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Hi guys. New to the outdoor home DIY world but want to give it a shot to save on money and give myself the satisfaction of completing some home Diy tasks.
Im planning to put a stepping stone/paver path with pebbles towards my front door. So my question is how much allowance in depth am i supposed to give myself for road base(or alternative base), compacting ,weed barrier, paver and pebbles. Planning to use a 40mm limestone paver. Also, would the pavers need to be cemented or concreted to the surface.
Also, there is a slight slope, not much. So any tips around this would be helpful.
Another question. My front yard base feels like it is clay. How much mm in underlay would be required for me turf the yard.
Looking forward to hearing your advice.
Thanks
Mark
Welcome to the Bunnings Workshop community @MMLL. It's terrific to have you join us, and many thanks for your question about creating a stepping-stone path.
You might like to take a look at these helpful guides: How to lay paving for a path and How to prepare and lay a base for pavers. Essentially you'll need 30-50mm of road-base compacted down, then a 20-30mm layer of bedding or paving sand. So, with your 40mm pavers, you'll need to excavate around 100mm below your finished height of the pavers. For individual stepping stones it's a good idea to bed them in with a mortar base as well to ensure they are firmly positioned.
100mm of soil underlay would be a good start. However, if there is a solid clay layer then you'll need to invest in adding Agipipe drainage to the area in order to prevent waterlogged soil.
Please let me know if you have any questions.
Mitchell
Afternoon @MMLL
Lets see if I can answer some of your questions...
Q - Im planning to put a stepping stone/paver path with pebbles towards my front door. So my question is how much allowance in depth am i supposed to give myself for road base(or alternative base), compacting ,weed barrier, paver and pebbles.
A - Considering that your yard is clay maybe not a lot will be needed, mainly to raise your pavers to the height you want them to sit at. I would suggest to have the pavers at least in line with the height of your driveway.
Q - Planning to use a 40mm limestone paver. Also, would the pavers need to be cemented or concreted to the surface. Also, there is a slight slope, not much. So any tips around this would be helpful.
A - I like the sound of the thickness of paver, my only suggesting before starting even with road base is to lay the pavers about in the rough area you want the stepping stones to be so as to get the right feel of taking steps, Every ones step distance will be a little different. Once you have decided on the distance then you could use some mortar under the stepping stone to lock it in place. Tho I would leave it free and resting on clay as that way I can shift the path around 
I would also have an area that is deliminated by say white pebbles with weedmat down first.
Q - Another question. My front yard base feels like it is clay. How much mm in underlay would be required for me turf the yard.
A - Mmmm guessing here but id say at least 50mm if not 100mm of soil plus turf.
When I landscaped my front yard I had the same issue with clay base as you. I actually decided to use it to my advantage and created small rises and dips for areas such as trees, pathways for water to funnel through. Once covered with soil you cant see them anymore but subsurface wise the trees get extra water as well as the yard stays dry in certain areas.
Landscaping front yard and there is also a part 2 Shows the process I went through using clay. I thought of it as a resource and t really turned out to be gold.
Dave
Evening @MMLL
Not sure which direction you mean by horizontal I was pretty musch meaning in a gentle arc following the surface of your driveway, I can see the hard edge of the path and the hard edge of the driveway and had presumed that your landscaping would have the same sort of contours to match.
I dont see straight lines working as you would end up with a super high point (unless thats the effect you want) I drew up a topography styled may of my slope and guesstimated the heighst of the land. Even tho I didnt use the actuall meauserments it really helped me work out how I wanted my path and gabion baskets to work.
You could use a clear plastic tube filled with water to find level parts of the yard at certain heights and mark them on some stakes in the ground. That way you could end up with a gentle slope of where to run with your pavers as well as give you an indication of the height of the backfill (excavated existing clay from the edge of your path if needed)
Dave
