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Driveways & Paving

Patio - large number of wobbly/loose paving stones

Anonymous user 16/03/2024 - 2.42 PM

Hi A couple of months ago we had a patio laid of limestone paving stones. We now have a large number of wobbly slabs (now up to about 15) and keep finding new wobbly slabs every few days. The movement isn't massive but certainly enough to notice under foot. There is also a crunch noise as we walk on them. We have contacted the company who did the work, but getting someone out to fix them is proving a slow process. I am worried there is a fundamental problem with how the patio was laid: * The old patio was removed * A 10 cm ish layer or rubble was placed on to the old patio base (the old patio was on what I would describe as a sand/dry concrete mix) * I notice that no compacting of this base took place (not saying it should have, I don't know what is best) * Concrete was then placed on top of this, I am unsure of the mix (I would guess also 10 cm deep) * The paving stones were then placed on top - a paving joint compound was then applied * As I'm sure you work out form the above the new patio is quite a lot higher than the old one - about 20 cm higher Could anyone advise please? Does this sound like a problem that will keep coming back, or is it just a case of fixing each wobbly slab as it becomes wobbly? Cheers

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4 Answers

Driveway and Patio Design

No reviews yet

Exeter

difficult to judge on workmanship without seeing it but push for them to put it right

Answered2 June 2021

A. Rose, Gardner

Rating: 5 out of 5

Lymington

Unfortunately Philip they should have compacted the sublayer; hopefully this is MOT type 1 as opposed to just rubble? My guess is that uneven pressure on a loose sublayer has broken the mortar bond on the slabs. However, it is also possible that they either didn't get their mix right (too weak or too dry), or they laid on pads as opposed to a full bed which would exacerbate the problem. In any case, they need to probably come back and re-lay on a compacted foundation as I can't see the problem being solved otherwise. At there expense of course!!!! All the best Dan

Answered2 June 2021

First call paving and drive way specialists

Rating: 4.7 out of 5

Southampton

In my opinion the old base should have been lifted and a new membrane installed than 100 mm of new sub base laid and whacked then slabs layer on 50mm of grit and cement mix 4 to 1 that’s how we would do this job Obviously you can get the odd lose slab especially if someone has walked all over them before they have set

Answered6 June 2021

W Scott Building Services

No reviews yet

Batley

Shoddy workmanship I’m afraid. No newly laid flags should “wobble” hardly ever if laid correctly. The old foundations should have been dug out and disposed of firstly, to a depth of at least 8” then MoT (road grade) hardcore laid and compacted to 4 to 5”, a full bed of river sand and cement applied under each bedded flag, using the same mix to point as they are laid, not days later. Or a resin based joint filler applied.

Answered17 June 2021