How to lay paving slabs - dummy's guide

[Gad-Westy]

Not something I've done before so after some practical advice. Youtube has about 500 different methods for this and it's hard to pick through what is important and what isn't. But I think my chosen route is, 100mm sub base, 40mm ish mortar bed,

In an ideal world I'd rather put in hard work and do this without hiring or buying a whacker plate but if that's daft then I obviously need to review that plan.

Area to be paved is approx. 8 sqm and I'll be using 400mmx400mmx28mm slabs. It's just to create an area of hard standing and a short path for a working area next to a potting shed.

I have dug the area out already but only to finished level so far, I haven't yet dug down an appropriate depth for a sub base, mortar and the slabs themselves. I was intending to mark the depths out with pegs when the time comes.

My questions:

1) Does my approach sound okay?
2) For an area this size should I bother with a whacker plate? If not, should I buy a tamper or just do it with lots of walking around slowly?
3) What shall I order as a sub base and in what sort of quantity? I can work out the approximate volume I need but everything seems to be sold by weight and I have no feel for the conversion. I assume anything like this will be delivered on a grab crane truck?
4) 5 to 1 mortar mix sound sensible? I was just going to mix by hand in a wheel barrow. Again, I don't really have a feel for the sort of quantities I should be ordered.

[TimmyMallett]

https://www.pavingexpert.com/subbase

pretty much every topic you need as well

[hotchy]

Depends on the slabs. Big old heavy council slabs? I just put a weed barrier then a bed of sand down and flattened it. 10 years later they've never moved. Probably not the correct last forever way but it worked.

[dhutch]

hotchy said:

Depends on the slabs. Big old heavy council slabs? I just put a weed barrier then a bed of sand down and flattened it. 10 years later they've never moved. Probably not the correct last forever way but it worked.

Makes a lot of sense to me. Concrete doesnt last forever.

[OutInTheShed]

Depends on the ground too!

It doesn't take much for one side to subside/shrink/compact etc a bit more than the other.

Especially as putting down the slabs will change the soil conditions.

Method A - Foundations suitable for the M1.
Method B - Make sure it's easy to re=level the slabs in a few months or years when they've settled?

[Gad-Westy]

Thanks all. They're stone slabs but should be quite light at 28mm thick. I want this to last well so I'll not cut too many corners. That web link looks excellent.

[TimmyMallett]

Gad-Westy said:

Thanks all. They're stone slabs but should be quite light at 28mm thick. I want this to last well so I'll not cut too many corners. That web link looks excellent.

Its got lots of information, occasionally peppered with glints of the writers personality popping through

That website said:

For years and years it was known as Cement Bound Material or CBM, but then the Illuminati who rule the universe from their ivory tower decided this was far too clear and so the term has recently been amended to Hydraulically Bound Material (HBM), which is pretty meaningless to anyone who is not a concrete technician and therefore ideally suited to the purposes of the bureaucracy.