Making a small patio area?

B'stard

Take some photos using a digital camera, then upload them via imageshack and then post them on here. It will give everyone a better idea about what you are taking about.

Can your husband get someone to help him? There's nothing worse than doing a heavy/tiring job without help, because before you know it you're cutting corners and the finished job will look bad.

ormus

using the bigger slabs is certainly a two man job. its pretty hard on yer own.
the small slabs are easy enough.

lisae03

Thanks for all the advice. I've decided to have the patio the other side of the path by sacraficing a bit of my flower beds which would make the whole job alot less complicated. I've found a builders yard that will deliver too which is fab, just got to pop up there and order my stuff when hubby gets paid on Friday. I'm tempted to start doing it myself nevermind hubby. I've just got back from my mums who is in her 50's and she has created a lovely little gravel area with paving stepping stones in her garden, all in her few days!

ormus

ps
there is a special membrane you can put down first, to stop the weeds coming up.
about 1 quid per sq m.
ive never used it, but i reckon any black plastic sheeting will do much the same job.

bobthedambuilder

It's my guess that the bit of concrete in the lawn will weigh on your mind for evermore, and you'll end up taking it out sooner or later anyway, so why not now? That way you'll get the patio where you originally wanted it, and not have to sacrifice your flowers.

As ormus says, if it's just a bit of old path, the concrete shouldn't be too thick, and a sledgehammer will break it up without too much work. As long as you get it down to below the level of the underside of the slabs, there's no reason at all why it shouldn't stay. If you find it too much, you can always revert to Plan B.

Your area is about 4 square metres (20 x 450 x 450 slabs). I laid a patio which was about 22 square metres in area a couple of years ago, by myself in about 4 days, including levelling, bedding and slabs. I left about 10-15mm "joints" between the slabs and filled the gap with a dry sand/cement mix, brushed in, which goes off with the moisture in the ground / atmosphere. That will stop weeds growing up between the slabs.

ptkloon

How much is this all costing? I would like to do something similar but slightly bigger, maybe about 4metres by 4 metres max.

ormus

the cheapest slabs at wickes are about 2.50 each.
that equates to approx 13 quid per sq m.


i bought mine off ebay. used slabs, big ones. total price? 50 quid for the lot.

Tucker

The only downside with using plastic sheeting instead of the anti-weed membrane is that sheeting will hold in the moisture and prevent it draining away.

The membrane you buy is perferated and lets moisture through so it doesn't end up like a bog and all your sand gets washed about.

ptkloon

ormus wrote: »

the cheapest slabs at wickes are about 2.50 each.
that equates to approx 13 quid per sq m.


i bought mine off ebay. used slabs, big ones. total price? 50 quid for the lot.

Just had a quick measure. 2.5 by 2.5 metre would probably be big enough.
How much for sand/aggregate/concrete mix or whateveryou used?

bobthedambuilder

What about Indian sandstone? Most builder's merchants sell it at about £15 - 16 per square metre, either single sized or a mixture of different sizes which looks quite good when laid "random". Say £100 for the slabs.

If you allow about 75mm of sand bedding, for your 2.5m x 2.5m patio you'd need about 1 tonne of sharp (concreting) sand, again a builder's merchant could deliver that in a "big bag". Cost about £35 - 40. If you want to go the whole hog and bed the slabs on a sand/cement base, instead of just sand (much more stable), you'd need about 150 Kg of cement, i.e. 6 bags at £4. Mix it dry at about 6 of sand to 1 of cement, and get it roughly level before bedding the slabs onto it (a rubber mallet comes in very handy at this point!).

Our local BM would deliver the lot described above for about £10 - some don't make a delivery charge at all if the order's above a certain amount.