flag and brick doorstep

[andrewf75]

Hi all

Having laid my patio successfully, I now want to build a simple doorstep on it, similar to the one on Paving expert http://www.pavingexpert.com/featur01.htm

Speaking to a mate, he advised leaving an inch gap between the step and the house wall, which I'm inclined to go along with.

If I did that, presumably it would be best to use a line of bricks along the house side as well so that the space inside the step isn't open for water to flow into, rats to nest in etc?

I have a 10cm gravel border between patio and house so this run of bricks would be on the gravel or straddling the gravel and the flag. Is that a problem? Should I fill the gap with concrete to give the bricks a more stable bed?

Hope that makes sense!

Also, I have a load of sharp sand left over. Can I partially use it in place of soft sand for the mortar?

Thanks!

 

[Andyc84]

This does make perfect sense, however, I think you may get better responses from the "building" section of the forum, they talk alot about french drains and damp, which is effectively what you are preventing by leaving a gap between house and step. - I have alerted the moderators to move this into the Building section.

Andy

 

[angelboy]

I wouldn't do a 25mm gap, that's huge. Put a layer of dpm between the brick and the wall and have a fall away from the house. This way you can just have a brick at either end and maybe in the middle depending on the slabs your using.

What thickness slabs are you using and what is the depth and width of the slabs and the actual step? You might need some brick supports along the lmid point of the step or edge of the slabs depending not the above factors.

Don't lay the bricks directly on the gravel, it will fail. Dig out the gravel and create a firm sub base and then just mortar on the top. If you just do the 2/3 brick to the wall then there's not much work to do anyway.

I'm not an expert, but this is the way I would do it and I'd be happy with it.

 

[andrewf75]

Thanks, yep I will get the gravel out and put some solid concrete down to fill the gap.
I'm planning to use five 45cm slabs so 6 bricks would be against the wall if I did it that way.

Am inclined to leave a small gap as the sill of the bifold doors will hide it anyway. You'd only see the gap from one side and I could easily place a plant pot there to hide it.

In which case I'd use a full rectangle of bricks so that there isn't a space for rodents to get into.

Does that sound OK?