Patio Help Please

[gness]

My garden slopes down from the house. I have a raised patio 32 feet wide,12 feet deep with steps 2 feet down onto the lawn. The slabs at present are 2x2, plain grey and old. I am replacing with 2x2 Weathered Yorkstone. The intention is to lift the old slabs....all eighty to be got rid of! Would there be future problems if the new slabs were laid on top of the old ones?

[rowanwitch]

but then you would have less builder time just as the weather is getting better.

[gness]

Why didn`t I think of that Rowan! Now I`m in a quandary.x

[marden40]

as long as the old slabs are sound and not wobbly then there's no reason why you can't bed the new flags on top of the old ones, but a few things to consider, firstly you need the surface of the new slabs to be 150mm below the damp course of the house and secondly the new slabs need bedding on mortar with five dots ( one on each corner and one in the middle ) not just dry sand/cement....the last point to think about is the exposed edge......is there a wall along the edge of the existing slabs at the drop to the lawn?

[gness]

Thank you Marden. We have built a wall around the patio which is two bricks higher than the patio so will look pleasing from the garden and there is room below the damp course.

[rowanwitch]

Then you need another job for the builder....

[gness]

I`m leaning VERY heavily on the fence when he`s not looking.

[VHG]

Why lay them all as 2x2, that will look very boring.

With some typs of slabs you can get 2x2, 2x1, 1x1 and so on to make a nice pattern.

Looks much better.

[The Builder]

http://landscapeworld...thered_Yorkstone.html

[gness]

Thank you both. Gave a lot of thought to patterns and mixed sizes but because of plans I have for in front of and to one side of the patio and the size of the garden I opted for a simple layout. G