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Laying a Patio Main Page

Preparing the site

• The first job is to level the site. This includes removing all vegetation and at least some topsoil. If your patio is to be laid next to the house, it must slope away from the building in order to shed rainwater.
  
• The ideal slope or 'fall' for a patio is 1:60 - that is a 16mm drop in level for every metre distance from the house wall.
  
• Remember that the patio must be at least 150mm (6") below the damp-proof course and, ideally, the paving should finish just below the level of an adjoining lawn so that the grass can be cut without damaging the blades of your lawnmower.
  
• Measure out the edges of the proposed area and mark them with string lines tied between wooden pegs driven into the ground.
  
• To make your paving slabs easier to handle, lean them against a wall and raise them off the ground on two lengths of wood.
  
• Remove topsoil from the area to be paved, down to a level suitable for the foundations - 50mm (2") in firm well-drained soil and 100mm (4") in clay or peat-rich soils - plus the thickness of the paving.
  
• To ensure an accurate fall, cut a number of softwood pegs 300mm (1') long. Measuring from the top of each peg, mark them with the depth of the foundations.
  
• Hammer in a row of these marker pegs across the high side of the site. The top of each peg should be level with the top surface of the proposed foundation. These are your datum pegs from which to gauge the slope of the patio.
  
• To achieve the required fall, nail a 16mm thick block of wood to one end of a 1m (3') straightedge. Place the other end of the straightedge on each datum peg and use it, with a spirit level, to gauge the height of the next lower row of pegs - when the straightedge is level, the tops of the pegs represent the required slope or fall. Repeat this process across the entire area to be paved.
  
• Now excavate the ground down to the level of the marks made on the sides of the pegs.