building patio step

Ruski

Just another note: using a sharp sand mix mortar for the actual brick laying probably won't look the best and will be harder to lay with. For the sake of a couple of quid, even though you have loads of sharp left over, I would recommend a couple of packs of building sand for the actual laying.

HTH

Russ

andrewf75

Thanks all,
Russ, would you recommend leaving the gap or not?
presumably if no gap you would mortar the bricks to the existing wall?

Ruski

Personally I wouldn't, but then again I'd be backfilling the void anyway - if you've a load of small rubble, maybe even a couple of blocks, use that to backfill and have a solid step - then any fears of little critters living under there will disappear... unless they've evolved to building mini-breakers for mice tunnelling!!


HTH

Russ

andrewf75

I have loads of large rubble which I could smash up I suppose

so in your opinion no damp issues with mortaring the bricks to the house?

Ruski

None if the step is below dpc anyway.

I'm trying to find a photo of one i did just before christmas....

Russ

Ruski

or try

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1mdwRIQwvrDXx6Q9BzcuVQtWfcMFyuIZ53w/view?usp=sharing


Not the best example... see if you can spot the deliberate mistake....

Russ

cajef

When I did mine I used some spare breeze blocks I had to make a solid base to put the paving slabs on and left a small 1/2" gap even though it was below the DPC.

andrewf75

Thanks thats really helpful to see a photo.

Maybe I should have mentioned my step will be 5 slabs long (45cm slabs) as its bi fold doors. Does this much greater area being above the standard 150mm DPC clearance make a difference?