Stylish and practical, paving is the core of contemporary garden design. Whether you want a patio to while away your summer afternoons or just a simple path from which to admire your beautiful flower beds, paving can be the perfect solution. In fact, experts believe that a great garden can increase the value of your home by a staggering 20%. Within this guide, you’ll find all the information you’ll need for the pavement creation of your dreams.

Before starting any work, there are a few things to keep in mind to keep yourself safe. Pavement can be very heavy and depending on the size of the area you need paved this work can do some serious damage to your back. If possible, it is always advisable to work in teams when laying pavement to reduce the strain when lifting. Appropriate PPE should also always be worn when mixing mortar and cutting pavement, that means masks and googles to prevent cement and dust from coming into contact with your eyes and throat.

Step 1. Choosing and Designing Your Pavement

When paving a garden, you will more than likely be looking to create a nice patio or garden path. In this case, paving slabs, which are available in a wide variety of styles and colours, are really the best option. From smooth concrete to more traditional limestone, you will almost certainly find slabs that match the look and feel of your home. If you are paving your front garden to create a new driveway, bricks are also an option and similar to slabs also come in a range of styles to choose from.

With your material picked out, you will also need to think about the visual design of the pavement itself. Are you going for the uniform look, where every slab will be the same size? Or for the more creative ‘random slab’ approach? Either way, doing a dry lay of your design i.e. laying out all your slabs as they would be when paved, is an easy way to design your pavement and will give you the time to create something you’re really happy with before you set it in stone. Remember to take a photo of your final design. You’ll need it for reference later.

Cutting Pavement Slabs & Bricks

Whilst designing your pavement, you may find the need to cut some of your slabs or bricks to size. Fortunately, this is not nearly as complicated as it seems and can be done with an angle grinder, a pencil, some c clamps and of course, appropriate safety gear.

After measuring, marking the cut line (on both sides) and donning your goggles and dust mask, the slab or brick should be secured onto your workbench using c lamps. Make sure the slab/brick is completely secure as even the smallest movements could prevent you from cutting evenly. Use the angle grinder to cut a 1cm score line on each side and then follow this line with the grinder until you have cut all the way through.

Step 2. Setting Your Fall in the Paving   

With a fall incorporated into the sub-base, your site should have a slight gradient that will allow rainwater to run off towards your garden, preventing any potential water damage to your walls. It is important that this gradient is followed when laying your pavement. To do this first add the height of the mortar layer you will be using (normally 50mm) and the thickness of your slabs or bricks e.g. if your slabs were 25mm thick your total measurement would be 75mm. Mark this measurement on four pegs (measuring from the top down) and hammer them into the four corners of your site, using a builders square to ensure they sit at right angles.

Ideally, this should be done just outside of the sub-base area, so that when you connect the string, it will intersect at the edge of where your pavement will end. If you are creating a garden path that bends, you can split your pavement into multiple sections and mark out each section instead. The marked level of the peg should be level with the top layer of your foundation. Rest a straight edge between the two pegs on the higher end of your site and place your spirit level on top to check they are level and even. Repeat this for the two lower pegs and then run a line of string around all four. This run of string should naturally match the fall of your sub-base and will mark the top level of your pavement. 

Step 3. Laying Mortar and Pavement

The first slab in your patio or brick will serve as a guide for all of the others, so it is integral that it is laid correctly. That being said, before you can start laying your pavement you first need to mix your mortar.

Mixing Your Mortar

Depending on the scale of your project, you can do this using a cement mixer, though for most home improvement projects a mixing tray and bucket will suffice. Mortar can be made by mixing sharp sand and cement in a ratio of 4:1, this means for every four buckets of sand you need one bucket of cement. Thoroughly mix the sand and cement together on the mixing tray before making a hole in the middle of the mixture with a shovel. Pour clean water into this gap and slowly push the mixture in, letting the water be absorbed. The consistency needs to be firm enough that creating a depression with the flat end of a shovel can be easily done without the mixture losing its shape. It should not be too dry or too runny. You should be able to achieve this by slowly adding the water into the mixture as you might do when adding sugar to a cake mix.

The mortar will need to be used within two hours, so be sure not to mix more than you can use within that timeframe. After you’ve mixed your mortar it is also worth taking the time to clean your tools with a stiff brush to avoid mortar drying on them.

Creating Spacers

Creating joints while laying pavement is unavoidable in many cases, and while these joints will eventually be filled in it is important that a consistent gap is maintained throughout your pavement for a professional-looking finish. Whilst not always necessary, spacers do this job excellently and can simply be created by cutting down timber or dowels to the thickness of your joints (5mm, 7mm etc.). Enough should be created to allow for two spacers per joint when working with slabs.

Laying Your Pavement

Like a jigsaw puzzle, you should always start laying your pavement from a corner. In this case, the corner at the highest point. Apply your premeasured amount of mortar (again, normally 50mm) to the top of your sub-base covering the entire area of the piece of pavement that will be laid on top of it. Use a trowel smooth over the top of the mortar to achieve a flat finish. Wet the back of the slab or brick (this makes it easier to manoeuvre) with a brush and then carefully lay it on top. A piece of timber and rubber mallet can then be used to tap it into position. Finally, fill in any gaps under the slab/brick with more mortar and, again using a trowel, smooth over the edges.

With that first slab acting as a guide laying the rest should prove relativity simple. Using the photo of your pavement design as a reference lay the first row of pavement in the direction of your slope, remembering to use the string as a guide. The spacers you created earlier should be positioned in each joint. While you are laying this row, you should always be checking and re-checking that your pavement is flat and correctly following the fall by using a spirit level. Once the first row is complete, continue to work across the rest of the outer edges before filling in the central area. Keep using your spirit level throughout to ensure that your fall is maintained. When the pavement has been fully laid it should be left to dry and set, this normally takes around 48 hours. If you are concerned about rain, the whole area can be covered with a tarpaulin. After the two days have passed, remove the spacers and you can begin the final step, jointing the pavement.

Step 4. Jointing your Pavement

Match Your Colours

If you’ve been putting your creative mussels to the test and have spent a lot of time designing the perfect pavement for your home, the last thing you want is to ruin it with dull grey-coloured joints. Fortunately, cement can be coloured to match your paving slabs so be sure when ordering to pick up the right colour. It’s an easy thing to miss but can make a big difference to the final product. 

Fill in the Gaps

Depending on the size of the joints there are a few different methods that can be used to fill them. For large gaps (anything over 10mm), mortar can be firmly applied using a jointing tool. As opposed to the last mortar you mixed, this should be made from building sand and cement, again at a ratio of 4:1. Add water to this mix until you achieve a slightly moist, smooth, damp consistency and use this to fill in the joints. Once you have fully filled the gap the mortar should be smoothed over at the top. 

For joints between 5mm and 10mm, a dry mixture of Kiln-dried sand and cement can be used as a filler, generally mixed with a ratio of 1:1. Simply sprinkle over the joints and brush in, taking care to brush away any excess mixture to avoid cement stains. Joints under 5mm can be filled in much the same way. However, instead of a mixture of cement and sand, you should just use Kiln-dried sand. Again, be sure to brush away any excess.

And that’s it. Job done. Take a step back to admire your work and you should see a professional, stylish, and long-lasting pavement sure to be the highlight of many a garden party in the years to come.

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