Natural stone slabs re-lay question

[shd1970]

So a builder i engaged has laid some natural stone slabs on my drive as per my request for some stepping stones
Drive has a good solid 4" of hardcore
Now a breakdown of communications (well i say that...he didn't ask me but i most definitely didn't ask for this !) has meant for some reason, he has laid them on a bed of lets say, the best part of 2-3 inches of mortar mix meaning that they are ridiculously high as the plan was just to then gravel/chippings the non-slabbed area and use to park our cars

Not sure of the mortar mix he used but we had equal amounts of both building sand (slightly more building sand actually !) and sharp sand and there is less building sand left so assume that its a softer mix
I had provided him with "easy prime" slurry which he has used also
I can't make the drive up with more hardcore due to a manhole that is level with the top so i'm left with the prospect of taking up the 17 x 600x600 slabs and doing them myself

1. what's the though on by drilling out the mortar to weaken, whether the slabs will come up without breaking ?
2. i plan to re-lay them on a low 1" mortar bed. Can anyone confirm what sort of ratio mix i should be looking to use please (building/sharp/cement) as i know this is highly debated ?

Thanks in advanced
Yours....gutted !!!!

 

[Lower]

The faster you take them up, the better chance you have of them coming up without breaking. The mortar takes quite a while to fully cure and bond.

 

[shd1970]

thanks for the reply Lower
what i forgot to mention was that they have been down about 3 weeks unfortunately as i was away immediately afterwards on vacation, trying to console myself as to the cock up that has happened

 

[shd1970]

i plan to re-lay them on a low 1" mortar bed. Can anyone confirm what sort of ratio mix i should be looking to use please (building/sharp/cement) as i know this is highly debated ?

Many thanks