Having a new patio laid and not sure it's being done correctly

moneybunny123

I'm currently having my patio relaid by a builder and his two helpers. Before he started the job, he quoted me 4 days labour, but then later said it may increase but his labour would cost "no more than £600". (We've bought all the slabs, cement, sand, etc)

He's been on the job now since yesterday morning. However, yesterday he didn't get much done as he didn't order enough hardcore or cement so I know that him and his mate spent a lot of the day hanging round.

Last night, my husband and I noticed that the new flags were coming up to just one brick below the damp proof course. We googled and found out that it should really be two bricks.

We asked him to start again. So today, at more cost to me (a skip and a breaker) they started to dig down deeper. After a couple of hours they gave up and said it was futile and that the best they would be able to manage was to have the flags one brick down from the top of the DPC, with the patio sloping away from the house. In addition, they also agreed to leave a 2 inch "drainage gap". The front of our house (path) is also only 1 brick below the DMP and wasn't laid by this guy but was like that when we bought the house. We've had no damp issues round the front.

But my worry is that this fella is cutting corners. Should he indeed be digging down much further and putting the proper base of hardcore in to still get the slabs a full 2 bricks below?

He and his mates have been on the job for the best part of 2 days (including lots of breaks and trips out). If I pulled him off the job could we refuse to pay him on the basis he's not done the correct job? We never received a written quote and
I've not signed anything.

They don't even appear to be doing it properly (I'm no expert). There is no string with anchors showing the level. They're just doing a bit at a time - digging, whackering, more whackering, laying.

It's making me feel sick! The last thing I want is to upset the guy - he seems like a nice guy. But we're talking over a grand's worth of materials here and I'm not sure he's doing it right. Can someone offer some advice, please??

WestonDave

How tall are your bricks - the site I usually look at recommends 150mm below as best practice and as little as 75mm if the extra digging out isn't justified. Now on our house with large block walls one brick is getting pretty near 150mm, but I guess on a house built of London style brick one brick is nearer the 75mm.

The reason for having the patio below the DPC is to stop any crossover due to splashback - i.e. where the rain hits the slab and bounces up and hits the wall above the DPC - however any rain which comes straight at the wall is going to hit it there anyway - which is why you have a cavity in your wall! As you say you've not had a problem at the front so its unlikely to be a big problem with this.

can't comment on the rest of the construction method although I have seen a council pavement laid a bit at a time as they are doing with yours and it ended up the best looking pavement I've ever seen - absolutely flat level right down the street. To some extent once you've got one slab flat, you can level the next one off it and so on.

This site is useful - http://www.pavingexpert.com/dpc01.htm

moneybunny123

Our bricks are just your standard house bricks - so I'm guessing they're 75mm.