Paving advice

modelreject

Hi,

I am going to be paving directly in front of our house from a bay window out to about a distance of 1metre. I have practically read all of pavingexpert.com so have prepared quite a bit. One question though is to do with exiting paving slabs. How do I remove. I am trying to keep costs down so trying not to hire tools or machinery.

I will be posting more questions in this thread and will hopefully have a before during and after pics.

Many thanks,
C

anotherbaldrick

You will probably find they are only bedded down on 4 dabs of cement mortar. Insert a pick axe point under one corner and lever up and they will come up . If you are disposing of them order a skip and chuck them straight in it . If large slabs put a brick under one corner and bang the end of the pick axe in the middle to break into smaller bits.

modelreject

Thanks. I will borrow a pick from a friend. I think I may break them up and use just below aggregate on another paving job I will be doing at the rear of the house. That'll save me money on a skip ;-)

modelreject

Also, I am considering using this mortar and just mixing by hand in a wheelbarrow...http://www.diy.com/nav/build/building-materials/materials/aggregates/-specificproducttype-mortar/Blue-Circle-Quality-Assured-Mortar-Grey-20kg-9273109?skuId=9282809

Read reviews and it looks as though it will do perfectly. I am laying grey slabs. Your opinions?

anotherbaldrick

modelreject wrote: »

Also, I am considering using this mortar and just mixing by hand in a wheelbarrow...http://www.diy.com/nav/build/building-materials/materials/aggregates/-specificproducttype-mortar/Blue-Circle-Quality-Assured-Mortar-Grey-20kg-9273109?skuId=9282809

Read reviews and it looks as though it will do perfectly. I am laying grey slabs. Your opinions?

Will do fine , mix up so that you get a medium stiff consistancy, not too sloppy. Think about what you want to do with the joints, close joints if you are going to brush sand in , about 1" if you are going to mortar point them.

modelreject

I will be pointing them with mortar. Could I do less than 1inch? I think the gap may look odd.

anotherbaldrick

You could go a bit less, but if the gap is too narrow it is difficult to get the mortar to fill the depth of the slab, you end up with only the top of the joint filled and this soon breaks out and the weeds and grass jump in and it looks orrible. With , OK, 3/4" gap you can chop the mortar down into the gap with the trowel and and ^ trowel the top.

Chopper_Read

modelreject wrote: »

Also, I am considering using this mortar and just mixing by hand in a wheelbarrow...http://www.diy.com/nav/build/building-materials/materials/aggregates/-specificproducttype-mortar/Blue-Circle-Quality-Assured-Mortar-Grey-20kg-9273109?skuId=9282809

Read reviews and it looks as though it will do perfectly. I am laying grey slabs. Your opinions?

That's an expensive way to do it, you'll probably need a bag a slab unless you're doing dot and dab.

Chopper_Read

Grey slabs are often not flat so allow for a grout line

Do you need planning as it's at the front?

Furts

modelreject wrote: »

I will be pointing them with mortar. Could I do less than 1inch? I think the gap may look odd.

Personally, in the interests of time, workmanship and cost I would not be pointing the slabs. If they are random shapes, yes, but I assume they are pre cast ordinary slabs. With these, no developer would point them, so why bother if they are your own?

modelreject

Was going to use these standard slabs 60x60...http://www.tobermore.co.uk/standard_flags.aspx

The area is already paved, just shoddy and old so wont need planning permission.

Did read that dot n dab was old school so was going to cover whole area. So this isn't going to be as inexpensive as I thought. A bag s slab is a lot. I calculate about 14 slabs needed.