Laying antique pavers
Tera
3 years ago
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3 years agomad_gallica (z5 Eastern NY)
3 years agolast modified: 3 years agoRelated Discussions
Laying pavers on dried concrete with control joints
Comments (10)One thing I see on a fairly regular basis in this forum is someone showing up with a preconceived desire to proceed with a faulty scheme, or one that is only partially "baked." I can't tell yet if this is what is coming. Elbow, why do you want to lower the grade around the back door and create more of a step? (Usually, people desire less steps rather than more so it would be good to explain the reasoning behind the desire.) In lowering the grade, it will become important to know how the grade outside of the project area interfaces with that which is within. Of course, we can't see ANY of that and it has not been explained to us. This is not a question about water which gets into the joints between pieces of stone. It's about the much greater volume of water that doesn't get in and must run off. In the last picture, what you are showing is what most of us would call some sort of "flagstone" ... relatively flat, broad pieces of irregular shape. My own thoughts about this is that thin flagstone does not really make good paving when installed on a sand base (regardless of whether there is concrete under it, or not.) If you walk on packed beach sand, you'll notice that your feet leave an imprint because the pressure of your foot is enough to cause a shift of unprotected sand. While flagstone protects the sand layer SOME, it is THIN and CAN shift in small degrees (usually in a rocking motion) when pressure is applied and depending on the state of moisture content in the sand base. It can shift due to the action of freezing and thawing. Over time, these small shifts can add up to a cattywampus and not very pretty surface ... not the kind of thing you'd want, really, for a rock solid 100-year old barn and nice house. Thin flagstone makes a much better -- durable even -- paving surface if it is mortared directly on top of a concrete slab ... without any sand embedment layer at all. But this kind of installation, while not impossible as a DIY project, requires some learning and skill so is usually left to someone already with experience. Using this size project to "learn" on might be asking a bit much of one's self. It would be MUCH easier -- much, much easier -- to install a normal thickness (2 3/8" or greater) regular paving unit on an aggregate base: bricks, concrete pavers, uniformly cut stones, etc., if that's the type of base one wishes and if their experience is limited. One would still need to learn something, but it is much easier to develop skill for that than it is to develop skills at mortaring in flat work. You could use steel mesh in a concrete slab, but it would be pointless in paving laid on sand. I'm going to guess that the appeal of the flagstone is that you have access to it at a reasonable price ... but the other end of the equation is that its installation will be expensive (even if only in your labor the amount of time you must put in to learn, and the risk-factor of a potential botch.) As far as water that penetrates into the soil or below the paving ... consider that the soil is basically an ALWAYS DAMP medium. That's why the grade outside of a building cannot be raised to too high an elevation. If the grade is too high, the only solution is reducing it. Also, the grade around a building must be graded such that water runs away from the building (it is usually said for 10', but it depends to some degree on surrounding conditions.) If the grade elevation around the building is acceptable, then there is no reason to worry about the soil having some dampness. It's the way it is. What one should worry about is moving the excess rain water the heck away from the house ASAP. In the case of this paving, if you get the surface to drain properly, there is nothing to be concerned about with a little water entering between paving stones. The idea that you can put down a slightly subsurface waterproofing membrane to take care of water penetrating the soil is more likely to cause problems than solve them. It's not needed. And you wouldn't want to create a layer of water that has no real route of escape....See Moreyour comments regarding laying paver on old concrete patio
Comments (1)forgot the picture...See MoreI want to lay pavers where kids bbq is located. what’s best way if ne
Comments (5)There's not necessarily a need to "break up" the concrete, but no reason not to, either. Adding pavers instead of more unadorned concrete brings an opportunity to add a decorative element to the patio. Depending on the details, some ways of doing it could look better than others, as if designed to be that way from the beginning. One possibility is to add pavers that are plain concrete color. Thus, you would have an overall same color patio but with a patterned mid-section. Another possibility would be to have a contrasting color and use that same paver to border the existing slabs. There would be additional possibilities for the infill area of using a contrast color field framed with a light grey (concrete color) border .... or the reverse of it ... or some similar variant. Play with possibilities on paper first (or using Microsoft Paint.) Once something likable is achieved, get paver samples to view on site. In MS Paint, you can draw a rectangle with the rectangle tool in a split second. You can draw another rectangle inside it. Use copy and paste to many copies of the plan. Then you can use the colors and paint bucket tool to change the rectangles into any color you want in another split second. Literally any color is available in the "Edit Colors" menu....See MoreLaying pavers over buried block footings from demolished garage?
Comments (3)The reason footings work and don't shift is because they are part of a larger system that keeps them in place. Once left on their own, they will move around with frost heaves. I'm in North Carolina, US and our climate is not nearly as cold as yours. My neighbor took out an inground swimming pool and left some of the wall material in the ground to take the less expensive route. It is now a major problem for them as things keep shifting and their back yard has sink holes some big some small but it's problematic. My parable...I was renovating an old house and was getting exterior painting estimates. The painter asked me, "Do you want it done or do you want it done right?" Do it right, take out what you need to take out to resolve the problem....See MoreFori
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