New Patio am I being unreasonable?

Rosa_Damascena

I love how much I am learning about patios from this thread

Ballymoney

SteveVy said:

Thanks all any ideas on how much I should be paying to get this repaired? (more than likely relaid again)

The area is just under 30sqm2 , I've had one quote over the phone of £3K...to do the work.

I've got a few more quotes booked in for next week.

As I said earlier, it depends what they are quoting for. You need to pin them down on this. If it is to just re-lay the same slabs on the same bed of sand then £3k is way overpriced and a waste of your time. If it is to excavate, create a layer of compacted sub-base, then lay the patio on a full bed of mortar then £3k is in the right area.

twopenny

From the looks point of view that looks fine.
Your problem will be with loose ones. Being laid edge to edge hard to get one out without disturbing the others. Especially if the underneath isn't tough.
But it is what it is now unless you want to get into a lot of stress and agrivation.
If you do want to change your payment then how many slabs are definitely loose?
 You need a couple of reliable witnesses to see that and agree because,even if they lost a day and materials through their own fault they are going to be annoyed and it may turn legal.

DB1904

noitsnotme said:

SteveVy said:

noitsnotme said:

So they’ve just laid the slabs on top of sand?  Wow!  

I’ve just had 2 patios laid by a fantastic team of guys. They properly prepared and compacted a thick hardcore base and then bedded the slabs in a thick bed of mortar, using levels and rubber mallets to adjust the slabs to the correct height.

My patios will last for years, yours is likely to look like it’s been hit by an earthquake in no time at all and you’ll be plagued with weeds coming up between the slabs.

I did question this but then I saw this...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z8G0RjpLU1c

It’s a nice easy way of doing it DIY but not if you want it to last.  The comment your builder made of “you won’t get any better anywhere else” is laughable!  Real professionals will do it properly which is NOT the way they’ve done yours.

For example - https://blog.primethorpepaving.co.uk/can-you-lay-paving-slabs-on-building-sand

“This is not a guide on how to lay paving slabs on sand, because long story short, you shouldn't!”

Even B&Qs ‘how to’ shows how to do it properly - https://www.diy.com/ideas-advice/how-to-lay-a-patio/PROD_npcart_100439.art

Its not the modern way to lay a patio but there's are 1000's of council footpaths that have lasted for years laid on sand.