Creating your ideal ‘5th Room’: Laying a patio

Refreshing, updating or redesigning your garden for summer can be very exciting. Landscaping your garden is the ideal way to create the perfect “5th room” to your garden. You already have the kitchen, bathroom, living room and bedroom sorted. Now its time to get outdoors. Like all the rooms in the house creating a beautiful space to enjoy that also offers practical and functional benefits.

Summer may well be upon us, and it is not unheard of DIYers among us to think what is the quickest, easiest and cheapest way to get our gardens up to scratch and ready to entertain, enjoy and play. The Classic decorative paving patio is a firm favourite during summertime. A decorative yet durable attractive patio area, ideal for hosting Barbecues. Easy to build, maintain, clean and great value for money. A solid base is required to ensure cracks don’t appear after harsh winter.

Paving Patio instructions

Prepare prepare prepare…..

• Paving slabs come in a variety of sizes and colours and can be laid in a variety of shapes. We have a range of shapes, styles and colours to suit all requirements for both functional and fashion requirements.

• We recommend once you have chosen your desired patio kit or slabs that you lay them out in position so that you can double check measurements. Take a photo for reference

• If you are going to situate the patio directly next to the house, lay it so that it is 15cm below the damp proof course. Also, to ensure rainwater runs off in the correct direction. The patio should have “a fall” that runs away from the house and any out buildings. A 1:60 ratio is ideal. 1.6cm per 1 metre fall is generally what is recommended. Next to a lawn, having it 1cm below ground level to aid mowing ease.

• Ensure there are no hidden cables or pipes where you intend to dig by using a CAT tool

Be Safe

• We recommend wearing the relevant protection gear:
• Suitable footwear
• gloves
• ear defenders – if using a wacker plate
• dusk mask
• eye goggles

How to build a patio:

1. Dig out to allow for the following: 10cm of sub base (Crusher run, MOT Type 1 or hardcore), 2.5cm of patio slab mix, plus the thickness of your chosen paving slab. Don’t forget to include the necessary fall in your calculations, and to maintain it throughout the build. Dig 150mm into your patio area
2. Lay a compacted sub-base of 100mm
3. Cover the area with 40mm of sand and cement or patio mix
4. Lay paving slabs 15mm into the concrete with a 10-15mm gap
5. Leave to set for at least 24 hours
6. Fill the gaps between the paving slabs with sand and cement mix