Numpty Turnip paving question ...

... I'm sure I'm just being thick but this relates to paving part of the garden ...

... in my Garden DIY book, it shows an area of decorative paving being laid. Looks simple enough that even *I* should be able to give it a go: cut out area, lay some sand, bosh it down hard, sit slabs on top, brush over dry mortar - voila! Book suggests this will be good for bench or BBQ (so taking a bit of weight!)

The next project shows a crazy paving path being laid: only in *this* project shingle is put on the area before the sand/slabs/dry mortar. But, this is only a path and would only take moving weight (someone walking along it). So why does the path need a shingle layer but the area of decorative paving does not?

All I want to do is create linking brick paved block areas to run through the centre of the garden. Not that I've attempted anything like it before, but it can't be that much more difficult than patchwork quilting!

Any advice much appreciated

 

Every patio I've ever seen that was done the way your book describes was lumpy after a year or two

I stuck mine down properly. A hardcore and chippings foundation, then cement, then the stones. Wasn't difficult.

 

All I know, from bitter experience "M " is that , if the path isn't level and concreted down, it will move, subside or ruck up over time and a or two too many in the dim of eventide ....... ,
Jenny

 

Ah, thank you ... best start saving my pocket money again then and get someone in to do it. At least you've saved me a fortune in mistakes and saved the air from being blue

 

I'm sure you're pretty handy, so I can't see that it is beyond you. Put it this way, when I did my patio, it was a first attempt. I'd never done a patio before of any kind, and I'd never mixed cement before either, yet 3 years on my patio is still there, and still level.

 

Thank you for your faith in my abilities - now, if I were as tall as you, as muscular as you ...








... I may even *agree* with you!

 

It didn't take much muscle. The most strenuous part for me was caused by my good friend in the roofing and building trade, who having heard of my project, said "I've got 7 sacks of old stone chips you can have, I'll dump them on your drive when I'm passing". To me, this meant 7 x 20kg size sacks. But no. They weren't. They were huge. They must have had 80kg or more in each sack. And the layout of my house is such that there is no access from the front to the back without going through the house, so no barrow access. I had to carry them all through. I thought my muscles were going to snap like laggy bands.

The actual work of building the patio didn't take much muscle at all, which is useful really, because I'm a lazy git.

 

Dig it out a foot deep, pack hardcore down, lay drainage pipes going off at a suitable gradient to a lower point/soakaway. Cover those with 20mm aggregate. Lay 10-15mm gravel across that and compact with a plate wacker followed by a bed of sharp sand before laying your slabs.

Just to be sure

 

So, no concrete then?
Why the drainage pipes? (My garden is on a slight natural slope)

 

Shouldn't need concrete after all that, highways don't use it.

But they do use drainage

 

Thank you

So, let's talk drainage pipes.

Basically, I'm considering having blocks of paved areas, the largest (single) area being 10' x 4' and then connecting ones of smaller blocks. What would I use for drainage pipes and how would I lay them? The garden runs downward on a slight slope from house to end of the garden.

 

Perforated pipe, it's about £40 a roll

 

Great!

Ok, so, now an even more numpty question ... if it is going underneath bricks, why does it need drainage pipe?

 

I didn't use drainage pipes for any of my paving ,I just made sure that there was a gentle fall in the paving to prevent any standing water

 

Aha! Ok