This can be a very uncommon practice, especially in the UK because normally the type of paving laid here is flexible on top of just the bed of sand – allowing the blocks to adjust and settle down over time. Almost all of the block pavings you see nearby are flexible laid on sub-base and…
The best practice that you may or the contractor should have done earlier was to use a sponge and water to clean as you go on laying these slabs and haven’t got them there in the first place. Because once dried, mortar/cement stains can be a headache to get rid off of the paving slabs…
Without any doubt, modern callibrated paving which is paper-thin (20, 22mm) such as porcelain and sandstone or other natural stone slabs should definitely be laid on a wet sand and cement mortar bed for various reasons. As a general rule, bigger slabs such which fall 450mm series or larger should be laid wet sand and…
In some situations, there may be an option to increase the thickness of the mortar bed (laying course) instead of what’s recommended everywhere (which is 30-50mm) to achieve the correct finished level of the slabs. However, the question is, is it the right thing to do or will it cause any problems further down the…
There are many simple doubts that DIYers have throughout the job when they lay paving slabs. One of them is what type of sand is best to lay them on. Is it sharp sand or building sand or both? It’s really overwhelming in this trade like landscaping is all opinions. If you ask 5 different…
How wet should patio mortar be for laying paving slabs? What is the spacing between porcelain paving slabs? How do I make sure my sub base is leveled? Can you leave a prepared sub-base as it is for a long time? Yes, you could finish compacting the sub-base/mot-type 1 and leave it as it is…
Don’t expect that the costs will drastically reduce if the customer is supplying the materials as the main cost in a patio is mostly involved in ground preparation and the labour to lay the slabs while not cutting the corners. Every company differs in overheads and profit margins they intend so it’s nearly impossible to…
When doing a patio, the worst thing that can happen is you need to rip it up and lay it again, and the most common cause to do so is the slabs are popping up. This could happen because of using no primer at all that’s specially made to bond paving or sometimes even using…
When laying paving one of the many pieces of advice that you might hear of is slurrying or priming the backs of the slabs. This is a big question because a lot of people do prime the slabs saying that it’s a must and a lot not saying that I’m laying sandstone for more than…
