Lifting sandstone paving

[andderson365]

Hi,

Moved into a new house and with the recent rainfall I have found that my patio sloped towards my house rather than away from it.

The patio is indian sandstone and I would like to lift the existing slabs and relay onto an adjusted mortar base to the correct height.

My question is: once the pointing has been removed how best to dislodge the paving from the current mortar bedding? should I be able to get it all up without damaging the stones?

 

[PCAnimal]

I am not a pro!

However I had to lift a few for my sins. I used a small angle grinder to cut between the morter joins. I then titled the blade slightly to go in at an angle under the slab. This was just enough to put in a SDS wide drill bit. I set it on low speed and hammer action. It was perfect and they came up without any problems.

My priviso is that my slabs may not have been stuck down that well. I didn't break a single one using this method. I struggled with one slab which I placed a wooden baton on and hit it gently with a rubber mallet. It helped losen it up.

When relaying I did have to remove some of the original base because it only allowed me to put 1 inch of new morter down.

 

[r896neo]

I have lifted plenty that were badly laid and they came up easy but I just lifted one last week that i had laid 4 years ago. And they were laid properly on a full mortar bed. They came up really well using a kango with a wide bit.

Sandstone is very porous so they dont stick that strongly to the bedding as they dry so quickly.

Obviously you need to work from one corner and be systematic so you have two free edges at all times.

 

[andderson365]

Thanks for the advide.

I lifted a few earlier today and they came up easily like you said using a bolster with gentle hammering. Fingers crossed I can get them all up and relaid at correct gradient.