Laying a patio...how much sand and cement?

PicklePickle

I'm hoping to have a new patio laid in the next couple of weeks, have ordered the paving slabs but am not sure how to work out how much sand and cement i'll need, is there an easy way to work it out? The patio is going to cover an area of about 9sq m...

Ebe_Scrooge

It's very difficult to say, and depends to a large extent on what sort of sub-base you're working to. There is a lot of helpful advice here - look under the FAQ :

http://www.pavingexpert.com

You say that you're "having a patio laid" - have you got a contractor coming in to lay it for you ? If so, they will probably be best placed to tell you how much is required. Failing that, I would suggest use the above website to work out what sort of depth you're going to require, multiply the depth by the area to get a "cubic metres" calculation, then ask your cement supplier how many bags will give you the required cubic metres. Remember that the sand / cement ratio is different depending on the sort of weight the patio is going to take. Usually it's about 3 or 4 parts sand to one cement, but that can vary.

Hope this helps.

ormus

there are various ways of laying a patio. depends on your soil type.
most will only require sharp sand. cement is not really needed.
some wont need anything.
my front garden patio is laid direct onto the compacted soil. (large heavy slabs).
its not moved an inch in about 5 yrs.

andrew-b

No real need for cement. Sharp sand is good enough to bed them in. I extended our patio with slabs and used somewhere between 1 and 2 bags of sharp sand per 2ft square slab. So on that basis i'd say you need between 25 and 50 bags depending on depth of sand for 9 square metres. For the area involved i'd say get a Jumbo bag of sharp sand (£39.99 at wickes..as opposed to £1.36 per bag for more than 20 bags) which should be about enough for the whole job ..if not then might have to buy a few extra bags. You'll have to barrow it round the back though. If you've got rubble lying around the garden bury that underneath the sand layer but break up..bricks or blocks not much good though.

Just about to replace a few paving slabs myself after having dug a trench underneath and backfilled with a pile of rubble.

keith969

Depends on the type of slabs and what you're using as a base. When I did one in my old house, it was probably about 10 sq metres and I used about 50 bags of Wickes sharp sand. As andrew-b says probably better to buy it in bulk though. Mine was just about 2 inches of sand on hard compacted soil and 15 years on it was still fine.

Helped my neighbour do his a couple of years ago, he dug out and put down a few tons of scalpings to a depth of 3-4 inches, then the slabs were bedded down on a 4/1 sand cement mix. His will probably survive a direct hit by a nuke

PicklePickle

Thanks for all your replies! Sounds like a jumbo bag of sand is the way to go. I think the soil is fairly compacted, part of the area has existing slabs on which are coming up so will see what's under there.

Many thanks