How to Lay Garden Paving?
“Garden Paving”
Every garden has its own personalized touches that make it unique. In many cases, a garden can achieve added beauty by accenting it with an imaginative walkway, patio or any type of paved area. However, make sure your paved areas enhance, rather than take away from, the beauty of your garden.
The success of your paved garden is based not only on the materials you choose, but how you use them. Many different choices can affect the outcome, so it is important to make all the right decisions that personally suit you. Your paved work can be as intricately detailed or as simple as you wish.
Choosing a Pattern:
Bricks- Choose a paving pattern that suits your garden. Most people have found that, when it comes to garden paving, simple is best. One common pattern used in small areas is called the stretcher bond, a pattern used in building walls. (see figure 1). It is simple, effective and does not look distracting in a small garden. The herringbone (figure 2) and basket weave (figure 3) patterns are better suited for paving larger areas because they are more detailed and can be better appreciated in larger areas.
If you decide on coloured slabs, don’t use too many different colours together, otherwise the garden paving is too fussy and will become the dominating feature rather than complimenting the overall garden design.
Don’t construct a paved area that is too big for the garden because then it unbalances the whole garden design. For small gardens, choose small stones, slabs or bricks and no more than 3 different paving materials. Too much variety makes for a distracting, cluttered paved area.
Step 1. Lay a Bed of Gravel: Dig a level area about 3 to 4 inch (7.5cm-10cm) deep plus the thickness of the paving material. This must cover the entire area you plan to pave.
Lay about 3 to 4 inch of hardcore or gravel, and level as much as possible. Tamp down as firmly as possible. Make sure that if the paving is to be attached to the house, it will lie just below the damp-proof course.
Step 2. Mortar: Once your area has been prepared with a level bed of gravel, you are ready to add your mortar. Follow the manufacturer’s instructions in mixing the mortar. It is best to mix it in a wheelbarrow for easy mobility. Using a small shovel, distribute about 5 scoops of mortar in the area where the piece of paving will be placed. It should look like a five on a dice. (Remember, the amount of mortar used will be proportional to the size of the paving piece).
Level out the scoops of mortar as much as possible. When laying bricks, instead of using scoops of mortar, you can cover an entire area with 1 to 2 inch (2.5cm-5cm) of levelled mortar before lying.
Step 3. Level the Area: Once the area has been arranged with paving slabs or bricks, make sure they are level with a slight slope. This slope will ensure proper draining of rainwater. Position a small piece of wood under one end of the spirit level to provide the slope when covering a large paving area.
Use a sprit level that is at least 2-ft (60cm) long so that it can be rested across more than one slab or an area of bricks to give a true reading to help keep the entire paving area the same level. Tap the slab on either side or pack more mortar under it until the slab is level with the other slabs.
Step 4. Space the Pieces Evenly: When your garden paving pieces are level, make sure the spaces between each paving piece are equal. To ensure that the spaces are equal, use spacers such as small, equal-sized wooden blocks.
Step 5. Fill the Gaps: After paving slabs or bricks have been spaced; brush into the cracks a dry mix of sand and cement to fill up all the gaps. If preferred you can use instead a small pointing trowel to fill in the gaps with a slightly dryer mortar mixture. Use the trowel to press the mortar down just below the top of the paving piece, keeping the mortar as smooth as possible for neatness. Clean off any excess mortar from the paving slabs before it dries completely.