Fixing garden paving

[Deleted User]

Bless him. My cheap handyman that is. Though he's a really nice guy, available and up front with his pricing, he's best left for jobs that require zero fitness.

I was going to get a specialist to power wash my garden slabs but he mentioned it was something he could do and against my better judgement used him. Long story short, he's blasted away the soil in-between the slabs, leaving massive gaps and the area quite muddy.

What's the best way to fix this? I saw on some sites people were filling it in with sand. Not too sure how that works. Thinking of getting someone to come over and do it properly. 

Slightly separate question. The gap between the fence annoys me and I was going to fill it with rocks. A cheaper option will be to fill it with sand and put the rocks on top. Any issues doing that? 

koalakoala

The soil between the slabs will always get blasted away,. Usually people fill with cement mix or sand

[Deleted User]

On the second picture, what will be best to fill in the gaps? Sand or little rocks? 

grumbler

IMO, neither.

Remove the remaining soil/dirt and fill the gaps with dry mix of sharp sand and cement, then gently spray it with water. Or just use wet mix - mortar.

Not sure about the proportion. 6:1?

I think you can add small rocks to the mix.

FreeBear

grumbler said: Remove the remaining soil/dirt and fill the gaps with dry mix of sharp sand and cement, then gently spray it with water. Or just use wet mix - mortar.

Not sure about the proportion. 6:1?

I think you can add small rocks to the mix.

If it is just decorative, you could probably get away with a 10:1 mix of sand:cement. If you were to add small rocks (pebbles) to the mix, then yes, drop to a 6:1 mix.

[Deleted User]

FreeBear said:

grumbler said: Remove the remaining soil/dirt and fill the gaps with dry mix of sharp sand and cement, then gently spray it with water. Or just use wet mix - mortar.

Not sure about the proportion. 6:1?

I think you can add small rocks to the mix.

If it is just decorative, you could probably get away with a 10:1 mix of sand:cement. If you were to add small rocks (pebbles) to the mix, then yes, drop to a 6:1 mix.

Anything pre mixed I can buy? 

stuart45

For a small patch like that you can get pre mixed bags. I wouldn't go for something expensive like easy joint.

Eldi_Dos

Deleted_User said:

On the second picture, what will be best to fill in the gaps? Sand or little rocks? 

If you clean out soil that is still there then put pea gravel in gaps between slabs it would do especially if you continued along base of fence.

FreeBear

Deleted_User said:

FreeBear said:

grumbler said: Remove the remaining soil/dirt and fill the gaps with dry mix of sharp sand and cement, then gently spray it with water. Or just use wet mix - mortar.

Not sure about the proportion. 6:1?

I think you can add small rocks to the mix.

If it is just decorative, you could probably get away with a 10:1 mix of sand:cement. If you were to add small rocks (pebbles) to the mix, then yes, drop to a 6:1 mix.

Anything pre mixed I can buy? 

Much better to mix your own using sharp sand. Buying pre-mixed, you have no control over cement ratios or sand type. But if you only have a very small area to do, a bulk bag of sand (800Kg) and a bag of cement (25Kg) is not really practical. Mixing by hand can also be a challenge - I found using a wheelbarrow and dry mixing with a rake before adding water to be about the easiest way (now have a cheap cement mixer).

https://www.diy.com/departments/tarmac-multipurpose-ready-mixed-mortar-25kg-bag/135772_BQ.prd appears to be about the most reasonably priced product available at the moment - No details on the ratio of sand:cement, but it does say it can be used for bedding paving. As with any cement mix, it needs time to reach full strength (typically, 28 days), so don't expect it to be rock hard the following day and try not to walk on it for about a week.

[Deleted User]

Eldi_Dos said:

Deleted_User said:

On the second picture, what will be best to fill in the gaps? Sand or little rocks? 

If you clean out soil that is still there then put pea gravel in gaps between slabs it would do especially if you continued along base of fence.

Thanks. What's the issue with leaving the soil and putting the sand on top?