I'm about to lay some block paving bricks around my front garden as a seperator between two different types of gravel. The soil is very hard and I thought I might get away with laying onto a bed of sand but I'd like to add a layer of dry mix on top just to stabilise it a bit more. Can I buy it ready mixed? Can anyone please suggest something I could buy from B&Q that I could just put down straight from the bag and weather in? It's a straight line run of around 20 bricks and I'm going for the interlocking wavy edge type.
Ready made 'dry mix'?
- Thread starter tigsmom
- Start date
Sponsored Links
You could use something like this http://www.heidelbergcement.com/uk/...te/bagged_dry_mixed/multipurpose_concrete.htm but not on top of the sand and you'll need quite a few bags. To do the job properly you need to dig out about 100mm and lay a leanmix to that depth and compact with a mechanical plate. Otherwise it will only move after some rain and sun.
lol whacker plate,look theres only 20 in a straight line ,no traffic just knock up a 4 and 1 mortar wettish and bed them tight together or leave a 10mm gap so you can point inbetween, 
Sponsored Links
3 bags of bq soft sand 1 bag of cement ,do a 4 sand 1 cement mix wet but stiffish, lay one each end and string a line through or a nice straight edge then lay,personaly id would point between the blocks as then your have no grass or weed seadlings coming through, nps gday nearly missed it myself, ps bq sand dries a nice beigy colour better than the crap sand they get in builders merchants as if it came from the beach
Can I mix it in a bucket? Please bear in mind I am a novice, don't have a trowel, mixer or any tools that you would normally have and I'm hoping to do this as cheaply & easily as possible The guy at B&Q said just lay them on sand which is what I did at my last house but I filled the gaps with dry mortar. They stayed put for 12 years so I must've done something right! This time with them being wavy interlocking blocks I'd rather not have gaps as I'd lose the wavyness a bit so I need to do something to wedge them in place either side. The gravel may hold it on it's own but I'd rather give it a helping hand.
The guy at B&Q said just lay them on sand which is what I did at my last house but I filled the gaps with dry mortar. They stayed put for 12 years so I must've done something right! This time with them being wavy interlocking blocks I'd rather not have gaps as I'd lose the wavyness a bit so I need to do something to wedge them in place either side. The gravel may hold it on it's own but I'd rather give it a helping hand.
tigs the sand bq is about £1.50 a bag the cement is about £4 so for £8.50 you can probaly lay another 20 bricks not sure how deep it is, but anyway your have some left over for another project rather than running out of the ready mix which is quite expensive , when i say 4 and 1 mix i mean shovels , good luck
take a photo of the blocks and the area )Can I mix it in a bucket? Please bear in mind I am a novice, don't have a trowel, mixer or any tools that you would normally have and I'm hoping to do this as cheaply & easily as possible
good luck forcast is pretty goodCheers Cowboy. I just need some dry weather now! Got stuck in the mud a few times last weekend trying to rotivate/rake the soil!
Normally I could take a photo but the backlight has gone on my laptop so I'm having to use hubbys which isn't set up for downloading photos, sorry. They're b&q Entente blocks and I'm laying them about 1m in from the edge of the garden so that they make a border (we already have a hedge growing within this). It's a level square garden with hedge to the front & left, driveway right & house front on remaining side. So I'm laying the blocks on the 2 sides with hedge 1m inwards. Then we're filling the main part with gravel plus putting a different gravel around the hedge on the borders.
not sure what them blocks are,but rest assured you cant beat a wet mix , i layed my edging bricks on my drive with a 4 and 1 wet mix 10mm pointed gaps and they havent budged and look good too . my neigbours had the so called pros in and it dont look a pretty sight with all the bits of grass and moss growing inbetween the blocks, if i never infilled with concrete i would had probaly layed the whole drive on a wet mix with jointing ,bit time consuming but i think its more tougher and lasting, each to there own they say ,ne way good luck agai
nDIYnot Local
Staff member
If you need to find a tradesperson to get your job done, please try our local search below, or if you are doing it yourself you can find suppliers local to you.
Select the supplier or trade you require, enter your location to begin your search.
Are you a trade or supplier? You can create your listing free at DIYnot Local
Sponsored Links
