How do I lay Natural Stone?
See our expert advice below
1. Prepare the site - Dig out the area to be paved, ensuring adequate fall is allowed for drainage away from any abutting buildings, to ensure water does not stand on paved area after rain. A fall of about 1:100 should suit most situations.
2. Lay the sub base - When using our recommended jointing compound, it is imperative that a firm, but FREE DRAINING sub base is prepared before laying slabs.
This should be 75-100mm of Type 1 Sub Base
We recommend that to cover an area with 75mm depth of sub base you will need 1 tonne of material for every 9 sqm. Once laid , compress the sub base into position using a plate-wacker, ensuring a good firm surface is achieved. Failure to do so will result in trapped water underneath the patio resulting in cracking and subsidence.
3. Some paving should be sealed before laying - Very pale paving, particularly our products such as Ivory mint, cotswold buff sandstone and York stone benefits from being sealed before the paving is laid.
4. Which way up? When laying our stone you will notice that there is a graded tapered edge, making one surface larger than the other. For a more uniform surface, it is recommended that these slabs should be laid with the more even, larger surface uppermost. When using our Sawn Paving, the edges are straight, but the underside is calibrated making it obvious which way is meant to be uppermost.
5. How to lay the paving slabs - We recommend slabs be laid on a full bed of wet mortar as this enables you to adjust individual slabs allowing for any variations in thickness. We recommend wet mortar is made using mixed soft sand – a 50/50 mix of soft and sharp sand, and cement at a ratio of 5:1 with adequate water to create a firm but wet rather than damp mortar. We advise using this particular sand mix to create the ideal medium for your natural stone slabs to be laid on. We advise this as 100% soft sand, used by some builders, can create problems, as the wet mix doesn’t have the strength to support the pavers whilst wet.
6. Tamping natural stone slabs into position - After placement of paving slabs onto the wet mortar bed, they should be tamped into position using a rubber mallet, tapping firmly on each corner whilst checking the level in each direction as you go. The wet mortar is quite forgiving at this stage, and this helps the placement of the slabs in the perfect position. If you are laying very light coloured paving, it is advisable to use a white rubber mallet to avoid unnecessary marking.
7. Jointing gaps between laid paving slabs - As you position slabs, leave pointing gaps of 10-15mm between each slab. The graded edge becomes an important part of the final strength of the structure. As the mortar sets around the slab.With Sawn Paving it is possible to reduce the pointing gap to 3-5mm.
For laying patterns or inspiration talk with our team today!
