Patio on MOT type 1 and sand?

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Hey!
I found a lot of mixed info about it. So I want to make a patio, about half a meter higher than the garden ground level. There is a smaller existing patio that is just falling apart. In a few years time I would like to build an extension and ideally reuse as much of the materials as possible. As a retaining wall I will use some gabion baskets, that way when extension comes I can lift them up and move to the new location. So idea is: lay the baskets and fill them. Fill the patio with soil and compact every few cm. Then lay MOT type 1 (about 10cm) and compact. Then sharp sand, compact and level, then paving slabs (I think I need thicker ones to go on unbound bedding? My concern is will this stay firm and not sink? If I use concrete bedding I think once I remove the slabs I will have to bin them? The patio would be roughly 4m by 7m.
Any advice would be highly appreciated.
 
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You are talking about all the right things here about building up the layers etc and I would agree the spec you describe is all stable enough. As you say, normally for a patio to last every slab gets laid on a bed of mortar on top of the mot - but if you were going to pull it up in a few years then sand is fine and you can then remodel your patio again easily down the line reusing all the same materials and build it then to last forever! I would buy/use the slabs now you want forever and you can add/buy more down the line if required. For what you are describing here, the depth of the slabs more a consideration of quality/cost than what sub base you have.
 
Thanks for confirming, I am glad it is a sound idea, I was a bit stressed it would not hold correctly.
 
Just one thought, if you are building up half a metre, by the time you dig out the top layer of soil and roots you'll be going up 60-70 cm, meaning you will struggle to compact a hardcore base sufficiently. Also general soil is not really a suitable sub base as it contains organic matter which will rot down.
At these heights you might need to look at beam and block depending on the level of guarantee you want to give it. Not sure of the relative costs, but worth looking at
 
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Most of the patio is already there, just old and falling apart. I am making it now lower and larger so most of the soil is what is already there, then to top it up I have a pile of clay soil dug up from under the top soil and left over from the shed foundation, nothing really wants to grow on it so I wouldn't imagine there would be much of organic matter there. So I want to remove old rubble from the existing patio, set perimeter, level and top up with the old soil, then MOT and sand. I was thinking to keep compacting the soil before not every few cm where i touched it.
 
That pile of clay you tip under will shrink or swell with the seasons depending on how wet it is.
 
That pile of clay you tip under will shrink or swell with the seasons depending on how wet it is.
Hey! Thanks for that, what would you suggest to minimise that and not having the cost sky rocketing? Wouldn't it be enough to have the slight slope off the house with 10cm mot on top to direct the water away?
 

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