Hi everyone, i hope you are all well during these unprecedented times :-). I know people may be spending a lot of time at home and perhaps you would like a project to keep you busy and also get your garden ready for the summer (hopefully it will be a good one).
So today i thought i would talk a little about laying a patio yourself and what materials you need to do this. Firstly we are still taking orders and are doing our best to get orders out via a courier service. The first thing to decide is whether you would like to use manufactured products such as our standard paving slabs/brick or if you would prefer to use natural stone products such as granite, limestone, basalt or sandstone.
Preparation is the most important part when completing your patio area. The first step is to clear the area and to ensure that the area is level. The next step will be your base which is hardcore/804. The hardcore goes in and levelled out and then if possible use a whacker plate to compact the hardcore. The amount of hardcore required varies for each individual project however an approximate amount is between 75-100mm. Once the base is complete this is your foundation ready to lay your slabs. The next step depends on which material you decide to use so i will go through them separately.
If you are using manufactured products – As all manufactured slabs and bricks are the same depth you can lay this on a base of paving sand which goes over your hardcore base. Again the amount of paving sand required varies however an approximate amount would be between 20-50mm. The paving sand must then be levelled out ready for the slabs to go on top. The paving slabs/brick are then laid on top of the paving sand side by side with no gaps. Once this is completed you finish by brushing dry sand in between the joints of the slabs. This is to prevent weeds from coming up the through the joints. If you power wash your patio area a later stage you will need to dry sand again.
If you are using natural stone products – All natural stone paving vary in depth so no two pieces are the same therefore it is recommended to lay this paving on a wet mortar mix. By doing this is allows you to keep your patio area level as you can embed each slab to the same level as the next one. To make a wet mortar mix you mix sand, cement and water. For a patio area it is approximately 10 parts sand to 1 part cement so for example if you have a bulk bag of concrete sand you would need 10 bags of cement. For natural stone installation you put enough wet mortar down in the shape of your slab over the hardcore base and lay one slab at a time. You also leave a gap between each slab to allow for grout at the end. Once this is completed do not walk over the paving for a least one day to allow the mortar to set. Once the patio area is set then you can grout the paving area. Our grout comes in buff yellow, light grey and dark grey. It comes in buckets for easy application. Its super easy as you wet the area slightly, tip the bucket out on top of the paving area, sweep it in to all the joints (make sure you press down over the joints to secure the grout, we use a piece of garden hose) and then brush the excess off diagonally across the joints so that you don’t sweep it back out. Once this is all complete you will have a maintenance free and everlasting patio area.
Another important aspect of completing patio areas and driveways is that they all will require drainage. You can achieve this by having a slight fall in the paving area which will lead the water to a drain otherwise the water will gather on the surface of your paving area and this can cause short and long term problems.
You can check out our paving on our website here!
I hope this information is helpful and if you require any further information our phone lines are still in operation (0469551953) from 9am – 6pm Monday to Saturday and 12-6pm on Sundays. We would love to hear from you.
Stay home and stay safe,
From the MVStone Team 🙂