It was a nice two day project I finished recently in Clifton, York. The customer wanted to remove a section from their patio and alter the edge of it and they needed a block paving border putting down all along the grass.
I started my work by removing the edging stones and the flags from the patio, carefully, as I had to re-use the edging on a later stage. Once this was all done I broke up and removed the mortar base and went down until the hardcore layer. The customer wants to lay some frush turf here later on so we needed enough depth for some soil and the turf too.
Before I could start on the building bit, I had a small lamp post to remove as well. At some point one of the previous owners thought it’s a good idea to have a cast iron lamp post in their garden. I really don’t think it was. It took me a while to break the concrete up bit eventually the lamp post was out as well.
After all this destruction I could start on the nicer part of the work. I finished off the patio edging and blended the stonework into the exisinting edging. I set the stones into mortar bed and pointed them up as well. I also had to repair some of the flags but it wasn’t too difficult either.
Once it was all conpleted I moved on to the grass border. The customer wanted it nice and simple, so I used driveway blocks and bedded them into sand. To start, I measured up the whole lot and marked it out with a string. After this I prepped the ground with a spade and shovel to make sure the grass had a nice straight edge. I also had to mark out a curved corner.
The next step was to start laying the blocks with the help of my trowel, kneeling pad and a mallet. I used nearly 90 blocks and 8-9 bags of sand so it’s safe to say I was tired by the end of the day. All in all, it was an enjoyable project, but more importantly, the customer and myself are both happy with the end results.
Screw it! 