landscape gardening??

[johnakay]

just got these in today to do our garden.
they're laying sand stone pavings etc.
my understanding is that the ground is dug up and hard core is lad down.
then a layer of concret and pavings on top before its set.
this what they have done so far. there was a load of pebbles on the garden that I had for a path.
what they have done is to spread it out ,flatted it inc bits of broken concrete.
now the silly bugger said its ok for foundation and I said its not.
warned him you wont get paid if its not done right.
what do you think.....

 

[Wendelspanswick]

It all depends on what was there before and how firm it is.
If it was a lawn you would remove the turf and top soil down to the undisturbed sub soil before doing your base.

 

[Stingray]

I would be very very wary, they should dig down to sub soil as Wendelspanswick say, then put blinding down to and run vibrating plate over the top, I laid My and stone paving on 3” of semi dry concrete, also check the levels they are laying flags at correct height for drainage, etc, I would also make sure that finished level is below Damp proof course.
Do you know the contractor through word of mouth or was it a leaflet through the letterbox job?

 

[Bryan Williams]

I think your garden might be on portrait mate..

 

[johnakay]

a little misunderstanding on my part blame my hearing or lack of
digging it all out and a good layer of dolomite /concrete etc.
and yes below the damp course.phew.
feel a little relief.lol

 

[Rocketman]

Probably too late now but judging by the enclosed look sandstone paving may end up being a real pain. It is the worst stone there is for algae growth and if the base underneath isn't porous the problem is worse.

Make sure they put a decent fall when laying them. Towards the max fall recommend for paving this should help.

 

[johnakay]

it'll have some sort of coating on it and it will have 10 year warranty on it.
dolomite is porus I believe.

 

[Stingray]

it'll have some sort of coating on it and it will have 10 year warranty on it.
dolomite is porus I believe.

I was told when I laid my paving not to coat it as you are making something maintenance free into something that has to be maintained/recoated, my work colleague coated his and it ended up patchy and milky looking, I pressure wash mines, some other people use sodium hypochlorite

 

[brightspark]

I was told when I laid my paving not to coat it as you are making something maintenance free into something that has to be maintained/recoated, my work colleague coated his and it ended up patchy and milky looking, I pressure wash mines, some other people use sodium hypochlorite

block paving must be left 6 month before coating with resin sealer or that's what happens

 

[Bryan Williams]

Jeyes fluid is good on aglae,works on decking as well.

 

[johnakay]

similar to this(not block paving.)

 

[aguycalledsteve]

I work for an old guy on a saturday mornings mowing lawns and doing general handyman jobs. He has this style of stone on his patio. Looks lovely when it's clean. I must power wash it at least twice year because of moss/algae build up in the indentations of the slabs.

 

[johnakay]

as for moss/algae any kind of stones will get it.
I clean my drive once every year because of this.

 

[johnakay]

laying pavings now.the concrete is about 4" or 5" deep.

 

[Turbo]

What are they going to point it with? Some use a thin mortar mixture but I've had better success with a dry mix of sand & cement. It's less messy, especially on pale stone. You brush the mix into the joint, press it in if you can and in dry weather sprinkle it with water but at this time of the year the rain will be enough!

 

[eLuSiVeMiTe]

laying pavings now.the concrete is about 4" or 5" deep.

Everyone's a critic and all that but ideally straight lines are a big no with this kind of paving. Never more than 3 big slabs long without breaking the line and no crosses.

 

[eLuSiVeMiTe]

What are they going to point it with? Some use a thin mortar mixture but I've had better success with a dry mix of sand & cement. It's less messy, especially on pale stone. You brush the mix into the joint, press it in if you can and in dry weather sprinkle it with water but at this time of the year the rain will be enough!

I Always used a damp point mix. Damp enough to make a sandcastle and smooth well with small flat trowels. Hate seeing them done with boning irons. Use small sections of ply to manipulate it into the joints as neatly as possible and compress it well before pointing. Brush the excess off when dry.

Resin seems to be the popular choice these days. Personally I think it looks crap.

 

[eLuSiVeMiTe]

Like so.

 

[slim_boy_fat]

but at this time of the year the rain will be enough!

Don't you mean 'too much'?

 

[johnakay]

this is what they have done so far.
I'm not so sure about the middle bit,wife likes it but I get the feeling they've cut corners on certain things.
they had an old bloke(in his 70's) and he said that having boarders wont look right because of the fence post(concrete) will make them uneven.
as for filling the joint??I dont know what they'll use but I will not accept dry joint as mention above.
I had that done on the side of the house when another worker did just that and it never set so had to do it myself a year later.
getting back to the middle I think I prefer bricks than what it is now.
they said it wouldn't look nice with coping stones on top ...end of.
looked into the web sight they have bricks with out these on top.
so I can't see why they can't do this.
I think grey bluey or charcoal colour would look nice and a bit of contrast to the rest of the stone work.
and lastly they did the fencing and only put 2 beams in each section to me it should have 3 not just two.
so I'll be having words with them on monday. I've not paid and wont till I'm satisfied .
oh and before anyone says yes its off centre ,we wanted that to clear the washing line.