[sclarke624]

hiya
We would like to lay a patio.  It will be on a lawn.  I believe our soil is sticky so I guess its clay but not sure.  

Question is we keep hearing and seeing on tv conflicting methods ie: lay screed, sand and then cement and slabs, or put cement directly on earth and then slabs.

What is the most practical and lasting method and perhaps the easiest,  cement straight on earth or dig out screed sand and cement :?:

It will of course be walked on but there is just the two of us and the dog.  It's quite an larea to be done I say patio but infact it is the whole Lawn we want to get rid of we have a corner bungalow so it goes around the building  although the depth is probably only about 10 and 12 foot by 40 and 20 foot in length.

Thanks

[shaun]

ok sclarke i will keep it simple for you
1st find your dampcourse joint on your house now the top of your slabs must be 2 bricks below this or more,
so you have the thickness of your slab say 50mm,then you have the depth of your screed or sand/cement say 75mm then you need 100mm of hardcore so thats 225mm thats how much you need to dig out below the second course of bricks under your dpc.
have a look at where the water will run to.
1 dig out to that depth
2 lay your hardcore level and compact it down with a wacker plate
3 i prefer to lay slabs on mortor thats about 4 sand to 1 cement with plastiser added.

dont skimp on the hardcore you will regret it in the long term when the clay/subsoil drys out and your new patio will start to sink.
it realy P***es me of when you see these make over shows laying slabs straight onto soil/clay,they look great when they have just been laid but give it a few months and it will be wobbly slabs galore(are you reading this mr titmarsh)

[Trillium]

Actually it's Mr Walsh who should be reading that.
I agree on the pack down first then cement mix or they'll be repeating it every few years, not to mention all the weeds that will get a good hold.  

[shaun]

well mr titmarsh let mr walsh do it  

[sclarke624]

Thanks
OH was just watching a tv programmme and said exactly as you

it realy P***es me of when you see these make over shows laying slabs straight onto soil/clay,they look great when they have just been laid but give it a few months and it will be wobbly slabs galore(are you reading this mr titmarsh)

Which is why I posted, I've been meaning to for a while but OH going into one watching a prog on tv reminded me think it was Handy Andy laying cement straight on soil and then a mesh of square cobbles and his mate was laying decking on bare soil no weed suppressant or anything.

Sounds like hard work OH is convinced he can do it himself, I'm not. We may be only 50 but he has a bad back and I have arthritis so I don't think it would be easy .............the slabs themselves will be heavy enough.

[SkipRat]

This is a brill site, and should have all the advice that you will need
http://www.pavingexpert.com/home.htm

[sclarke624]

Thanks for that skiprat just noticed the reply.  We might put quite a few beach size pebbles down and some flagstones...............when ever the OH gets the motivation.  We have done this in the front garden which isn't walked on really so didn't have to really go down the hardcore and digging out line and it looks in keeping as we are very near the beach.

PS we didn't nick the stones from the beach had to buy them £54 for a bulk bag 20/40 size gravel.

[skywalker]

Totally agree about not cutting corners - been there you will only regret it later. DO NOT lay the concrete straight onto your soil!!!