Garden advice. Paving.

Fabulouso

Hello
I had an old flower bed down the side of my garden. It's only about 95cm wide. It's next to the path so I want to pave it to match as best as poss. It probably will only need 45-50 slabs and I was thinking of doing it myself

There's just soil there now. Some of the quotes I've had have blown me away! Does anyone have any advice?

Correct me if I'm wrong, I think I have to..

Take away some of the soil
Put some mortar/stones down
Top it with a sand and dry concrete mix
Lay the slab
(Making sure its level etc)

If anyone has any ways I can cut cost or things I can or should do... Please help

Thankyou

stebiz

Fabulouso wrote: »

Hello
I had an old flower bed down the side of my garden. It's only about 95cm wide. It's next to the path so I want to pave it to match as best as poss. It probably will only need 45-50 slabs and I was thinking of doing it myself

There's just soil there now. Some of the quotes I've had have blown me away! Does anyone have any advice?

Correct me if I'm wrong, I think I have to..

Take away some of the soil
Put some mortar/stones down
Top it with a sand and dry concrete mix
Lay the slab
(Making sure its level etc)

If anyone has any ways I can cut cost or things I can or should do... Please help

Thankyou

I'd go along with that and probably put a plastic membrane down too. Only cheap but will stop the weeds coming through as much.

Inch_High_2

stebiz wrote: »

I'd go along with that and probably put a plastic membrane down too. Only cheap but will stop the weeds coming through as much.

Membrane is a waste of time, if laid right and pointed weeds won't be an issue.

I_have_spoken

Does anyone have any advice?

10mm-20mm gravel over weed membrane would be far, far easier as DIY proposition

martinthebandit

Is the existing path slabs or concrete?

If its concrete I would be tempted to hire myself a mixer and concrete the rest.

If its slabs then I would agree with 'I Have Spoken'

Jonesya

There's an excellent website dedicated to paving, it explains it better than any forum post can!

http://www.pavingexpert.com/home.htm

olias

Laying 50 paving slabs accurately - ie neatly, level and well pointed is a huge task for a DIY novice, not to mention expensive and very time consuming. I would definately look at just digging out, and putting a weed membrane and gravel down.

Olias

debbiereynolds76

Putting down paving is a skill that a DIY novice simply does not have.

To cut costs dig out the required amount of soil and then get a handyman with experience with paving to put down the hard core, then compact it, and then put down the paving over a plastic membrane to stop weeds

andrewf75

debbiereynolds76 wrote: »

Putting down paving is a skill that a DIY novice simply does not have.

It can't be that hard!
The internet is full of detailed instructions how to do it.

Its not rocket science

Ebe_Scrooge

andrewf75 wrote: »

It can't be that hard!
The internet is full of detailed instructions how to do it.

Its not rocket science

It's not hard, I've done it myself many times. Very time consuming, but if you take your time, make sure everything is at the correct level at all times, be patient - as you say, it's not rocket science. I've laid patios at two of my previous houses, where I needed a slight fall away from the house to let the water drain off. Getting the correct gradient across the whole area is trickier than laying a perfectly level area, but still do-able if you take your time, especially in the preparation stages.

And yes, that Paving Expert website is very good for tons of information.