Imagine a simple tract house built as a slab on grade, and out the patio door is an equally simple 8×12′ concrete slab for the “patio”. Said slab is flush with the surrounding ground. HO have dug up the grass and laid precast concrete pavers aroubd the slab to enhance its appearance, but there is enough of a slope that the rains has caused the sand/gravel bed to partially wash out. They want me to come up with a more permanent solution. They had used heavy guage metal landscape edging to keep the grass out and the sand in, but it hasn’t worked. My thought is to excavate a little deeper and pour a footer for the stones. Question: it’s only going to take about 3/4 yard of concrete, it’s in the back yard, and it’s uphill from the street. What;’s the best way to mix & pour? 40 bags of sakrete in a portable mixer? Small batch truck and wheelbarrows?
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Boy, for 3/4 of a yard, you sure don't want those to go anywhere!!!
How is the soil under the pavers? Could you put in some 5/8 - crushed as a base and jumpoing jack it down? build it up, then reset the paver border with some type N mortar or something, if groutable? just a thought.
Ok, it might be closer to 1/2 yard, but that's still a lot of bags of sakrete. The pavers, which they already have, are 16"x16"x3" thk. The crushed stone base might work, so tell me more. How deep should it be? Would the mortar form a cap integral with the top 1/2" or so of the gravel? Simple questions probably, but I haven't done this before and I don't want to do it twice.
I did 2/3 of a yard a month ago using a little electric mixer. I pre-staged six bags of portland cement and two very large trash barrels of pre-washed sand and 3/4" gravel nearby (this is in a former kitchen, future laundry room, in the middle of my house). I used dedicated marked measuring buckets for cement, sand, gravel and water. As each batch was mixing, I measured the stuff for the next one. I think it was about two dozen batches. With a little extra time to clean the mixer every other batch, it took me 12 hours. I slept real well that night.
So, you can work hard, or you can pay the pumper.
-- J.S.
Leesseee...16"X16"X3". Well, depending on the soil underneath, I would go down prob. 6-10" or so and out about 20+ ". Throw in the gravel, (make sure you got minus) and wack away. (The gravel that is) Then either go with the sand pack again, or go woth concrete. depends on how much of a gap you have between the pavers. Also, make sure that the compacted gravel comes up higher that the lower edge of the slab. (Shouldn't be a prob since it should be ~3 1/2") This should make it solid up to the slab so water won't undermine the edge of the slab. I mixed up mortar in a 5 gal. bucket. A little portland, little masons sand, little lime. Get one of them grout bags and ice it in, then use one of them sponges and a clean water bucket and clean/press/push it around. Don't forget the lime like I did a few weeks ago. Put in some bluestone and grouted it in. The little stone riser pieces fell off like leaves, and back to a redo. I was in the same boat as you. (I'm with wood, not mud) Lime gives it its' elasticity and some stick-um. (and don't forget gloves) Good luck.
Edited 7/13/2002 1:06:58 AM ET by POSTNBEAM
Got it. Thanks. There will be almost no gap between the pavers, except for what is caused by the uneveness of the material.