How much to lay a patio?

bloodline76

bloodline76

bloodline76

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Was doing my patio and dug out the foundations and filled with hardcore but I accidentally fractured my thumb on a paving stone so can't continue.

Someone (not a friend of family)offered to finish it off but not sure what a reasonable price is. I have all the materials. Just needs the hardcore leveling and then sand and pavers. 20 pavers but the heavy kind (that brake thumbs lol).

What would be a reasonsable price?
 
A lot depends on the size of the patio, but I would say somewhere between £500 to £1000.

How large are the paving stones?
 
Hi bloodline, i am a ground worker, so i should know what you are talking about :D
you say 20 pavers, are these slabs, i am guessing either 600 x 600 or 900 x 600
600 x 600 are 2.8 to a m2 (allow 3)
so i am guessing that with 20 of these you have an area of 6-7m2.
if so i could level and whack the hardcore (MOT type 1 i hope ;))
screed the sharp sand and lay the slabs easily in 1 day. even pointing the joints.
depends on how skilled he is.
but £100- £150 is plenty for an easy days work

edit.
also what materials have you?
1 tonne of hardcore will be enough for you to lay approx. 50mm depth over an area of 10m2.
1 tonne of sharp sand covers the same area at 50mm deep

if guess above is wrong, just tell me dimensions of patio
 
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j.col said:
Hi bloodline, i am a ground worker, so i should know what you are talking about :D
you say 20 pavers, are these slabs, i am guessing either 600 x 600 or 900 x 600
600 x 600 are 2.8 to a m2 (allow 3)
so i am guessing that with 20 of these you have an area of 6-7m2.
if so i could level and whack the hardcore (MOT type 1 i hope ;))
screed the sharp sand and lay the slabs easily in 1 day. even pointing the joints.
depends on how skilled he is.
but £100- £150 is plenty for an easy days work

edit.
also what materials have you?
1 tonne of hardcore will be enough for you to lay approx. 50mm depth over an area of 10m2.
1 tonne of sharp sand covers the same area at 50mm deep

if guess above is wrong, just tell me dimensions of patio
Click to expand...

Spot on. But I have 2 tons of each (might be over kill but this was the first time I done this). Thanks gives me a great idea of price now!

Labs are the 900x600x50mm ones.

Aprreciate it!
 
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bloodline76 said:
Spot on. But I have 2 tons of each (might be over kill but this was the first time I done this). Thanks gives me a great idea of price now!

Labs are the 900x600x50mm ones.

Aprreciate it!
Click to expand...
no probs
if they are 900 x 600 then there is roughly 2 to the m2
so the area is about 10m2
regarding the MOT, obviously if you put it in at 100mm deep then 10m2 will require 2 tons.
as its just a patio, and the heaviest thing on it will be you:p then 50mm of hardcore is plenty

a skilled ground worker would easily do that in about 5-6 hours, but its still a days work ;)
 
j.col said:
no probs
if they are 900 x 600 then there is roughly 2 to the m2
so the area is about 10m2
regarding the MOT, obviously if you put it in at 100mm deep then 10m2 will require 2 tons.
as its just a patio, and the heaviest thing on it will be you:p then 50mm of hardcore is plenty

a skilled ground worker would easily do that in about 5-6 hours, but its still a days work ;)
Click to expand...

Thanks again.

Does the harcore still need wacking down? Or are the pavers heavy enough to do that for a patio?
 
You want someone to lift a 600x900 concrete paving slab into place on his own? 2 man job to do safely.Expect it to be a little more money if you also factor in small plant ie wacker plate,stihl saw hire and maybe fuel to get the guy there.Also where you live would affect the price down south maybe 20 percent more than here up north.
200 quid plus would be my estimate. Unless you can find a friend and get mates rates.
 
bloodline76 said:
Thanks again.

Does the harcore still need wacking down? Or are the pavers heavy enough to do that for a patio?
Click to expand...

yes,
also if screeding sand, then the sand needs to be whacked as well.
but some people prefer to lay these big slabs on a wet mix of mortar, it will depend on the layers preference, but screeding is quicker and just as good.

usually when digging a patio, you need to dig out to a depth of approx. 6"
that way you will have a 2" layer of hardcore, 2" layer of sand and the slab is 2"

a string line can be invaluable here.
set it to the height you want at the house and run it to the height you want at the opposite side of patio, then when digging, just check depth with a tape.

also if possible, make sure there is a 'fall' in the slabs away from the house, to help water flow
 
Thanks to j.col for all this information... I am picking up some useful tips here! :)

I won't be doing the work myself, but am currently getting some quotes for relaying a patio (currently indian stone) of some 40 square metres, getting rid of a "wheel chair ramp" and incorporating a small single step down instead, which will give us a much larger area of useable space, so at least I now have a bit more of an idea as to what the various tradesmen are talking about!
 
Montala said:
Thanks to j.col for all this information... I am picking up some useful tips here! :)

I won't be doing the work myself, but am currently getting some quotes for relaying a patio (currently indian stone) of some 40 square metres, getting rid of a "wheel chair ramp" and incorporating a small single step down instead, which will give us a much larger area of useable space, so at least I now have a bit more of an idea as to what the various tradesmen are talking about!
Click to expand...

indian sandstone must be laid on full mortar bed, due to the different thickness of the slabs.
also take into consideration in the price, the lifting of the existing patio, prepearing the base and relaying of the slabs.

some usefull ino here for you and OP http://www.pavingexpert.com/layflag1.htm
 
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A very useful site indeed, as you say, thanks for the link.

One ground worker/hard landscaper, who came yesterday, said that he often lays stones on three 'strips' of motar, which doesn't sound like a lot better than 'spot bedding' to me!

When you say "a full mortar bed", presumably that is a wet, rather than a dry, mix?

One of our problems is that a lot of the old so called mortar between the joints has virtually turned to powder during the recent hard winter; many of the joints have cracked; some of the stones 'rock'; whilst others sound hollow when you tap them.

Hence the decision to have the whole lot relaid, and to take the opportunity of getting rid of the ramp at the same time.
 
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If they rock it sounds like they've been spot bedded.

I'm doing something similar but keeping it cheap, its about 5ish m2 using slightly smaller flags, 400x400, I've compacted the base and just waiting on a decent full day to get it done. I'm wondering though - can I just lay it on a sand cement mix? basically not a wet mix I'm told I can just lightly spray it with water after and leave it to set?
 
with sandstone, i use a wet(ish) mix.
i use building sand and cement at about 6:1 ratio,
its wet but not as wet as a brickie would use to lay bricks.

i would never spot or 3 strip, as this leaves space beneath the slabs, and water will eventually get in there, then you will have the annual freeze/thaw problems.

the trick with pointing is using a wettish mix with enough cement,
after much trial and error, imo the best method is.
3 x building sand, 1 x sharp sand and 1 x cement. (or if you use this good mix to lay the slabs. read the other tip below)
the consistency will be a little dryer then the mix you use to lay the slabs on
but every ground worker will have a different opinion.

personally i would never spot bed slabs.
a full bed is basically
cover area where slab is to be laid completely with mortar.
lay slab onto mortar.
wobble slab back and forwards while pushing down on slab, until the desired height is reached.
the mortar that has been squeezed up in the joints (if you used the good mix, then you can just rub this with a pointer, and the joint is pointed without having to do a special mix for this job) can be removed.
this way the slab is 100% bedded on a full mortar bed and you dont get rocking or hollow spots
 
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deleted said:
If they rock it sounds like they've been spot bedded.

I'm doing something similar but keeping it cheap, its about 5ish m2 using slightly smaller flags, 400x400, I've compacted the base and just waiting on a decent full day to get it done. I'm wondering though - can I just lay it on a sand cement mix? basically not a wet mix I'm told I can just lightly spray it with water after and leave it to set?
Click to expand...

not really.
you can do.
lay the sand and sprinkle cement on to it.
using a rake, rake the cement into the sand, so they mix.
compact the sand/cement mix.
then screed and lay slabs

or try the way in the post above with the wet mix. (especially with the economy thin slabs can vary in thickness)
 
I laid my patio last summer approx 30 sqm with 900x600 slabs.

Used a very similar method to j.col and laid 50m MOT1 hardcore across the site then 50m wet sand/cement mix and laid the slabs on this. I used a slightly wetter mix with 5:1 sand:cement mix and it pointed itself quite nicely from underneath with moarter being pushed up between the slabs.

It was originally spot bedded and a number of the slabs had cracked or wobbled and after a couple of years putting up with it and trying to fix it I just thought sod it and ripped the whole thing up.

I am not usually a DIY person but found it relatively straightforward if quite hard graft. Took me about 2 weeks working in the evenings by myself from start to finish.

If you are going to compact the hardcore then for the love of god get a powered compactor. I used a manual tamper and it took bloody ages and it felt like i had dislocated both arms by the time I was finished.

I founds the hardest part was getting the slope right on the first slab so it sloped away from the house. The rest went in pretty smooth after that.

/Salsa
 
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