Hi all - I'm building a patio, and having moved tonnes of earth, poured lots of concrete and built a few low retaining walls to level and contain the site, I'm ready to add the bedding and lay the paving slabs on top. I'd planned to follow what I'd read in books and online, and basically have a few inches of compacted hardcore, a few inches of sharp sand, and then the slabs seated on a few blobs of mortar.
However, I never really felt sure about the bed of sand and blobs of mortar - it didn't sound that solid to me. So I'm glad I had a quick read here and found that people were advising using a full, 2 inch bed of wet mortar over hardcore. That sounds much better.
However, all my wall heights have been calculated assuming that I'd be laying the slabs on a relatively thin (ie: not 2 inches) blobs of mortar on top of something solid. Laying the slabs on top of 2 inches of wet mortar could get messy, as the top of that 2 inches would be slightly above my levels.
So my question is - would there be any problems with pouring a 2 inch concrete pad (on top of the hardcore) up to the level I'd intended to have sand to, and after it's set, bed the paving slabs on a thin (approx 1/2 inch) bed of mortar?
My initial instinct had been to pour a concrete pad anyway, but folk had said that the sand allowed for drainage. Given that the slabs have to be fully pointed I couldn't see any water getting through anyway, and since the patio slopes away from the house, it would run off regardless...
However, I never really felt sure about the bed of sand and blobs of mortar - it didn't sound that solid to me. So I'm glad I had a quick read here and found that people were advising using a full, 2 inch bed of wet mortar over hardcore. That sounds much better.
However, all my wall heights have been calculated assuming that I'd be laying the slabs on a relatively thin (ie: not 2 inches) blobs of mortar on top of something solid. Laying the slabs on top of 2 inches of wet mortar could get messy, as the top of that 2 inches would be slightly above my levels.
So my question is - would there be any problems with pouring a 2 inch concrete pad (on top of the hardcore) up to the level I'd intended to have sand to, and after it's set, bed the paving slabs on a thin (approx 1/2 inch) bed of mortar?
My initial instinct had been to pour a concrete pad anyway, but folk had said that the sand allowed for drainage. Given that the slabs have to be fully pointed I couldn't see any water getting through anyway, and since the patio slopes away from the house, it would run off regardless...
