Paving

Paving

"Paving the way to your home" 

What is Paving?

The definition of paving is an area of ground covered with a hard surface, especially one in which bricks or blocks of stone form a pattern.

Paving Products
 

Marshalls Fairstone Range
Marshalls Natural Slate
Marshalls Eclipse Granite
Marshalls Coach House Paving
Marshalls Heritage Paving
Marshalls Argent Paving

Tools you will need to install a patio

 Spirit Levels, Cement, Hose Pipe, Builders Square, Bucket, rubber mallet, space, sponge, wheelbarrow, string, screeding float, pointing trowel.

Measuring your patio

 In order to find out how many packs of paving you will need to buy you need to calculate the area of your patio in square metres.

Marking out your patio

To mark out your patio you will need your wooden pegs, builders square and your string.  With these three tools you need to transfer your plan on to the ground. Mark lines on your pegs to indicate the depth of the patio (this is to include the finished level of hardcore, bedding mortar and the surface of the patio slabs). The top line needs to be level with any existing paving and manhole covers. You also need to allow for a gradual slope away from the house when inserting your pegs.

Preparation

You need to remove any old paving, plants or turf and then dig down to a depth of 150mm to allow for the foundations. You then need a lay a level of hardcore with a depth of about 50mm over your patio - this will provide a solid base for your slabs. Using your rake you need to distribute the hardcore evenly and remove any bumps. Hiring a wacker is always advisable to compress the hardcore to give a solid base.

Mortar Bed

Mixing your mortar on a plastic sheet is always advisable to keep your area nice and tidy. Mortar should consist of 3 shovels of building sand, 1 shovel of soft sand and 1 shovel of cement. This should then be mixed gradually with water until the mixture is wet. Add the mortar to the patio to a depth of 25mm ensuring you compact it to level using a screeding float trowel, making sure the thickness is even.

Setting the Fall

Paved areas must have a slight slope or fall so that surface water drains away. Generally, it is only necessary to have a fall in one direction: the surface in the other direction can be level.

Laying Your Paving

Make sure that your mortar has a fall of 1 in 80 ready for the slab. Wet the back of the paving slab and then carefully lay it on top of the mortar. Wetting the slabs make it easier to slide into position. Using the rubber mallet and a piece of timber, tap the slab into poisiton. If there are any gaps under the slab, fill it with mortar, cutting it flush with the edge as you go.

Lay the first row of your papving in the direction of the fall. Depending on the paving you are using leave 10mm spacers in the joints. Once the first row is complete, repeat bby laying the next row of slabs adjacent to the outer edges and then fill in the central area, working row by row. As you go, keep checking that the fall is correnct and that the slabs are level in both directions

Pointing

Before pointing you need to leave the mortar to set for 48 hours before walking on the slabs. If it has been raining and the slabs are wet or it looks as if it is to rain, wait for a drier day.

Choose your pointing solution, we recommend Marshalls weathpoint or easipoint. If using weatherpoint all you need to do is brush the pointing solution into the joints and this will set hard. If using easipoint you will need to point in the solution with a pointing gun and then push down the mix down firmly with a trowel, wet the whole surface to make the mortar set.

Formby, Southport, Liverpool North, Wirral, Widnes, Liverpool South, St.Helens, Tameside, Warrington, Trafford, Chester, Wigan, Cheshire