Helpful hints: how to put paving stones?

How to put the paving stones with your own hands and what material to choose? Today, paving stones are becoming increasingly popular due to their strength, durability, modernity and a number of advantages, which include convenience, maintainability, environmental friendliness and durability. This coating is perfect for paving a sidewalk, path or a summer patio, thus changing the familiar look of a country house. The owners, who decided to decorate the homestead territory with this material, first ask themselves the question: "How to put the paving stones?" This procedure is quite laborious, requires the presence of certain skills and tools. First of all, you need to choose a rock of stone. Most often it is granite, gabbro or basalt, as it is these rocks that are considered the most durable and quality. It is important to choose the stone that will look most harmoniously in the given territory, calculate and draw up the project of the site, choose the method of preparation of the foundation, on which the material will be laid and determine the level of laboriousness of the work.

Necessary materials

Next, you need to check the availability of the necessary tools or purchase them in any construction shop. You should also collect information on how to put the paving stones. Before starting work, you need to make sure you have the pavers, the measuring tape, the rubble, the sand, the water source, the hammer, the shovel, the lumber and the ramming. You need to be prepared for the fact that something else may always be needed in the process of work. When drafting, you need to understand the operating conditions of the future coverage, namely whether it will play the role of a pedestrian zone, parking for cars or become a travel area for freight transport. This determines the choice of the basis for the stone, the necessary materials and technology.

Ways of styling

How to put the paving stones correctly? There are only three ways of laying the material: fan-shaped, in-line and arbitrary. An important point in any method is the exact implementation of the technology. First, you need to evaluate the scale of your plans. If a small path is planned, the novice builder will be able to lay it out independently, and if it is a question of a larger territory, it is more expedient to involve professionals in this process. Then, the area is marked with pegs and a rope stretched over them. The plan must necessarily provide for the drainage of water with these gutters and the necessary slope, which is not more than 5 mm per meter, for unimpeded drainage of the liquid. If you do not give proper attention to this issue, later the water will collect under the coating, eroding the base and destroying the masonry.

How to lay paving stones? Prepare a place before starting work

In this matter, the estimated load on the stone, on which the thickness of the liner depends, is very important. Before work, remove the top soil layer to a depth that will safely accommodate a layer of sand, gravel and the material itself. The type of substrate for the material depends on the expected load. There are three of its types: under the footpaths with moderate movement, a sand pillow is used; For tracks with increased movement of pedestrians and cars, gravel-sand coating is used; For a base under lorries make a pillow of concrete. After choosing the base, the ramming process begins, which can be produced by improvised means.

Secrets of Styling

The last and most important question is laying the stone itself. During this process, you need to do everything as carefully and not hurry. It is necessary to start working with the main elements, moving to less significant ones, because the external appearance of the masonry depends directly on this stage. No less important issue is how to put the paving stones in the rain. In the rainy period, this can not be done strictly. Just as you can not fill the seams with a sand-cement mixture to prevent the destruction of the coating. After all, when the temperature changes, the stone changes its volume, so the coating must have the ability to be depreciated.