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We are planning to lay crazy paving on top of our existing concrete slab. I've read about a couple of different methods including using sand as a base or using mortar. We also want to raise the height up by almost 10cm.Taking into consideration the paver thickness, can we layer mortar directly onto the concrete slab to our desired height or should we be doing something different to increase the height and then adding a 10-15mm later of mortar before the pavers? Any suggestions or tips much appreciated.
Hi @rachelh28
Great project you are doing/
Guide :
- Cement mortar ideally need s to be 20mm thick at its shallowest so it has some strength. So your thickness of 10cm minus paver thickness (50mm?) will give you a strong 50mm or so mortor thickness this is great.
- Yes you most definatly can lay mortar on top of a clean concrete slab in fact thats great as you will have a flat surface to work on.
- Garden pathes never have to be dead flat or dead straight in fact I deliberaly curve all mine if possible and put a slight tilt to run rain water off them.
Hi @rachelh28
Wet cement OR you can do this with no water it is much easier. Still using dry (Sand and cement ) pre mix later you will water the path starting the cement setting.
Path thickness = 100mm (you wanted) - Paver thickness eg 50mm equals cement thickness of 50mm. Note when you lay cement add 5mm so 50 mm is now 55 mm this is to allow the crazy path to be tapped down into the cement making good contact.
Your path make wet mortar (premixed sand and water at bunnings) mix it with water pour it on the start point of your path so its ( tooth paste like smoothness) . Start pouring it out wet mortar or add dry mix on old path and spreading it out to 55mm thick( come down the path 1 meter at @55mm thick and flat Now gently lay the crazy pave on top of wet or dry cement. Move it into position and tap with hammer a 1 meter long wood (35x 75mm approx timber)across the top of the crazy pave so it gently pounds the crazy paver down to 50mm and level as you want.
Tip the leveling timber is like icing a cake if you see any lumpy bits put on the timber and tap it level with all the other stones. If you have a low bit lift the crazy pave up and put more morter under or dry sand and cement. Now its level/ Slide the timber down over the newly laid crazy pave and tap it down to you desired path height.
Tip itsa good idea to have path thick ness markers along the sides of the path so you know if your work is too high or low, so you can adjust.
Puttin pavers on dry sand and cement mix is the easiest way as no hard work to mix it up in a wheel barrow etc. plus you can take your time to add or subtract mixture to get the perfect path/ . Once the path is laid you can even add sand and cement powder between the pavers and then with a hose saturate the path full with plenty of water with a slow flowing hose (so mixture not hosed out at all) Start the hose flowing at hill end of path it will flow down hill and into the sand cement mixture. This will clean paving surface at the same time. Move the hose at need we dont want so much water mixture starts flowing out like muddy water.
Have you hear of cuflue the thin 5mm plastic board signs are made of . I would by a bunnings 5 mm sheet (roll it up for car) and cut it into path edging strips eg 100mm each side your desired path thickness use some pegs to hold it in place now you have a path with channels on the outside and it will be the same level of the top of your path as a guide and no sand and cement will spill or push out from under the path while setting.
Well I wrote a book hope this helps.
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