I'm hoping someone out there can help with some urgent advice...
My elderly mother wants to improve the look of the old patio. The patio has been down as long as I can remember (and that's a long time) and over the years the ground has shifted under the flagstones so much that some of them are very uneven. She wants to try and make the garden area and patio as low maintenance as possible, especially when it comes to weeds in between the flagstones.
She has this idea to have thin flagstones laid over the original ones. I'm not entirely sure what she means but they may be what I think are referred to as pavers. She has found a local DIY 'odd job' man who will do this for cash (alarm bells) but whom other people in the village have apparently vouched for. He and a mate has already recently put down a small piece of decking in one day and which I'm not impressed with at all (but that's another matter).
My concerns are:
1. that he has agreed that he can easily lay these thin flagstones over the existing flagstone patio and all for a low cost. I can't see how he can do this without raising the current flagstones to relay evenly which is going to take a lot longer.
2. laying another layer of flagstones however thin on top of the current ones will raise the floor too high and affect the damp course.
3. if he isn't going to raise the existing flagstones and relay evenly, then the only way to get the top layer of flagstones is to put a layer of, say, sand on top of the uneven flagstones. This will make the flooring even higher and will most certainly affect the damp course.
Are my concerns justified and what advice could anyone give me to try and stop this odd job man doing this and possible causing a whole load of trouble in the future?
Many thanks
My elderly mother wants to improve the look of the old patio. The patio has been down as long as I can remember (and that's a long time) and over the years the ground has shifted under the flagstones so much that some of them are very uneven. She wants to try and make the garden area and patio as low maintenance as possible, especially when it comes to weeds in between the flagstones.
She has this idea to have thin flagstones laid over the original ones. I'm not entirely sure what she means but they may be what I think are referred to as pavers. She has found a local DIY 'odd job' man who will do this for cash (alarm bells) but whom other people in the village have apparently vouched for. He and a mate has already recently put down a small piece of decking in one day and which I'm not impressed with at all (but that's another matter).
My concerns are:
1. that he has agreed that he can easily lay these thin flagstones over the existing flagstone patio and all for a low cost. I can't see how he can do this without raising the current flagstones to relay evenly which is going to take a lot longer.
2. laying another layer of flagstones however thin on top of the current ones will raise the floor too high and affect the damp course.
3. if he isn't going to raise the existing flagstones and relay evenly, then the only way to get the top layer of flagstones is to put a layer of, say, sand on top of the uneven flagstones. This will make the flooring even higher and will most certainly affect the damp course.
Are my concerns justified and what advice could anyone give me to try and stop this odd job man doing this and possible causing a whole load of trouble in the future?
Many thanks
