Repaving a garden path

bainbridge · 2 Sep 2024 at 09:19

Hi all

It's just a short path from the driveway, along the front of the house to the front door.

I did a patio in the back garden using Indian sandstone (I have leftovers), so I know what to do with this material, but I just have a couple of questions which I hope the ocuk hive mind can help with.

Firstly, when painting the sbr slurry on the back of the slab, can I let it dry completely before laying?

The reason I ask is because if a slab ever needs lifting to provide utility services to the house, I want this to be possible without destroying the path.

So, the plan is to paint the sbr slurry to the back of the slabs and let it dry, then mix a slightly weak mortar mix to bed the slabs on the sub base.

I have some fancy resin jointing compound for the joints.

If a slab ever needs to come up, I can lever it up with a bar and knock the weak mix off, then re-bed it afterwards.

It'll be a high foot traffic area so I want the mix to he strong enough to take people without slabs starting to rock, but weak enough to get slabs up if needed.

How does this sound as a plan?

Fringe · 2 Sep 2024 at 09:35

You dont need to sbr if your letting it dry , tbh if you think you are going to need to pop it i wouldnt bother applying it to that one.
What is it that this slab will be covering ? a manhole ?

200sols · 2 Sep 2024 at 09:38

The slab is either bonded to base or it is not. You use the slurry while it is wet. Your plan sounds like a compromise for a situation that will likely never arise.

bainbridge · 2 Sep 2024 at 10:15

It's not covering a manhole or anything, but the path is going along the front of the house so the water supply, electricity and drains all run underneath the path.

If I'm going to the trouble of laying a nice path I want to be able to lift a slab or two with minimum hassle.

If I allow the sbr to dry, then I'm thinking it will still provide that barrier to stop the slabs discoloring from below, while being easier to remove if needed.

Fringe · 2 Sep 2024 at 10:18

bainbridge said:
If I allow the sbr to dry, then I'm thinking it will still provide that barrier to stop the slabs discoloring from below, while being easier to remove if needed.

SBR just helps the Flag stay put down. The salts from the Cement mix will still come through after letting them go off. my advice would be leave the SBR from the flags that will need to be lifted. then one the flags of have been down for 6 months pressure wash thoroughly let it dry then get a sealer from screwfix and paint the flags in it to keep the colour.

bainbridge · 2 Sep 2024 at 10:40

Fringe said:
SBR just helps the Flag stay put down. The salts from the Cement mix will still come through after letting them go off. my advice would be leave the SBR from the flags that will need to be lifted. then one the flags of have been down for 6 months pressure wash thoroughly let it dry then get a sealer from screwfix and paint the flags in it to keep the colour.

I think SBR does provide a barrier to stop stains coming up from underneath if it's painted on as a fifty fifty sbr/cement slurry.

I'm just wondering if it would have the same effect if allowed to dry first.

Fringe · 2 Sep 2024 at 10:50

i have done a lot of patios in my old job and now on weekends i can tell you it doesn't. SBR just increases the adhesive strength of the join between the Flag and the cement.

but if it you want to add it just let it dry over night to go off fully

bainbridge · 2 Sep 2024 at 11:10

Fringe said:
i have done a lot of patios in my old job and now on weekends i can tell you it doesn't. SBR just increases the adhesive strength of the join between the Flag and the cement.

but if it you want to add it just let it dry over night to go off fully

Thanks for your input. The patio in the back garden is 3-4 years old and shows no signs of cement staining, but admittedly I do give it a good scrub every spring with a bucket of water with 1% bleach to kill off winter algae/mould, so I might have scrubbed the staining away by now.

That sbr is such strong stuff, the patio I did has not budged.

Also I tend to over engineer things, and it would be just my luck that the water board would need to dig up my garden just after I've laid the path

Fringe · 2 Sep 2024 at 11:16

bainbridge said:
Thanks for your input. The patio in the back garden is 3-4 years old and shows no signs of cement staining, but admittedly I do give it a good scrub every spring with a bucket of water with 1% bleach to kill off winter algae/mould, so I might have scrubbed the staining away by now.

That sbr is such strong stuff, the patio I did has not budged.

Also I tend to over engineer things, and it would be just my luck that the water board would need to dig up my garden just after I've laid the path

No worries , The cleaning once a year will be the reason your not seeing anything on that back patio.

SBR was created and became a industry standard for laying by marshell standards. its one of the best things ever i have had flags where i have had to take it back up after it had gone off and the Flag has broken with the amount of stick it has.

and yes i think that would be my luck as well.