips or advise thanks

As others mentioned forget the plastic. What slabs are you planning?. Post a pic of area. Plan where to drain off rain water. Try to include a little bit of planting. You don't need a much space to get a few plants. Ideally you need at least 6inches to work with. But depends on thickness of slabs some are 20mm, others 50mm. Put in a bit of sub base material and compact this. Some slabs can be laid on compacted paving sand, so if this is your choice you need to set up your levels and screed accordingly. You tube will help here. If you are laying on a wet sand and cement mix set up string lines to your finished levels and follow these. How are you cutting slabs?. Are there any gullies or manholes in the area?

PeadarOBriain

Pinoy adventure wrote: »

Hi all
I'm looking at doing a bit of DIY paving out the back.its fairly square and level.
I'm considering doing it myself.
Would putting plastic sheating down followed by paving sand and then the slabs itself ?
The area is about 17 feet long by 10 feet wide.
Any tips or advise thanks

A weed control fabric could be used underneath but as said in other posts weeds will find their way into the joints in time. Fuge is a great jointing product but unless you are bedding slabs onto a mortar bed they will move and the Fuge will crack and fall out. If you are using sand to fill joints I find a kettle of boiling water will kill any weed or grass in a day or two. Clean and easy

Pinoy adventure

rje66 wrote: »

As others mentioned forget the plastic. What slabs are you planning?. Post a pic of area. Plan where to drain off rain water. Try to include a little bit of planting. You don't need a much space to get a few plants. Ideally you need at least 6inches to work with. But depends on thickness of slabs some are 20mm, others 50mm. Put in a bit of sub base material and compact this. Some slabs can be laid on compacted paving sand, so if this is your choice you need to set up your levels and screed accordingly. You tube will help here. If you are laying on a wet sand and cement mix set up string lines to your finished levels and follow these. How are you cutting slabs?. Are there any gullies or manholes in the area?

I'm guessing 20 mm slabs and I'd cut the edges with a con saw perhaps ? There is no gullies or manholes near by but there is a bit of vegetable plot right beside the square are I'm planning on paving.

Mollydog123

Im at the opposite end of this issue as Im away with work a lot and the weeds growing in the cracks between the slabs have gotten huge. Is the best thing to get them lifted and new membrane put down? I've tried the patio brushes but the weeds and roots are just too big.

macraignil

I don't think there should be any weeds left in the ground when laying your paving and I don't understand what you expect the weed membrane to do as it will have no impact on weed seeds sprouting in crevices in the paving. You can get flat hook shaped weed remover tools that are handy to rip out ones that have got established in the crevices and joints in paving. Paving is normally laid with a slight slope away from a house to make sure rain water does not pool on its surface.

Mollydog123

macraignil wrote: »

I don't think there should be any weeds left in the ground when laying your paving and I don't understand what you expect the weed membrane to do as it will have no impact on weed seeds sprouting in crevices in the paving. You can get flat hook shaped weed remover tools that are handy to rip out ones that have got established in the crevices and joints in paving. Paving is normally laid with a slight slope away from a house to make sure rain water does not pool on its surface.

Thanks. I should have copped that the seeds are on top of the membrane. Thanks for the link

Mac-Chops

Nearly finished something similar. Went as follows:

• Mark out with wooden stakes and string lines for level.
• Stakes spaced at approx 2.4m to use length of timber as straight edge with spirit level on top for checking falls.
• Dig out 150mm to formation level. Light rake to level off, checking depth as above.
• Geotextile rolled out.
• 75mm hardcore spread and compacted with wacker plate. Cheap and easy to hire, otherwise timber and lump/sledge hammer will do the job.
• 25mm+ bed of sand/cement 5:1 mix.
• I used 50mm paving slabs which I had available. Rubber mallet and spirit levels for laying.
• Joints done using same sand/cement in a dry 4:1 mix. Barely a splash of water and packed in to joints with pointing trowel, sweeping excess away after a bit of drying to avoid staining. Hoping this will help with weeds for a while at least.

A couple of tips I found useful was to wet the back of the slabs with a brush for adhesion and also makes it easy to lift them off clean if you mess up levelling.

Get the first corner right and a good straight L shape in and then it's just a case of filling in.

Get some plastic shims for joint spacing. I used 5mm - 10mm to compensate for any minor adjustments needed from misalignment or not perfectly square slabs. You could lay in a brick pattern/ stretcher bond to help this though.

I replaced old paving that was there years from previous owners which was up and down and fairly loose. Laid on a bed of maybe 50mm sand which is why I went for something more solid this time around.

Result below with one left to go when I mix up some mortar for edging which I plan on doing with some smaller granite setts:

Fann Linn

On the above I too am in the process of laying paving for a patio/ path area. I have my sub base level and falls are correct and I did a dry run and everything appears okay but I'm a bit confused as to the correct base to use for finishing. I've read on some sites where sand/cement mixes are used and other sites are suggesting sand only. Can anyone recommend which method for laying Holland 60mm pavers for pedestrian use only.
Thanks.

rje66

Fann Linn wrote: »

On the above I too am in the process of laying paving for a patio/ path area. I have my sub base level and falls are correct and I did a dry run and everything appears okay but I'm a bit confused as to the correct base to use for finishing. I've read on some sites where sand/cement mixes are used and other sites are suggesting sand only. Can anyone recommend which method for laying Holland 60mm pavers for pedestrian use only.
Thanks.

Screeded compacted sand for these.

Fann Linn

rje66 wrote: »

Screeded compacted sand for these.

That's great thank you. Builders or sharp sand?

rje66

Fann Linn wrote: »

That's great thank you. Builders or sharp sand?

Paving sand.

pah

Had someone in laying limestone slabs, they used Romex jointing mortar for the pointing. The following day everything looks stained. I spoke to them on the phone and they said it will fade as it's brushed again and time passes but it just looks so wrong. Anyone have experience with this? It seems to be related to the sand in the mortar as some slabs look to have dark stains in a pattern that resembles the grains of sand.

rje66

It's just a resin in the Romex. It will disappear.