Home Improvement Advice for Paving

How Should Paving Be Laid Do it Yourself Tips for Paving

When your project is finished, you will not be able to see where most of your money has been spent, because the proper preparation and bases are the secret of any successful paving, and you should always make sure your contractor cuts no corners, as problems will soon arise.

What you should be aiming to avoid:-

a) Paving moves after laying, causing pointing/grouting to break up, which then allows weeds to grow and muck to get into joints, as well as the danger of raised stones being dangerous.

b) Paving laid at wrong level, causing bridging of damp-proof course and/or splash-up into airbricks, both of which can cause damp problems in the house. Please see our section on damp & rot if you are having any problems.

c) Paving which does not drain satisfactorily, causing puddles followed by moss to form, or which slopes too steeply, looking wrong and even being uncomfortable for sitting!

d) Uneven-sized joints throughout, giving a lack of uniformity.

e) In any random or flagstone pattern, no long running joints caused by the wrong choice of stones.

f) Stones being stained with mortar either during laying or while pointing.

How To Avoid Problems

a) All domestic paving should be laid on a complete sand and cement bed of 25-50mm over a minimum of 75mm of compacted hardcore or similar material blinded with ballast to fill any gaps. Spot bedding is often proposed, but this is not recommended; in this method the paving is only anchored on a few dabs of mortar and can easily be dislodged by a firm blow; also the pointing tends to fall into the voids under the stones! After all, this is a project to last for years, and corner- cutting at the beginning will soon catch up with you.

b) Paving should always be laid 150mm (6") below the dpc, as recommended by building regulations, and this specification must be kept to wherever possible. If it is not, then a drainage gulley must be installed against the house, falling to an exterior drain, but still being careful not to bridge any dpc.

c) All paving should be laid to drain into an exterior drain; if there is none, a soakaway should be dug well away from the house and a drain laid to it. The paving should fall (slope) evenly to it, blending falls from more than one direction if necessary. It should also drain away from the house, since it only takes one large Plane leaf to block a drain! For natural stone the recommended fall is 25mm (1") in 1220mm (4'), and approximately half that for a man-made stone, depending on the smoothness of the surface.

d) This is just a matter of proper care being taken, but it can particularly be a problem in crazy paving.

e) It is often worth agreeing a laying pattern before ordering, thus ensuring the right sizes of stone are used.

f) Hand point always, with a pointing tool or trowel. It is not difficult if a full bed has been laid under the stones.

Always hire the professional to make sure that the job is carried out correctly. Remember - it may cost alot more money to have a job corrected that was carried out wrongly to begin with.